Indian Muslim News – PEOPLE

Vice President of India to release book on Saiyid Hamid

 By Danish Ahmad Khan

Saiyid Hamid

The Vice President of India Hamid Ansari will release a book on the present Chancellor of Jamia Hamdard Saiyid Hamid. A highly respected elder of the Indian Muslim community, Saiyid Hamid is also the editor of fortnightly ‘Nation and the World’. The book will be released at a function at the Indian Islamic Cultural Centre at New Delhi on April 13.

 

The book will highlight the contributions of the 89-year old educationist and former bureaucrat. It may be noted that Saiyid Hamid was appointed Vice Chancellor of his alma mater Aligarh Muslim University after putting a long and distinguished career in the Indian Administrative Service. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also appointed Saiyid Hamid as a member of the Sachchar Committee to probe the social and economic conditions of the Indian Muslim community.

 

The book has been compiled by Pune’s Mushtaque Madni. The book has been published by P A Inamdar, himself a towering personality in the fields of business, education and banking. The book is of 168 pages and has 26 contributors which include former and serving Vice Chancellors, public figures and other distinguished persons who have known Saiyid Hamid for ages. Some of the contributors are Vive Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia Prof. Mushirul Hasan, Justice Rajinder Sachchar, Govind Narain, John Dayal, UC Agarwal, and Prof. Amrik Singh.

 

Saiyid Hamid is widely respected in the Muslim community as well as on the national level. People hold him in high esteem by virtue of his being an educationist and a great community leader who has always espoused the cause of peaceful coexistence and mutual respect for co-religionists. The writers have described some qualities of mind and heart that has been seen in him over the years. Saiyid Hamid describes himself as “a listener”. He is also a writer of impeccable prose in both Urdu and English.

 

Saiyid Hamid is involved in some advisory capacity with dozens of educational institutions across the country. He had also been instrumental in establishing and nurturing the Jamia Hamdard University. He is also looking after the Hamdard Education Society that runs Hamdard Public School and Hamdard Study Circle for Civil Services examinations.