Hyderabad: Indian Muslim Relief and Charities (IMRC), a US-based organization, has built 60 schools in the remote villages of coastal Andhra Pradesh and plans to construct 40 more to provide education to Muslims. Under its platform, Rural Educational and Economic Development (REED), the organization has not only constructed the buildings of basic multipurpose one-teacher schools but also appointed trained Telugu-speaking teachers.
"We will run these schools for two years and thereafter hand over the management to local Muslims," Ahsan Syed, a member on IMRC board, told IANS during his recent visit to Hyderabad. It was three years ago that IMRC got a survey conducted on the socio-economic conditions of Muslims in coastal Andhra villages.
Appalled by the utter poverty, illiteracy and inequality, it decided to launch the project, but despite its offer for total funding of the project, no organization came forward to undertake the work. It finally launched the project with the help of some individuals.
The mosques-cum-schools with libraries have come up in Srikakulam, East Godavari, Guntur and other districts in coastal Andhra. The organization, which raises donations from individuals in the US, is also providing food and clothes to the poor and conducting medical camps.
"We are spending Rs.5-6 lakh for construction of each school building and spending another Rs.2 lakh on the maintenance," said Ahsan Syed, a retired engineer with US Army Corps of Engineers, who now delivers sermons at a mosque in Santa Clara.
The organization is at present working only in Andhra Pradesh, but it is receiving requests from other states like Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra to undertake similar projects. "We don't have resources and people who can work in field," he said.
He believes that Muslims not just in villages in India but across the world face the same problems. "Deprived of education and living in utter poverty, they have moved away from Islam and as a result they are being exploited by Christian missionaries," he said.
"We are teaching basics to them, creating the fear of God in them. We tell them that this world is temporary, everybody has to die and there is 'Akhirat' (hereafter) and everybody will be questioned about his deeds."
The IMRC also has a proposal to extend micro loans to the poor in Andhra Pradesh villages. "After 'Iman Billah' (belief in Allah), the biggest intellect is serving people. This is built in for us," explains Ahsan, who had migrated to the US from Hyderabad in 1967.
An expert of 'Iqbaliyat' (studies of poet-philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal), Ahsan believes the young generation of Muslim Indian Americans are not aware of the problems of their brethren in India. He attributes this to the problems faced by the youngsters in maintaining their own identity in the US.
"They (the young Muslim Indian Americans) are the best Muslims at the international level. We hope that on world stage they will bring glory to Islam," said Ahsan, who teaches Iqbaliyat to youth.
Ahsan is also on the board of trustees of the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an advocacy group which informs the US Congress and the US President about the conditions of Indian Muslims. He claims the biggest achievement of IAMC was the cancellation of diplomatic visa of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
"It is not a pressure group. It is an advocacy group. We work with Hindus and Christians. We tell them we share the same problems. If a man is poor, we don't see whether he is Hindu, Muslim or Christian," he said.
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