Articles by Moin Qazi
We found 106 results.
Muslims in Narendra Modi’s India
Moin Qazi - TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Oct 2023
Hindu nationalist B.J.P. encourages young Hindu men to physically attack Muslims by brandishing their patriotism and faith. Even a rumour that a Muslim family ate beef for dinner or a Muslim man ferried a cow to a slaughterhouse can prove fatal in the hinterlands today.
→ read full articleMuslim Future in Indian Homeland
Moin Qazi - TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Oct 2023
The mood among India’s Muslims is bleak, and they see their position being undermined steadily by the new “nationalism” gripping the country.
→ read full articleThe Gandhian Path to Resilience
Moin Qazi - TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Oct 2023
27 Sep 2023 – Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary reopens a familiar debate around his legacy every year. How could a frail man use his moral strength to galvanize 400 million Indians in their struggle for independence from the mighty British Empire?
→ read full articleThe Future of Muslims in Saffronsed India
Moin Qazi - TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Sep 2023
21 Sep 2023 – India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is inflaming hatred of Muslims in India, as the world looks the other way. Hindu hard-liners, one holding a sword, chant slogans against Muslim communities. A darker narrative is starting to define Modi’s India.
→ read full articleThe Gender Gap in Finance
Moin Qazi - TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Sep 2023
Women represent half the world’s population ~ and half of its economic potential. A society cannot have sustained economic prosperity and well-being until the central role of women is recognized and their financial health is used to shape policy.
→ read full articleDoes Islam Disenfranchise Women?
Moin Qazi - TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Sep 2023
29 Aug 2023 – Girls who had exposure to modern careers ranging from journalism to teaching have chosen in the past few years to wear the hijab. Most strikingly, however, these women fluently and cogently articulate how they believe Islam has liberated and empowered them.
→ read full articleThe Crusaders against India’s Poisoned Pluralism
Moin Qazi - TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Sep 2023
Too much thinking about Muslim rulers is now shaped along predictable, clichéd lines. This is true of all shades of opinion, perception and scholarship.
→ read full articleThe Truth about Microfinance
Moin Qazi - TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Aug 2023
Anita Rathod learned about microfinance from a neighbour a decade ago. She joined a group of local women to secure small loans — worth a few thousand rupees at a time — and build up her cooking business.
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An Intrepid Crusader Resurrecting South India’s Muslim Heritage
Moin Qazi - TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Aug 2023
Forgotten Muslim Empires of South India
→ read full articleA Long Term Covid Response Plan for India
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Sep 2020
5 Sep 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a massive toll on the economy: broken supply chains, record unemployment, failing small businesses. Much the same way it is affecting people with pre-existing health conditions more strongly, so is the pandemic-triggered economic crisis exposing vulnerable communities to greater distress.
→ read full articleThe Long Road to Enlightened Development after Covid-19
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Jul 2020
1 Jul 2020 – The pandemic has caused unprecedented crisis and disruptions around the world. The political economy is on an unsettling journey headed to an uncertain destination. We will need a calibrated and careful out-of-the-box response to come up with resilient solutions and robust systems that help us ride out the current crisis and protect us from future disasters.
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A Beacon in India’s Deep Hinterland
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2020
In the last two decades, the gender landscape in rural India has been greening, and women are now on the cusp of a powerful social and political revolution. The harbinger of this change is a unique policy experiment in village-level governance, the Panchayat Raj Act, which has brought transformative results for the weakest of the weak: the village women.
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Celebrating the 125-Year-Old Legacy of Healthcare Work of Missionaries in Central India
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Apr 2020
Central India has been one of the most fertile belts for several unique experiments undertaken by missionaries in the field of education and healthcare. The result is a network of several well-known schools, colleges and hospitals that have woven themselves into the social landscape of the region. They have also become a byword for quality and affordable services delivered to all sections of the society.
→ read full articleThe Farewell Sermon of Prophet Muhammad
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Nov 2019
Birth Anniversary Tribute, 9-10 Nov 2019 – As you read these lines, 1.6 billion Muslims across the world, from Morocco to Jakarta, will be paying homage to the Prophet Muhammad on his birthday. Here Is His Sermon.
