Haj House Centre Wins Big in UPSC

Mumbai: The civil services coaching centre at the city’s Haj House, which until now has had limited success in pushing Muslim youth towards civil services, got a boost, after three of its alumni were recently selected by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
Junaid Ahmad, who hails from Bijnaur in Uttar Pradesh and was trained at the IAS and Allied Coaching and Guidance Cell, run by the Centre’s Haj Committee of India (HCI), for two years between 2013 and 2015, ranked third nationally in the UPSC examination. The other two successful aspirants ““ Zaib Shaikh, from Ahmednagar, and Mohammed Mustafa Aejaz, from Mehboob Nagar in Telangana ““ were placed at the 225th and 613th positions, respectively.
An HCI official said the news of these achievements has generated a renewed interest and awareness about the coaching facility among the community. “Ever since the UPSC results were declared on April 5, we have been receiving enquiry calls from all across the country. I still get around 50 calls every day,” he said. Last year, as many as 6,732 graduates from across the country had applied for the centre’s entrance test, up from around 1,500 registrations in 2017. This year, the HCI officials expect the number of applications to increase even further – the last day to apply is May 7. The Cell was established in August 2009, in the backdrop of the Sachar Committee report, which found that Muslims lagged behind most of the other communities in the country in educationally, economically and politically. Since then, the Muslim representation in civil services has improved to some extent. Of 1,099 candidates who cleared the civil services examination last year 50 (4.5%) were Muslims, the highest since Independence. So far, the coaching centre has produced seven UPSC achievers, including the three who were selected this year. Several other alumni have joined other government agencies, including Reserve Bank of India, Central Excise Department and various state services. According to S.A.M Hashmi, the founder director, who headed the cell between 2010 and 2013, lack of proper leadership at HCI and the cell is to be blamed for its slow progress. “The leaders lacked either academic experience or administrative experience or both,” said Hashmi, who was principal at Akbar Peerbhoy College, Grant Road, and now heads a coaching academy at Mumbra.
(Extracted from www.hindustantimes.com)