Syeda Saiyidain Hameed

Syeda Saiyidain Hameed
Born 1943 (age 72–73)
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Occupation Social activist
Educationist
Years active Since 1965
Known for Social activism
Spouse(s) S. M. A Hameed
Children Two sons and a daughter
Awards Padma Shri
Al-Ameen All India Community Leadership Award
Karmaveer Puraskaar
Bi Amma Award

Syeda Saiyidain Hameed (born 1943) is an Indian social and women's rights activist, educationist, writer and a former member of the Planning Commission of India.[1] She chaired the Steering Committee of the Commission on Health which reviewed the National Health Policy of 2002, till the dissolution of the body in 2015, to be replaced by NITI Aayog.[2]

Syeda Hameed is the founder trustee of the Women’s Initiative for Peace in South Asia (WIPSA) and the Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation[3] and a former member of the National Commission for Women (1997–2000).[4] She served the Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) as its chancellor, prior to the accession of Zafar Sareshwala, the incumbent chancellor of the university on 2 January 2015.[5] The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2007, for her contributions to Indian society.[6]

Biography

Modern School, New Delhi-Alma mater

Syeda Saiyidain Hameed was born in 1943 in the lineage of Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, a renowned Sufi, in Srinagar, in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.[7] Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, renowned filmmaker, was her uncle.[1] After schooling at Modern School, New Delhi,[8] her college education was at Miranda House, University of Delhi from where she passed BA (Hons) in 1963 and secured a master's degree (MA) from the University of Hawaii in 1965.[9] Her career started as a lecturer at Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi; she worked there till 1967 and joined the University of Alberta to obtain a doctoral degree (PhD) in 1972 where she met S. M. A. Hameed, a professor of business studies whom she would marry later.[7] She continued at Alberta for two more years, working at the university as a sessional lecturer. Her next move was as an executive assistant to the Minister of Advanced Education and Manpower, Government of Alberta in 1975 and was promoted in 1978 as the Director of Colleges and Universities at the ministry.[1]

Syeda Hameed returned to India in 1984.[7] Back in India, she continued her research activities, focusing on Sufism and the Muslim socio-political leaders. Her first assignment was with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), working on Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Sufism from 1987 to 1991. She continued her research on Azad at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library during 1991–1994 and spent the next three years at the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), working on a project on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.[1] In 1997, she was appointed as a member of the National Commission for Women, a Government of India agency overseeing matters related to women's rights in the country, and served the commission till 2000.[4] During this time, she was also involved in the cultural milieu of Delhi, writing film reviews and chairing the Faiz Centre, India.[1]

The new Millennium saw Hameed getting involved with several social activities which led to the establishment of a number of organizations. She was one among the group of women who founded the Muslim Women’s Forum (MWF)[10] and, under the aegis of the forum, was involved in the activism against many social issues, including the murder of 24 Kashmiri Pundits on 23 March 2003.[11][12] Women’s Initiative for Peace in South Asia (WIPSA) was another initiative Syeda Hameed co-founded and she was a member of the WIPSA delegation who visited Pakistan in the wake of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.[13] When South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) was formed in July 2000, she was one of its founder members.[14] The Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation (CDR), an organization based in Kashmir and working for peace in Kashmir valley though dialogue and discourse,[15] was also founded with Hameed's participation.[16] It was during this time, she was appointed as a member of the Island Development Authority (IDA), Government of India agency under the Prime Minister, for the development of the Indian islands of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.[1]

In July 2004, Hameed was named a member of the Planning Commission of India when Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister of India.[14] She served the apex planning body for over a decade and chaired its Steering Committee on Health for a period, till Narendra Modi government dissolved it in 2015 to be replaced by the National Institution for Transforming India Aayog.[2] She was also a member of its Committee for Women and Children.[14] While serving the Planning Commission, she was also entrusted with the additional responsibility of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MAANU), Hyderabad, as its Chancellor,[17] a post she held till January 2015.[5] She is a member of the Global Board of Directors of The Hunger Project,[18] a member of its jury panel for Sarojini Naidu Prize for Journalism,[19] and sits in the Governing Council of the Zaheer Science Foundation, a non governmental organization promoting scientific research and educational reform, in association with the Union Government.[14] She has served as a member of the National Council for promotion of Urdu Language as well as the Urdu academies of Delhi and Haryana.[19] She was associated with Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi as an honorary member of its Women's Empowerment Committee.[19] She is a trustee of the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, Janvikas, and Sahr Waru-Women's Action and Resource Unit and a former trustee of National Foundation of India, Navsarjan and Sangat Trust.[1] She is a former member of the governing boards of the Indian Social Institute, the Centre for Women's Development Studies,[19] ActionAid India, Indo-Global Social Service Society, Olakh, Oxfam India and India Habitat Centre.[1] She has served the Dalit Foundation, South Asia Foundation-India, Hali Panipati Trust and Lady Irwin College in the capacity of the chair person or vice chairperson and is a member of the Managing Committee of her alma mater, Modern School, New Delhi.[1]

