Activities of IOS Headquarters

IOS Books Released

Two important books of the IOS empowerment series were released on March 9, 2004 in a function attended by academics, intellectuals, journalists and others. The function began with recitation from the Holy Quran. Prof. Z.M. Khan, Secretary General of the IOS welcomed the guests and the audience that consisted of top intellectuals and politicians. Prof. Khan appreciated the distinguished audience not only for their support to the IOS but also because they all are concerned about the development of the country.

Prof. Khan gave an account of how the idea of bringing out the volumes on empowerment was conceived. First, the IOS convened an all India conference in Patna in which over 250 social scientists from all over the country had participated. They all discussed the various aspects of empowerment for three days. Yet, at the end it was felt that more discussion was needed in seminars that may be organised in the four corners of the country. Soon such seminars were organised which received wide publicity. A consensus idea emerged that on the basis of deliberations, intellectuals and academics may be approached to write books on the subject. The IOS decided eleven themes – all concerned with one or another aspect of empowerment – and approached equal number of academics to write books on them, said Prof. Khan. He also congratulated Prof. A.R. Momin and Prof. Akhtar Siddiqui for their highly valuable efforts.

Prof. A.R. Momin’s book – Empowerment of Muslims in India: Perspective, Context and Prerequisites was released by Mr. Saiyid Hamid, Chancellor, Jamia Hamdard, whereas Ms. Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi, released the second book: Empowerment of Muslims through Education written by Prof. Akhtar Siddiqui.

The Delhi Chief Minister, speaking after releasing Prof. Siddiqui’s book said that she had come to learn about the Muslim situation in India. Praising the IOS, she said it was doing yeoman service to the Muslims and the country. She said that the two books released today are important and will give us an idea of Muslim realities and enable the civil society to do something for improving the Muslim conditions. She further said that educated Muslims are second to none; they are excellent. The great task ahead is to bring the common, uneducated or not so educated, Muslims into the mainstream, she said. She congratulated Prof. Siddiqui and highlighted the role of education in preparing resources. She said that education was the key to empowerment. She also said that it would not be good for the country if a community feels marginalised. It must be studied, and remedial steps must be taken, she emphasized.

Mr. Saiyid Hamid, who released Prof. Momin’s book, praised the author and appreciated his book in his characteristic style. In his written speech he analyzed Prof. Momin’s book from every angle and expressed the hope that it will generate debate in the country for the Muslim empowerment. He praised the IOS for its valuable activities and said that there was a need to add one more volume to this eleven volume empowerment series. His suggestion was to focus on health. He said that health is very important for empowerment but unfortunately we usually ignore it (Dr. M. Manzoor Alam accepted the suggestion). Mr. Hamid also said that the two books need to be translated into Hindi and Urdu for wider publicity and outreach.

Speaking on the occasion Prof. Akhtar Siddiqui highlighted the main points of his book. He rightly remarked that education is the source of other varieties of empowerment as well. Muslims being backward in education are far away from being empowered, he said. He also thanked Mr. Saiyid Hamid for not only commenting on the manuscript but also for contributing a learned introduction to the book. With regard to the empowerment of Muslims through education, he was of the view that both the state as well as the community have responsibilities which they must fulfil.

Prof. Momin also spoke on the occasion. He said his book was an introduction to the eleven volume empowerment series being published by the IOS. Defining empowerment he said that it means a qualitative improvement in the lives of people and that they should have control over their destiny. The problem with the notion of empowerment, he said, is that there are found vague statements and sweeping generalizations. Next, the focus is usually on individual, rather than on community empowerment. He emphasized that a shift in paradigm is essential. He hoped that his book would help all the concerned, benefit the Muslims community and the larger Indian society.

Mr. Kamleshwar, a senior journalist who writes in Hindi newspapers and is widely known for his frank ideas, also spoke on the occasion. He praised Prof. Momin’s book and said that the data contained in it are very important. They open our eyes to the depth the Muslim community has fallen in. He further said that as long as we are such meetings, we remember the Muslim plight. But the moment we leave such venues and retire to the privacy of our homes, we forget about it.