→ read full articleBapu Kuti: Lessons from Gandhi’s Home – Letter to Adolf Hitler
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Oct 2019
“My aim is not to be consistent with my previous statements on a given question, but to be consistent with truth as it may present itself to me at a given moment. The result has been that I have grown from truth to truth ….” — Gandhi
→ read full articleIndia’s Ailing Health Sector
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Jul 2019
India’s economy is soaring and is now the world’s envy but its healthcare system remains an Achilles’ heel. For millions of people, the high costs of treatment continue to undermine economic progress. This is largely on account of the country’s dilapidated healthcare system — a major symptom of the dire lack of funding.
→ read full articleHanging by a Thread
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jul 2019
India has been home to a variety of arts and crafts which have won it a coveted place in the cultural heritage of the world. The weavers’ craft is threatened with extinction by power looms which offer a cheaper and faster way to produce the same goods; it can take weaver weeks to create what the machines can produce in a day. Moreover, machine products have a much sophisticated finish. As a result, many weavers’ clusters across the country are languishing.
→ read full articlePanchayat Raj: The Harbinger of a Great Female Revolution
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 May 2019
In 1993, India introduced the Panchayati Raj (Village Government) Act, mandating a three-tiered structure of local governance at the village, block and district levels with reservation of one third of all posts in gram panchayats–village councils at the bottom tier of India’s decentralized governance system–for women.
→ read full articleThe Message of Ramadan
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 May 2019
15 May 2019 – This is the holy month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and the most sacred month in Islamic culture. It is in this month that Muslims, about one fifth of the world’s population, undergo a rigorous fast (not even a drop of water or spittle passes their throats).
→ read full articleRevitalising India’s Self Help Groups
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 May 2019
10 May 2019 – We live in a world where impoverished women face gross inequalities and injustice right from their childhood. Since their initiation, self-help groups have come a long way. They have been able to empower the social, economic and political lives of millions of women. The enormous success of the Panchayat Raj is proof of the pudding on the cake.
→ read full articleIt Is Time We Stop Treating Poor as Guinea Pigs
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Apr 2019
India has long been a testing ground for several western products, particularly in agriculture and medicine. Although imported programmes have the benefit of supplying ‘pre-tested’ models, they are inherently risky because they may not take root in the local culture when transplanted. Home-grown models have greater chances of success. The millions of households who constitute the rural poor are a potential source of great knowledge and creativity.
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Baba Amte’s Legacy Sparks a Granddaughter’s Fire
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Apr 2019
26 Mar 2019 – The world is witnessing a spring of a new generation of young game-changing women social entrepreneurs that is boldly scripting inspiring stories of change. It is pairing ingenuity and knowledge with passion for bringing innovative and sustainable solutions to long entrenched social challenges so that our world becomes more equitable and sustainable. These young icons are stepping into power in technology, banking, philanthropy, civil society, business, media and even politics.
→ read full articleFood for Thought: India Losing the Battle against Hunger
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Mar 2019
India produces enough food to meet the needs of its entire population, and has at its disposal arable land that has the potential to produce food surplus for export. Yet, it is unable to feed millions of its people, especially women and children. India needs to mobilise large-scale investments in cold storage methods, refrigerated transport and other modern logistics to modernise its food supply chain.
→ read full articleIndia’s First Urban Self-Help Group Continues to Bloom
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Mar 2019
Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize: “Poverty is not created by poor people. It’s created by the system we built. Poor people are like a bonsai tree. You take the best seed from the tallest tree in the forest, but if you put it in a flower pot to grow, it grows only a meter high. There’s nothing wrong with the seed. The problem is the size of the pot. Society doesn’t give poor people the space to grow as tall as everybody else. ”
→ read full articleGender Gap: A Bridge Still Far
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Mar 2019
Women and families the world over work tirelessly to end the poverty and hunger in their lives. But it can take much more than hard work. They need new tools to create their own paths forward. They need opportunities that can overcome economic, cultural and gender barriers. It needs multissectoral cooperation to create breakthrough ideas and breakthrough solutions that break through and break down economic, social and technical barriers.
