Thousands of madrasa, Sanskrit teachers march to Bihar Assembly | TwoCircles.net

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,

Patna: Mahboob Alam is a teacher at state government aided Madrasa Islamia Noorul Huda in Purnea. He has not got salary for last five months. It’s hard for him to meet both ends, and thus he was forced to come to streets. Alam is among thousands of madrasa and Sanskrit school teachers who hit Patna streets today demanding salary equal to other government schools.

Under the banner of Madrasa Sanskrit Shikshak Saynukt Morcha (United Front of Madrasa and Sanskrit Teachers), several thousand teachers of these schools were marching towards the Bihar Assembly. In a rare scene of unity, Madrasa teachers and Sanskrit teachers were holding the protest braving the scorching sun.





Zahidur Rahman, president of the Morcha, said his demand is revision of salary of madarasa and Sanskrit teachers to make it equal to other government schools and colleges.

“Revise our salary and make it equal to regular schools and colleges of the government. The Nitish Kumar government has promised equal salary to us but not keeping the promise. We have made this demand for last 20 years,” Rahman told TCN while leading the massive rally.





“He did good for all but left us alone lurching,” he says when asked if Nitish government has ditched the teaching fraternity in the state.

Other demand of these teachers is retirement benefits like pension. “After retirement, we don’t get any pension, we also demand it”.





About next step if their demand is not met, he said “they will come to us in the election and we will reply.”

Echoing Rahman, Shiv Kant, General Secretary of the Morcha demanded pay package like regular government schools to teachers of Sanskrit and madarsas. “We have staged this massive protest to attract attention of CM Nitish and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi. We have 4000 Sanskrit teachers and 9000 madrasa teachers with us, adds Kant, a Sanskrit teacher.





How do you assess the four and half year rule of Nitish Kumar? “They are no different from the Lalu regime. They ditched us like Lalu did. They have neglected us. We have submitted our demand to CM personally in his Janta Darbar. Yet no success,” he said.

(Photos and videos shot by Mudassir Rizwan of TwoCircles.net)

Report Card of Rajya Sabha: Top performer again from Andhra

By TwoCircles.net,

Whether it is Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, Andhra Pradesh rules the roost. The Muslim Members of Parliament from the South India state lead others from the community when it comes to performance on the floor of the House. While Asaduddin Owaisi has led Lok Sabha, Mohammad Ali Khan from the state is top scorer in the Rajya Sabha during the Budget Session 2010 that ran from 22 February to 07 May.

In the 32-day-long session, 61-year-old Mohammad Ali Khan asked 90 questions, just 10 short of 100 – the mark Owaisi, Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad, crossed in the same session on the floor of the Lower House.





Khan is closely followed by rather younger Kamal Akhtar of Samajwadi Party. The 38-year-old Akhtar from Uttar Pradesh put 89 questions before the House. The third position again goes to Andhra Pradesh – Syed Azeez Pasha, 64, of Communist Party of India had 84 questions in his kitty.

There are 28 Muslim Members in the Rajya Sabha – the Upper House or House of Elders of Indian Parliament. Let’s tally the performance of only 26 MPs – as K Rahman Khan and Ghulam Nabi Azad, both from Congress, are Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha and Union Minister respectively.

Of 26, eight Muslim MPs had nothing to ask in Rajya Sabha during the budget session. Two are from Congress and one each from Muslim League, Janta Dal (United), BSP, RJD, RLD and National Conference. Regarded as good orator in the community, Maulana Mahmood Madani, leader of Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind and MP of RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal) is also among the non-performers.

It is interesting to note that most of the zero or low performers are those who remained present on all 32 days of the session while top three performers could not register 100% attendance – Mohd Ali Khan (31 days), Kamal Akhtar (27 days), Syed Azeez Pasha (26 days).

There were seven MPs who were present in the House on all 32 days but most of them performed poorly -- Rashid Alvi of Congress asked just 2 questions, A A Jinnah of DMK 1 question, Mohammed Amin of CPI-M and Ahmad Saeed Malihabadi (Independent) 6 questions each and Jabir Hussain of RJD zero question. Moinul Hassan of CPI-M, however, was an exception with 51 questions in 32 days.

For more click here

beauty of nature

Sun setting on the erstwhile Darbhanga Maharaj Palace