Mr. Kamleshwar felt that empowerment is okay. But Muslims perhaps need security more than any thing else. Then Muslims and secular-minded people need to counter the anti-Muslim propaganda. There is a need to highlight the fact that the Muslim presence in India is older than just a thousand-year-old. The Muslims did not come only with Muhammad bin Qasim or later on with Ghaznavi and Ghori. They had come to the southern shores of India much earlier. Then those who embraced Islam due to its egalitarian teachings were native Hindus who have been living here since five thousand years. Therefore, they are as much original Indians as any body else, he said.

He criticized the Hindutva forces and their propaganda against Muslims. They remember the real or imagined Muslim sins committed a thousand year ago, but forget what they had committed before that. He reminded that Pakistan is not the target of Hindutva forces; their targets are the Indian Muslims. He said this fact must be understood because without it the whole talk about empowerment will become meaningless. He also criticized those who are opposed to Urdu, specially its scripts. If 22 scripts are acceptable, why not one more, he asked? He further said that Urdu and Bhojpuri have played a vital role in uniting the country than any other language. He warned that the whole Urdu culture or civilisation is in danger and therefore some thing must be done in this regard.

Criticising the BJP and other Hindutva outfits he said that they are willing to embrace Pakistan but would not befriend the Indian Muslims. He also warned against their attempt to mix up Hindutva with Hindu civilisation which is wrong. He further said that Tulsi Das was a contemporary of Babur and yet he has not written anywhere if the Mughal Emperor even visited Ayodhya, destroyed a temple and built a mosque thereupon. He also supported Mr. Saiyid Hamid’s suggestion to translate the two books into Hindi and Urdu. Governments and institutions can be run with English. But you need Hindi and Urdu to reach out to the people, he remarked.

Mr. Prabhash Joshi, editor of Jan Satta also spoke on the occasion. Recounting some of his old and new experiences he said that our culture was one and still is to a large extent. There seems to be an attempt to dilute it with communalism. He warned against communalisation of culture, as it was very dangerous. He also warned against ghetoisation. It is not only physical, but ghetoisation has also become a mental process which is very dangerous. We must live together. Our mutual relationship is our security, and perhaps this could be the first step in the direction of Muslim empowerment. He criticised the BJP’s vote politics. It is good that India’s relation with Pakistan is improving. But how it is related with the votes of Muslims, he wondered.

Mr. Manzoor Ahmad, former Vice Chancellor, Agra University also addressed the audience. He said that education is both liberating and empowering. One, who has knowledge, has power also. The importance of education has been highlighted both in Hindu and Muslim civilizations, he said. He further said that due to some reasons Muslim do not go to government schools in large numbers, and the fee of English schools is so high that it is beyond their reach. The Muslims themselves are running some three lakh schools and yet they are backward. We must try to know why Muslims are educationally backward, he said. He also remarked that the constitution has given rights to all its citizens including the minorities. The bureaucracy, however, never allows these rights to be actualized. He cited some examples to prove his point. Mr. Ahmad further said that reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims was necessary. Likewise there are perceptions and misperceptions which also need to be changed. Well, there have been Muslim rulers, but 80 per cent of the Muslim population was never empowered, he emphasized and asked to keep it in mind while debating the question of Muslim empowerment in India.

Dr. M. Manzoor Alam, Chairman, IOS, also spoke briefly on the occasion. He said we started our journey with a seminar on Muslim situation in 1986, and today we are discussing the Muslim empowerment. He said if one section of the society is deprived, the country would never develop. He also warned against anger or rousing passions. He further said that if you want to destroy a community, you need only to anger them or inflame their passions. Therefore, we need to control our anger and make a concerted effort, in collaboration with other brethren, to ask for the rights that the constitution has given us. We want empowerment, but within the framework of the constitution, he said.