→ read full articleIt’s Time to Balance Profits and Social Good
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Mar 2019
‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ or better known by its acronym, CSR, is a very broad concept that aims at managing a business in a way that it contributes towards sustainable development by delivering social, economic and environmental benefits to all its stakeholders.
→ read full articleWhy Are We Failing the Mentally Ill?
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Feb 2019
Among the many challenges India faces, the most underappreciated is the ongoing mental health crisis. Mental illness is actually India’s ticking bomb.
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India’s Invisible Water Wizard Conquers the World
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Feb 2019
Meeanayak’s silent crusade caught international eyes and he was awarded the Energy Globe World Award 2018 in the category ‘Water’ for his innovative development of the twin ring method of rain water harvesting through bore well recharge at the international award ceremony at Yazd in Iran, on 28th January this year.
→ read full articleIndia’s Civil Service Needs to Reinvent Itself
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Feb 2019
The New Public Management (NPM) is a paradigm of hybrid administration that calls for the integration of diverse actors in governance. These actors include the state, market, and civil society where the government is strengthening the political line of command through the privatisation of bureaucracy. The LE decision is being presented as a mini-reform considering the government’s disenchantment with the old public administration.
→ read full articleAn Asset That We Cannot Afford to Neglect
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Feb 2019
4 Feb 2019 – The building blocks of a nation are the citizens of its tomorrow. The way these seeds will sprout will always depend on the way you choose to water them. India’s education sector is one of the largest sunrise sectors in the economic and social development of the country.
→ read full articleSaving the Tiller, Securing the Farmer
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Jan 2019
Though agriculture employs 64 percent of the total rural workforce, it produces only 39 percent of the total monetary rural output. Price realisation is poor, and farmers are unable to negotiate fair, self-sustaining prices—largely due to India’s antiquated agricultural market system, which is juxtaposed with high input costs (seeds, labour, equipment, transportation, and so on).
→ read full articleAn Ode to a Village Postman
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Oct 2018
A village democracy is a microcosm of the national democracy. The villagers themselves are quaint heroes and most bewildering windows with which to view their world. The postman became my lens for gazing the rural horizon. He was an informal rural sociologist and demographer for all visiting government officials.
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Wasting Food in a Hungry World
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Oct 2018
WORLD FOOD DAY: 16 OCTOBER – India produces enough food to meet the needs of its entire population, and has at its disposal arable land that has the potential to produce food surplus for export. Yet, it is unable to feed millions of its people. It ranks 100th among 119 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2017, where it has consistently ranked poorly.
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India: Why Don’t We Talk More about Mental Health?
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Oct 2018
World Mental Health Day – 10 October 2018
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India’s Native Grassroots Health Revolution
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Oct 2018
25 Sep 2018 – Inclusive growth is now perhaps the strongest buzzword in development discourse. We have all been talking about growth without understanding that development interventions will not be effectual if they don’t benefit all sections of society. The illusion of trickle-down and ripple-effects of growth had kept us on the wrong track for quite long.
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A Madrasa That Promises both Heaven and Earth
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Sep 2018
The South Indian city of Bidar–the northernmost part of Karnataka, 145 km from Hyderabad–is a placid habitation where Hindus and Muslims peaceably coexist to the eternal rhythms of sowing and harvest. It is barely known beyond the subcontinent. However, in recent years, it has built a great reputation in the field of education.
→ read full articleIndia’s Missing Women
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Sep 2018
Gender remains a critically important but largely ignored lens to view development issues across the world. Gender inequality is not only a pressing moral and social issue but also a critical economic challenge. India has a larger relative economic value at stake in advancing gender equality.
→ read full articleHas Microfinance Missed the Mark?
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Sep 2018
30 Aug 2018 – Microfinance continues to thrive despite being under fire from legions of critics. One plausible reason for the lingering faith in the power of microfinance is that it provides a convenient strategy for investors to demonstrate that they are active fighters against poverty and are trying to save the poor while making a substantial amount of money from them. It is built on a false belief that credit is the most vital need of the marginalized.