Syeda Hameed has been involved in the social issues,[20] especially related to women and was active in the wake of the 2012 Delhi gang rape where a young paramedical student was gang raped by a six-member group which included a juvenile.[21] She has also delivered several keynote addresses[22] and has presented papers in many conferences; her presentation at the 1991 International Seminar on Sufism of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi has been published by the ICCR as a book under the title, Contemporary Relevance of Sufism.[23]

The Al-Ameen Educational Society, a Bengaluru-based educational society, awarded Hameed their Al-Ameen All India Community Leadership Award in 2006.[1] The Government of India included her in the 2007 Republic Day Honours list for the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri.[6] She received the Karmaveer Puraskaar of the Indian Confederation of NGOs (iCONGO) the next year.[24] She is also a recipient of the third Bi Amma Award of the Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar Academy, for the year 2012.[25]

Literary career

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

Hameed's first book, The Quilt and Other Stories, was a short story anthology by Ismat Chughtai, translated into Urdu language.[26] Her research, after her return from Canada in 1984, on the Muslim social leaders of the Indian subcontinent as well as Sufism returned several books, all published in the 1990s. The first of the series was a 1990 book on Abul Kalam Azad, titled India's Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a treatise on the life of the Indian freedom movement leader and the first Education Minister of the Independent India.[27] This was followed by a translation of The Rubaiyat of Sarmad,[28] a commentary on Muslims in India, Al Hilal and Nai Roshini: Two Attempts to Integrate Muslims Into Indian Policy,[29] and a study on Sufism, Impact of Sufism on Indian Society.[30] During this period, she also co-authored a book with Khushwant Singh, on her alma mater, Modern School, New Delhi, in 1995.[31] Her next book was also on Abul Kalam Azad, Islamic Seal on India's Independence: Abul Kalam Azad-a Fresh Look, published by Oxford University Press,[32] which preceded Dr. Zakir Husain: Teacher Who Became President, a book edited by Hameed, on the renowned educationist and the first President of India.[33]

In the wake of the 2002 Gujarat riots, Hameed compiled the statements of several of the affected people and released a small book, How Has the Gujarat Massacre Affected Minority Women?: The Survivors Speak, which she published by herself.[34] The next year she published her translation of Hali's Musaddas,[35] the 1879 epic of Maulana Altaf Husain Hali, a text of Muslim thoughts consisting of 294 six-line cantos, considered by many as an important work on the national identity of Muslims.[36] The same year, she also published another work, My Voice Shall be Heard: Muslim Women in India.[37] Her next attempt was based on her experiences as a member of the National Commission for Women, when she came across several victims of gender abuse; She compiled the real life stories of 12 of those women and documented their lives in her 2006 work, They Hang: 12 Women in My Portrait Gallery.[38] Beautiful Country: Stories From Another India, published in 2012, co-authored by Gunjan Veda and which had foreword by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, narrates the story of the travels of a woman and her young companion through Northern India and their encounters with various people of the land.[39] She has written four books on Abul Kalam Azad and Maulana Azad, Islam and the Indian National Movement, a 2014 publication and the latest one among them,[40] has received critical reviews.[41]

Syeda Hameed's report, Voice of the Voiceless: Status of Muslim Women in India, published in 2000 in her capacity as a member of the National Commission for Women, is a document of her researches on the problems faced by minority women in India.[42] Her activities under the aegis of the Women's Initiative for Peace in South Asia (WIPSA) carried her on two road trips for brokering peace among the Muslim women of the Indian subcontinent and her experiences are recorded in two booklets, Journey For Peace: Women’s Bus of Peace from Delhi to Lahore[43] and Shanti Parasmoni: Women’s Bus of Peace from Kolkata to Dhaka, both published by WIPSA in 2000 and 2003 respectively.[14] Her translations include Parwaaz: A Selection of Urdu Short Stories by Women, a short story anthology of Ṣug̲ẖra Mahdi,[44] Letters from Prison of Mohammad Yunus and Facts Are Facts: The Untold Story Of India's Partition of Khan Abdul Wali Khan.[1] She has also written articles on social issues in periodicals[45] and the Indian Express carried her column for a period.[46] She is reported to be working on two books: Suneihri Rait, an autobiographical work and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: Protagonist of Greek Tragedy, a book on the former Pakistan president and the founder of Pakistan Peoples Party.[1][14]

Personal life

Syeda Hameed was married to late Dr S. M. A. Hameed, a professor of Business Studies at the University of Alberta, whom she met during her years at the university.[35] Hameed couple has three children, two sons followed by a daughter. The eldest son, Morad Hameed, is a surgeon at Vancouver General Hospital and the younger son, Yavar Hameed, is a lawyer practicing in Ottawa. Ayesha Hameed, the daughter, is a post-doctoral fellow of the Goldsmiths, University of London, at its Centre for Research Architecture. Syeda Hameed lives in New Delhi.[1]