Introduction of Books and Authors

The two books published and released recently by the IOS have been written by two eminent scholars: Prof. A.R. Momin and Prof. M. Akhtar Siddiqui. A brief introduction of the two writers and of the books they have written is given below:

I.     Empowerment of Muslims in India: Perspective, Context and Prerequisites by Prof. A.R. Momin

The term empowerment has acquired a good deal of prominence and salience in the contemporary academic and political discourse in India. Empowerment generally refers to a process as well as a programme of action or intervention whereby a qualitative and sustained improvement in the lives of people is brought about. This short book focuses on the issue of the empowerment of Muslims in India in an integral, holistic perspective. Proceeding from the premise that the issue of empowerment of any group or community in a given society should be addressed in the context of both the larger society and the community in question, the book brings out the bearing of the larger political, social, economic and cultural processes in contemporary Indian society on the marginalization and disempowerment of Muslims and other minority groups.

The book argues that the ideal of empowerment needs to be juxtaposed with the reality of disempowerment in the context of specific groups and communities. It presents an extended discussion on the nature and extent of the disempowerment and marginalization of Indian Muslims as perceived and experienced by the community and as corroborated by researches as well as official sources. This is followed by an analysis of the dynamics of disempowerment in terms of exogenous and endogenous sources.

The book emphasizes the need for creating and sustaining an enabling environment for the empowerment of marginalized groups and communities. It also addresses the key question of the prerequisites of empowerment in the context of Indian Muslims. The concluding part of the book underscores the role of community mobilization as a potent instrument of empowerment. The book will be of interest to social scientists, researchers, policy makers, NGOs and the educated public

Professor Dr. Abdur Rahman Momin has been teaching in the Department of Sociology, University of Mumbai for more than three decades. He has been Head of the Department of Sociology (1991-1999) and is at present Professor of Cultural Anthropology.

He has published more than 30 papers in Indian and international journals. His publications include Nemesis: Critical Perspectives on Modernisation (co-edited with J.V. Ferreira, 1983), The Legacy of G.S. Ghurye: A Centennial Festschrift (1996), and Islam and the Promotion of Knowledge (2001). His forthcoming publications include Diversity, Ethnicity and Identity in South Asia, Introduction to Sociology: an Islamic Perspective, and Islam and the Making of Civilization.

Professor Momin has participated in over two dozen seminars and conferences and delivered lectures in the USA, France, Austria, UK, Spain, China, Switzerland, Russia, Turkey, Egypt and Malaysia. He has been associated with the committees of the University Grants Commission, Indian Council of Social Science Research and the Anthropological Survey of India.

II.    Empowerment of Muslims through Education by Prof. M. Akhtar Siddiqui

It is common knowledge that in general Indian Muslims are economically and socially backward and that they have been facing this situation for decades together. Independence of India more than half a century ago initially did not bring any succor to their state of deprivation rather in more than one ways it added to their already shattered condition. Muslim leaders and those who care to feel concerned about Muslims looked at their problems in a rather discrete manner which made their efforts to ameliorate their condition less fruitful.  Of late this has been realized by Muslim intelligentsia and to some extent by the saner sections in the corridors of power that taking a holistic view of the complex problems faced by Indian Muslims is a necessary condition to deal with this situation. It has also been realized that they need to be empowered socially, economically and politically.  How this utopian task has to be done? The present book deals with this particular issue and presents a case for empowerment of Muslims of India in all walks of their life through the most powerful enabling instrument of the modern times namely, education. It argues that it is a joint concerted endeavour of the state and the community that can only bear fruits for the benefit of Indian society in general and Indian Muslims in particular.

Mohd. Akhtar Siddiqui obtained his B.Com. (Hons) and M.Com. degrees from Delhi University, B.Ed. and M.Ed. degrees from Jamia Millia Islamia and H.P. University, respectively and earned his Ph.D. degree in education from Jamia Millia Islamia.  He was awarded British Council Fellowship in 1984 for advanced study in U.K. for one year which he pursued at Leeds University and obtained his advanced Diploma in Educational Studies from there. He joined Jamia Millia Islamia  in 1974.  At present he is Professor of Education and Head of the Department of Teacher Training and Non Formal Education (Institute of Advanced Studies in Education) in this University. He is also the Honorary Director of the UGC’s Academic Staff College at Jamia.  Dr. Siddiqui has written several books, articles and papers on a wide range of themes including Commerce Education, Teacher Education, Educational Management and Administration, Education of Minorities and Madrasa Education.