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India’s Changing Health Discourse
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Aug 2018
Inclusive growth is now perhaps the strongest buzzword in development discourse. We have all been talking about growth without understanding that development interventions will not be effectual if they don’t benefit all sections of society. The illusion of trickle-down and ripple-effects of growth had kept us on the wrong track for quite long.
→ read full articleSeeds of Discontent
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2018
Small farmers are the key to ending poverty and hunger and promoting sustainable development. In India, small and marginal farmers—those who work on less than two hectares (five acres) of land—constitute 80 percent of all farm households, 50 percent of rural households and 36 percent of the total of all households. Sadly, the plight of these farmers is very distressing.
→ read full articleIndia’s Tryst with Independence
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2018
15 August is the most cherished date in the Indian calendar. It was on this momentous day, more than seven decades back, that we were born an independent and free country. Mahatma Gandhi’s luminous leadership finally made the British quit India in 1947. It is certainly an occasion for celebration.
→ read full articleHanging by a Thread
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Aug 2018
India has been home to a variety of arts and crafts which have won it a coveted place in the cultural heritage of the world. Handloom is one of the most exquisite textile traditions of India, and Hand-spun and woven fabrics were for centuries an integral part of India’s rich textile tradition.
→ read full articleBridging India’s Skill Gap
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Jul 2018
Globalization and the Fourth Industrial Revolution have increased the pace of change in labour markets, putting a premium on right skills and adaptability. Public policies should now shift to empowering and enabling workers to cope with transition, via income support, and also support incentives and opportunities for deskilling and upgrading skills.
→ read full articleIndia’s Thirsty Arguments for Water Woes
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Jul 2018
Israel took 70 years to solve its water problem; India won’t need that long, as it can replicate Israeli practices. It needs to summon the political will to act before water runs out. Changing governance, raising money, and experimenting new ideas will all take time and the climatic stresses are mounting fast. The time to act is now.
→ read full articleIndia’s Civil Service Needs to Reinvent Itself
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jul 2018
28 Jun 2018 – The Indian Civil Service represents the crème de la crème of the country’s university graduates who form the backbone of the country’s administration. “The perfect bureaucrat everywhere is the man who manages to make no decisions and escape all responsibility.” — Brooks Atkinson
→ read full article
How a Mumbai Couple Is Transforming Lives of the Other 90%
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Servivce,
25 Jun 2018
21 Jun 2018 – When you flick back through history, you will find that a burst of creativity occurs when people start believing that the search for solutions to complex problems has come to an end. This explosion is fate’s way of reminding us that there is always something just over the curve of innovation.
→ read full articleIndia’s First Urban Women Collective’s Long Road to Empowerment
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Jun 2018
I vividly remember my moment of epiphany. It was a balmy afternoon in early 1996 in Warora, a small township in northern Maharashtra. I was posted as a manager of the local branch of my bank, the State Bank of India.
→ read full articleWhat Ramadan Teaches Me Every Year!
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jun 2018
Religious fasting traditions- from Ramadan to Ekadasi to Yom Kippur and Lent -are meant to relieve believers from many avoidable mundane compulsions, helping them replenish their spirituality, remember the poor, give up bad habits, make amends for moral deficiencies and get closer to their faith. The most prominent among these spiritual fasting customs is Ramadan.
→ read full articleMuslim Zakat: Reigniting the Fire of Camaraderie
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jun 2018
4 Jun 2018 – The idea that helping others is part of a meaningful life has been around for thousands of years. For Muslims, charity is a central aspect of their faith and practice. In Islam, a culture of giving is interwoven into the fabric of its forms of worship. Helping the poor is a religious mandate.
→ read full articleThe Message of Ramadan
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 May 2018
28 May 2018 – This is the holy month when Muslims, about one fifth of the world’s population, undergo a rigorous fast (not even a drop of water or spittle passes their throats). From dawn to dusk each day this month, Muslims do not eat, drink, smoke, use perfume or apply leeches and abstain from conjugal relations.
