30% of Indian Muslims are Poor: Development Economist

• Inter-generational Poverty Increasing Among Muslims
• Students Must Struggle, Dream to Succeed: Priyanka Verghese IFS

Hyderabad, August 24: Nearly 10 crore people in India suffer from chronic poverty, that total number of poor is more than 30 crores, he noted while adding that the average proportion of poor in India is 20%.

According to noted Development Economist Prof. Amirullah Khan:

The fact is that 30% of Muslims are poor. Inter-generational poverty is reducing among SCs and STs, but it is actually going up among Muslims, he observed blaming ‘lack of access to education’ as ‘the single reason’.

“The most effective way of reducing chronic poverty is by providing the poor land in rural areas, housing in urban areas and avenues of migration”, he said.

“Because these are difficult and expensive interventions, the most cost effective measure is to provide quality education. That is what FEED does”, he said adding why “this scholarship for the poor and the orphans is important”.

He was speaking at the program to extend financial assistance to orphan children organized by Hyderabad Zakat and Charitable Trust (HZCT) and Foundation for Education and Economic Development (FEED).

Joy knew no bounds for 400 orphan students when they were provided financial assistance by the HZCT in collaboration with ICNA Relief, Canada. The assistance, a part of the trust’s Orphan Sponsorship Project funded by ICNA Relief, Canada provided each student Rs. 7,100 as first installment. In 2018, the trust offered financial assistance of Rs. 4.52 crores to 12,822 orphans under the same project.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Priyanka Varghese, Officer on Special Duty to Telangana State Chief Minister’s Office urged students to “have dreams, and work hard to succeed. Success comes after overcoming impediments to those who work towards fulfilling their dreams”.

Interacting with young orphan students at the trust’s ‘Unity Center’ in Begumpet, the 2003-batch IFS officer said “dream and work hard to achieve your goals”.

Dy. Commissioner GST Mohammed Sayam, interacting with the students, said “it is a hard reality to embrace but once we embrace the reality, it becomes easier to overcome all problems in life”. He also stressed on the importance of parents in upbringing their child and added that the sacrifices parents make to educate their children are invaluable and cannot be paralleled by anything.

In his welcome address, Mr. Ziauddin Nayyar trustee HZCT said “the trust spent 1.81 crore rupees this year to help nearly 4000 widows and orphans as part of its food distribution programs in Ramazan and Eid ul Azha.

The Trust has spent Rs.123.00 Crores – equivalent to US$20.96 mn since 27 years covering 13 Lakhs beneficiaries, said the financial report released during the program. Nearly Rs. 85.67 crores equivalent to US$14.67 mn was spent so far benefitting about 459,277 students mostly belonging to remote villages and poor families, in education activities.

Besides, the Hyderabad Zakat and Charitable Trust is assisting 102 Urdu Medium schools including 3 English Medium schools with the strength of about 25,000 students, of which 72% are girls.

The trust is recognized for its society oriented development and educational programs including educating the orphans, feeding the poor, and helping young widows remarry and has helped remarriage of nearly 108 young widows.

Chairman FEED Mr. Abdul Aleem Khan, Mr. Mohsin Babukhan, Mr. Abu Sayeed and others also present on this occasion.