Bibliography

See also

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Member's Profile". Government of India. 2015. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Binayak Sen in Planning Commission health panel". Business Standard. 12 May 2011. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Syeda Hameed on Book Chums". Book Chums. 2015. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
  4. 1 2 "List of Members of the Commission since it's inception". National Commission for Women. 2015. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Gujarat businessman appointed Urdu university chancellor". Hindustan Times. 4 January 2015. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 "Book Summary". Harper Collins. 2015. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Modern School (New Delhi)". Allied Publishers. 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Syeda Hameed, alumnae of Miranda House". Miranda House. 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Leadership camps for Muslim women". Tribune India. 20 April 2004. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Delhi Citizens condemn the heinous killing of Kashmiri Pandits". Sabrang Alternative News Network. 24 March 2003. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Open Letter to Dr.Syeda Hameed". Independent Media Centre. 28 March 2003. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  13. ↑ V. Mohini Giri (2006). Deprived Devis: Women's Unequal Status in Society. pp. 273 of 362. ISBN 9788121208567.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Dr. Syeda Hameed - Zaheer Science Foundation". Zaheer Science Foundation. 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation". Insight on Conflict. 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Syeda Saiyidain Hameed on Harper Collins". Harper Collins. 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Events and activities". Maulana Azad National Urdu University. 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Global Board Member". The Hunger Project. 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  19. 1 2 3 4 "Climate Change Action profile". Climate Change Action. 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Dr. Syeda Saiyidain Hameed on Zoom Info". Zoom Info. 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
  21. ↑ "NFIW Joint Dharna for 33% Women’s Reservation Bill". Communist Party of India web site. 25 November 2013. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Confirmed Speakers" (PDF). Institute of Rural Management Anand. 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
  23. ↑ Syeda Saiyidain Hameed (1993). Contemporary Relevance of Sufism. Indian Council for Cultural Relations. p. 350. ISBN 9788185434056.
  24. ↑ "Karmaveer Puraskar". Merri News. 2 December 2008. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  25. ↑ "Bi Amma Award". Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar Academy. 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
  26. ↑ Syeda Saiyidain Hameed (1990). India's Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Indian Council for Cultural Relations. p. 609. ISBN 9788185434025.
  27. ↑ Syeda Saiyidain Hameed (1991). The Rubaiyat of Sarmad. Indian Council for Cultural Relations. p. 93.
  28. ↑ Syeda Saiyidain Hameed (1993). Al Hilal and Nai Roshini: Two Attempts to Integrate Muslims Into Indian Policy. Centre for Contemporary Studies, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. p. 43.
  29. ↑ Syeda Saiyidain Hameed (1996). Impact of Sufism on Indian Society. Centre for Contemporary Studies, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. p. 47.
  30. ↑ Khushwant Singh, Syeda Hameed (1997). A Dream turns Seventy Five. Allied Publishers. ISBN 9788170234999.
  31. ↑ Syeda Saiyidain Hameed (1998). Islamic Seal on India's Independence: Abul Kalam Azad--a Fresh Look. Oxford University Press. p. 303. ISBN 9780195778151.
  32. ↑ Syeda Saiyidain Hameed (2000). Dr. Zakir Husain: Teacher Who Became President. Indian Council for Cultural Relations. p. 433. ISBN 8124106002.
  33. ↑ Syeda Saiyidain Hameed (2002). How Has the Gujarat Massacre Affected Minority Women?: The Survivors Speak. Syeda Hameed. p. 60.
  34. 1 2 Syeda Saiyidain Hameed (2003). Hali's Musaddas – A Story in Verse of the Ebb and Tide of Islam. Harper Collins. p. 241. ISBN 9788172234768.
  35. ↑ Masood Ashraf Raja (2010). Constructing Pakistan: Foundational Texts and the Rise of Muslim National Identity, 1857–1947. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195478112.
  36. ↑ Syeda Saiyidain Hameed (2003). My Voice Shall be Heard: Muslim Women in India 2003. Muslim Women's Forum. p. 112. OCLC 865581668.
  37. ↑ Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, Gunjan Veda (2012). Beautiful Country: Stories From Another India. Harper Collins. p. 402. ISBN 9789350291306.
  38. ↑ Syeda Saiyidain Hameed (2014). Maulana Azad, Islam and the Indian National Movement. Oxford University Press. p. 325. ISBN 9780199450466.
  39. ↑ "Maulana Azad's tragic contradictions". Business Standard. 30 January 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
  40. ↑ Hajira Kumar (2002). Status of Muslim Women in India. Aakar Books. pp. 14 of 127.
  41. ↑ Cynthia Cockburn (2007). From Where We Stand: War, Women's Activism and Feminist Analysis. Zed Books. pp. 275 of 286. ISBN 9781842778210.
  42. ↑ Syeda Saiyidain Hameed (1996). Parwaaz: A Selection of Urdu Short Stories by Women. Kali for Women. p. 134. ISBN 9788185107400.
  43. ↑ Syeda Hameed (May 2015). "There’s Just No Defending Marital Rape". The Better India.
  44. ↑ "Each to her own". Indian Express Archive. 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2016.

External links

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