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Baba Amte’s Legacy Ignites Granddaughter
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 May 2018
The world is witnessing a new breed of women leaders and game-changers who are gate crashing and boldly scaling new heights even as they are pairing their ingenuity and knowledge with passion for bringing lasting solutions to society to create a sustainable and more equitable world.
→ read full articleIn the Shadows: India’s Mental Health Crisis
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Apr 2018
2 Apr 2018 – India is facing a possible ‘mental health epidemic’. “The number of affected in India is larger than the entire population of Japan. We need to address this gap and ensure that by 2022 at least those who are suffering from severe mental disorders have been diagnosed and have access to treatment facilities.”
→ read full articleIndian Moneylenders Still Hold the Crown
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2018
23 Mar 2018 – Almost every farmer in India’s massive rural swathes is tethered, in one way or another, to the sahukar, the Indian variety of the moneylender, the ubiquitous, ravenous loan shark. For centuries, moneylenders have monopolized rural Indian credit markets.
→ read full articleThirsty Crops Drain India Dry
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Mar 2018
World Water Day: 22 March 2018 – Water is a crucial part of all societies as it has myriad uses. In India, however, it is of much more importance as over 600 million people make a living off the land. Realising its predicament decades ago, Israel studied the “water equation” and made itself all but independent from Mother Nature. Israel took 70 years to solve its water problem; India won’t need that long, as it can emulate Israeli advances.
→ read full articleNew Momentum to India’s Financial Inclusion
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2018
8 Mar 2018 – Financial inclusion should not end with just opening accounts. The customer must make this account his financial diary and conduct transactions which can grow into a credit history. Or else all these accounts would remain deadweight. What needs to be done is to make more and more of these accounts actively transactional.
→ read full articleWomen in Rural India: The Long Road to Power
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2018
Empowering women is the solution to many problems. Societies that take the effort to empower women show better development indices; are better governed; more stable; and are less prone to violence.
→ read full articleThe Heaven’s Caravan
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Feb 2018
16 Feb 2018 – The Muslim world is in crisis and a biased media has added its own biased colour to it. The negative stereotyping has created an impression that everything Muslim is evil.
→ read full article
Faiz Ahmed Faiz (13 Feb 1911 – 20 Nov 1984): The Fiery Conscience of Our Times
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Feb 2018
As a Marxist, Faiz rejected the notion of “art for art’s sake“. Referring to the poet Keats’s famous lines that beauty is love and love is beauty and a beautiful object is an eternal source of joy, Faiz says that, notwithstanding what Keats may have felt, beauty can only be eternal when it is creative, when it inspires the onlooker’s enthusiasm, thought and action with promoting more beauty.
→ read full articleHow the First Lady of Islam Set an Example for the Generations to Come
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jan 2018
22 Jan 2018 – The public perception of Muslim women is one of stubborn stereotypes: supposedly powerless and oppressed, behind walls and veils, demure, voiceless and silent figures, discriminated and bereft of even basic rights.
→ read full articleThe Madrasa Myth
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 Jan 2018
Madrasas across the world have suffered a great loss of reputation recently, primarily owing to a wave of extremism. These Islamic schools have been maliciously projected as incubators of holy warriors or what has been derisorily called as ‘jihad machines’.
→ read full articleMalnutrition Ravages India’s Children
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Jan 2018
With 17% of the world’s population, India is home to a quarter of the world’s hungry. The dismal health of Indian women and children is primarily due to lack of food security. Food security exists when all people at all times have physical, economic and social access to safe, adequate and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs for a healthy and active life.
→ read full articleThe Seeds of Discontent
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Dec 2017
23 Dec 2017 – In India, small and marginal farmers—those who work on less than two hectares (five acres) of land—constitute 80% of all farm households, 50% of rural households and 36% of the total of all households… Within this self-perpetuating cycle of rural misery, wrapping a noose around the neck is the all-too-easy exit for an increasing number of smallholding farmers.
→ read full articleThe Farewell Sermon of Prophet Muhammad
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Dec 2017
15 Dec 2017 – The farewell sermon of Prophet Muhammad is one of the most important charters of human rights and symbolizes the inclusive character of Islam. It has great relevance in present times for both Muslims and the humanity at large.
→ read full articleMy Romance with a Village Postman
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Nov 2017
In a village the postman enjoyed a unique status unrivalled by his urban colleagues. His social perimeter straggled the constellation of villages he covered in his official errands which could be anywhere between 4-5 villages depending on the size of each village. No one could dare challenge his credentials about knowing so much of the realities of rural social life.
→ read full articleMicro Insurance: A Critical Need for India’s Poor
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Oct 2017
27 Oct 2017 – Finance is the cementing force that holds all the pieces of our life together. It enables money to be in the right place, at the right time, and for the right situation. Thus from just being a safety net, micro insurance provides benefits that earlier generations could never imagine – hope in the future.
→ read full articleIndia’s Civil Code Tinderbox
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Oct 2017
20 Oct 2017 – India follows a system of legal pluralism that allows different religious communities to be governed by their own codes of personal law. This has been seen as a way of protecting distinct communal identities and safeguarding the right of citizens to practice their faith, as enshrined in the constitution. But Muslims are governed by the personal law, which came into force in 1937.
→ read full articleSufism Can Sanitise Our Planet
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Oct 2017
14 Oct 2017 – The world has changed in many profound ways. Developments over the last two or three decades have been, in many cases, quite remarkable — notably the tremendous reduction in global poverty — and offers hitherto undreamt of opportunities. But all is far from well.
→ read full articleIndia’s Microfinance Is Losing Its Soul
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Oct 2017
Microfinance is actually a tool in a broader development toolbox, but in certain conditions, it happens to be the most powerful tool. It has all to do with how we are using it and how we are defining the outcomes. It needs to shape a more responsible capitalism. It is certainly not an easy choice by any means, but a right choice for wise investors and society alike.
→ read full articleIndia’s Supreme Court Reins in Cow Vigilantism
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Oct 2017
29 Sep 2017 – India has been bedeviled by a spate of gruesome lynchings. And at the epicenter of the country’s violent upheaval is the indolent cow which is considered sacred by Hindus .The targeted communities have lately got some breathing space after being under the grip of lynch mafias only when the country’s highest court stepped into action.
→ read full articleMantras for a New India
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Sep 2017
25 Sep 2017 – In India, the priorities of village people are constantly undergoing changes. These are, in fact, a result of the changes the development landscape is undergoing… We now have the techniques and resources to get rid of poverty. The real question is whether we have the will.
→ read full articleMy Odyssey with Dairy Farmers
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Sep 2017
1 Sep 2017 – When I travelled for my first assignment to a village as a bank manager, I believed the best way I could help the poor villagers was by helping them with loans for purchasing livestock. A cow (or a goat) is a much better medium for income than training a poor family to learn to set up a small business.
→ read full articleThe Dilemma of a Secular Muslim in Present Day India
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
28 Aug 2017
24 Aug 2017 – An educated, secular and liberal Indian Muslim is in a bind; he is torn between finding the right balance between loyalty to his faith and adherence to the new tests of patriotism being imposed by certain intolerant groups.
→ read full articleIndia’s Muslims at the Crossroads
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Aug 2017
In a larger landscape of increasing communalization, where Muslims continue to face social discrimination and exclusion in education, housing, employment and development schemes, the government should economically and socially empower the community so that it comes out with its own appropriate solutions for overall social reforms.
→ read full articleIndia’s Path of Financial Inclusion
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
14 Aug 2017
The opportunity to reach the financially excluded with a new generation of financial services has huge developmental as well as commercial potential. One of the ways for accelerating this path is through digital financial inclusion. It is perhaps the most powerful tool to unlock the most value for those at the bottom of the pyramid.
→ read full articleIndia’s NGOs Need to Realign Their Focus
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Aug 2017
2 Aug 2017 – India is now all set to frame a law to curb the wild growth of NGOS following a series of strict observations of the Supreme Court. Think tanks shape the social and political conversations that mold public opinion. Money comes with strings that can undermine a revolutionary’s mission. As with any institutional structure the need for transparency and accountability is crucial.
→ read full articleAn Odyssey in India’s Bureaucratic Jungle
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
31 Jul 2017
As Verghese Kurien, the father of India’s Milk Revolution repeatedly emphasized: “India’s place in the sun would come from the partnership between wisdom of its rural people and skill of its professionals “.
→ read full articleIslam Is Simple: Muslims Make It Hard
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Jul 2017
The theme of moderation in religious practice has been the leitmotif in Islamic literature from the time of Prophet Muhammad. In the Quran and the Prophetic traditions that amplify it, Muslim women and men are called upon to exercise moderation in all aspects of their religious life.
→ read full articleThe Subversion of India’s Pluralist Legacy
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Jul 2017
17 Jul 2017 – Too much of the thinking about Muslim rulers is now being shaped along predictable, clichéd lines. This is true of all shades of opinion, perception and scholarship. There is evidence from a number of established scholarly discourses that the public perception about Muslim rulers is being increasingly manipulated to fit into a profile constructed by right wing historians.
→ read full articleIndia Set to Forgive Billions of Dollars of Farm Debts
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Jul 2017
10 Jul 2017 – A resurgence of the farm loan waiver culture in India has got many economists and policy makers worried. In a country where a bulk of the farmland is rain-fed, the need to offer some relief to a drought-hit farmer is serious. But it is an acknowledged fact that loan waivers are a wrong practice and have several detrimental long term implications.
→ read full articleWomen in Islam: Beyond Stereotypes
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Jul 2017
Too much of the thinking about Muslim women is done along predictable, clichéd lines. This is true of all shades of opinion, perception and scholarship .This opinion profiles Muslim women in stubborn stereotypes: supposedly powerless and oppressed, behind walls and veils, demure, voiceless and silent figures, discriminated and bereft of even basic rights.
→ read full articleHow One Man Is Changing the Face of Housing in Rural India
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Jun 2017
26 Jun 2017 – Historians will tell you that an explosion of creativity occurs the moment the world starts complaining that there is nothing left to invent or that the search for solutions to complex problems has come to an end. This explosion is fate’s way of reminding us that there is always something just over the horizon of knowledge.
→ read full articleInside the World of Indian Moneylenders
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Jun 2017
“I get my money where everyone else does.” “Where is that?” “Everyone knows. I get it from a five-six.” “What is a five-six?” “It is the place where you borrow five rupees in the morning, and pay back six rupees in the evening.” It is possible to get day loans in the vegetable market that provide 100 rupees in the morning but have to be repaid with 10 rupees interest by dusk.
→ read full articleA Right Time to Ponder over India’s Water Woes
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Jun 2017
Realizing its dire predicament decades ago, Israel studied the “water equation” and made itself all but independent of Mother Nature. Israel took 70 years to solve its water problem; India won’t need that long, as it can emulate Israeli advances. But New Delhi must summon the political will to act before water runs out.
→ read full articleIndia Needs to Focus on Its Development Warriors
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Jun 2017
5 Jun 2017 – India spends more on programmes for the poor than most developing countries but is not getting the expected dividends that significant public expenditure would seem to warrant, and the needs of important population groups still remain partly addressed. This has been haunting social scientists and policy makers.
→ read full articleTreating India’s Suicidal Farmers
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
8 May 2017
For every Indian farmer who takes his own life, a family is hounded by the debt he leaves behind, typically resulting in children dropping out of school to become farmhands. The Indian government’s response to the crisis—largely in the form of limited debt relief and compensation programs—has failed to address the magnitude and scope of the problem or its underlying causes.
→ read full articleMedia Is Free, but Is It Fair?
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 May 2017
In an ideal world, journalism is a profession of incredible integrity. Good journalists are amongst the most dexterous and skilled people in the world—and also the most respected.
→ read full articleWhat India’s Poor Really Need Is Microsavings, Not Microcredit
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Apr 2017
There’s an old saying about poverty: Give me a fish, and I’ll eat for a day. Give me a fishing rod, and I’ll eat for a lifetime. But these days, particularly in India, there’s evidence that one of the most effective tools to fight poverty may not be a fishing rod, but a savings account. What we need is a savings revolution.
→ read full articleIndian Microfinance Needs to Pause and Reflect
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Apr 2017
Microfinance is actually a tool in a broader development toolbox, but in certain conditions, it happens to be the most powerful tool. It has all to do with how we are using it and how we are defining the outcomes. It needs to shape a more responsible capitalism.
→ read full articleIndia’s Pluralism under Siege
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Apr 2017
India follows a system of legal pluralism that allows different religious communities to be governed by their own codes of personal law as a way of protecting distinct communal identities and safeguarding the right of citizens to practice their faith, as enshrined in the constitution. But Muslims are governed by the personal law, which came into force in 1937.
→ read full articleIndia Needs to Move Beyond Hubris
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Apr 2017
Sometimes we filter when we listen, having a preconceived notion of the ground realties. In a country as large and diverse as India, it makes sense to connect those who live in similar climates and by tracking the effectiveness of the projects they manage and making appropriate, informed changes to those that aren’t working.
→ read full articleIndia’s Village Women Glide the Development Landscape
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Mar 2017
27 Mar 2017 – Gender inequality is not only a pressing moral and social issue but also a critical economic challenge. India has a larger relative economic value at stake from advancing gender equality than any of the ten regions analyzed in a McKinsey Global Institute report, The Power of Parity: How Advancing Women’s Equality Can add $12 Trillion To Global Growth.
→ read full articleIndia’s Improbable Harbingers of Political Change
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Mar 2017
Rural Indian women haven’t always had much by way of social agency or political power to pay an active role in the development of their community. Malnourished, suppressed, uneducated, violated, and discriminated against, Indian women had the odds badly stacked against them. Deeply entrenched stereotypical norms had relegated women to the domestic space and severely restricted their engagement in public affairs, an area largely dominated by men.
→ read full articleThe Delusion of Microfinance
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Mar 2017
8 Mar 2017 – When microfinance–providing small loans and other financial services to poor people, primarily women–made its first appearance, everyone was infatuated by its narrative: Those on the left loved its stories of transformed women and direct empowerment of the poor. Those on the right loved how it promoted grass-roots capitalism, fostered a culture of entrepreneurship, and all this by doing away subsidies.
→ read full articleIndia’s New Push to Digital Financial Transition
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Mar 2017
Access to the right financial tools at critical moments can determine whether a poor household is able to capture an opportunity to move out of poverty or absorb a shock without being pushed deeper into debt. However, the existing “bricks and mortar” banking system doesn’t work for poor people, in part because most of their transactions are conducted in cash. Handling cash transactions is costly for banks, utilities companies, and other institutions, which pass along the costs associated with storing, transporting, and processing cash to their customers.
→ read full articleA New Relevance for India’s Moderate Madrasas
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2017
West Bengal has become the first state to begin the modernization of the traditional madrasas with the support from central government. As a result nearly 600 government recognized madrasas have modern curriculum. They offer courses in physics, chemistry, biology, geography, mathematics, computer science, English language and literature and other regular subjects.
→ read full articleThe Plight of India’s Small Farmers
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Feb 2017
The Green Revolution in the 1970s relied on high-yielding seeds, irrigation, fertilizers and pesticides to increase agricultural productivity, but took a heavy toll on the land and water resources of the country, reducing long-term productivity levels.
→ read full articlePutting the Last First
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Feb 2017
Handing the Poor the Reins of Development
→ read full articleFlashlights for Warriors of Development Programmes
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2017
Even when programme results are reported, the names and actions of the individuals who made the process successful on the ground are seldom known. We should really applaud and honour ordinary men and women, who have nobody to back them, yet are working doggedly to keep projects rolling.
→ read full articleWhat Makes Social Programmes That Work
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2017
Most development programmes for poor have been designed on the assumption that the poor need charities and they cannot afford to pay for the services. This is erroneous and we have witnessed how dollops of free money have stifled their initiatives.
→ read full articleComments Can Be Free, but Facts Must Be Sacred
Moin Qazi – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2016
The journalism of today may be bringing a lot of power and pelf to the practitioners of its trade, but, it is losing its sheen because it is becoming increasingly devoid of the essential content that earned it the honor of the Fourth Estate: trust.
→ read full article