Awards

IMC-USA AWARDS 2004

Indian Muslim Council Awards

Indian Muslim Council-USA has instituted awards named after the below
mentioned Indian Muslim heroes, for the following categories:

Khwaja Altaf Husain Hali: Service towards the upliftment of
Muslims in India.

Bahadur Shah Zafar: For promoting pluralism and communal harmony
in India

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad: Best Muslim high school student from
the Indian Diaspora in the US.

Maulana Muhammad Ali Jowhar: Best in-depth coverage of the
Indian Diaspora in the US media.

Rafi Ahmed Kidwai: Selfless service rendered to uplift the
oppressed and the disadvantaged segments of the Indian society.

Tipu Sultan: Services that safeguard and promote India's
interests.

Awaredees

Khwaja Altaf Husain Hali
Khwaja Altaf Husain Hali, one of the greatest social reformers of India
was born in Panipat. He was also a great poet and his collection of verses
was published under the title, Deewan-e-Hali.

Hali came into prominence during one of the darkest hours of Indian Muslim
history. The Muslims had taken lead in India's first war of independence
against the British in 1857, and after losing the war had to face the
brunt of the victor's revenge. Muslim mutineers and their supporters were
murdered in the thousands by the British and a policy of systematic
discrimination was instituted against the Muslims.

Hali used his pen to bring about social and educational reforms among
Muslims. He heralded a new movement in Urdu prose and poetry free from
jargon and verbiage. He wrote the famous "Musaddas-e-Hali", a narrative on
the rise and fall of Muslims that was published in 1879. Hali reviled "the
rich for their selfishness, the aristocracy for their degeneracy,
religious leaders for their bigoted ignorance, and poets for their foolish
triviality." Extracts from Musaddas are still being taught to Indian
Muslims in schools and in religious and educational functions.

Hali blazed a new trail and used the poetic genre of the long Urdu nazm as
an instrument of social and moral reform. Maulana Hali's ghazals reflect
his command over the form of poetry but later on in life, he focused more
on nazm as a means of expression. Hali also used the nazm for interpreting
the beauties of nature, a theme that was more or less neglected, or
treated marginally by the poets of classical ghazal.

In his prose treatise, "Muqaddam-e-Shair-o-Shairi", one of the earliest
texts in Urdu literary criticism, Hali underscored the limitations of the
classical ghazal and pointed out the hollowness of its hackneyed themes,
thus putting the nazm on a surer path of progress.

The ghazal has been primarily used as an instrument of aesthetic and
intellectual pleasure, and a source of courtly entertainment, while a nazm
combines pleasure with purpose, in service of society. It is a more
earthbound form of poetry, with a moral and a message. His patriotic nazm
like Hubbe Watan went a long way in fostering Hindu-Muslim unity that was
being undermined by the British.

Hali was a pioneer in Urdu literature, the first major poet to put forward
the theory that "literature should be harnessed into the service of the
community, and made to advance the cause of social welfare and
betterment."

To Hali also goes the credit of being the first to introduce the genre of
biography in Urdu. He authored Heyat-e-Saadi, Heyat-e-Javed and
Yadgar-e-Ghalib.

Altaf Husain Hali, until his death in 1914, served the Aligarh movement
with considerable dedication, validating Sir Syed Ahmad's call for change
among Muslims. Like Sir Syed Ahmad, Hali found the existing Muslim society
to be decadent and static, but he arrived at that view not by comparing it
with the modern western civilization, but with the history of Islam.
Indeed, by presenting Islam as a modern religion, in accord with science
and rationalism.

In his novel, Majalis-un Nisan (Assemblies of Women), Hali, emphasizes the
need of educating women. The heroine, Zubaida Khatun, is taught the
Qur'an, Arabic, Persian and Urdu as well as mathematics, geography and
history by her father. This was at a time, when studying "British"
subjects such as geography and mathematics was a taboo even for Indian
Muslim men.

Hali passed away on 30th September 1914 in Panipat, but the movement for
reformation and renaissance he helped start continues to this day.

Indian Muslim Council-USA has instituted the Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali
Award to recognize service towards the upliftment of Muslims in India.

Bahadur Shah Zafar
The last Mughal king, Bahadur Shah, better known as Bahadur Shah Zafar,
was born in 1775 at Delhi. He was the son of Akbar Shah from his Hindu
wife Lalbai. Bahadur Shah, after the death of his father, was placed on
the throne in 1837 when he was little over 60 years of age. He was last in
the lineage of Mughal emperors who ruled over India for about 300 years.

The British had curtailed the power and privileges of the Mughal rulers to
such an extent that by the time of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the Mughal rule was
confined to the Red Fort. Bahadur Shah Zafar was obliged to live on
British pension, while the reins of real power lay in the hands of the
East India Company.

During the reign of Bahadur Shah Zafar, Urdu poetry flourished and reached
its zenith. He himself was a prolific poet and an accomplished
calligrapher. He had acquired his poetic taste from his grandfather and
father who were also poets. He passed most of his time in the company of
poets and writers and was the author of four diwans. Love and mysticism
were his favorite subjects that found expression in his poetry.

Most of his poetry is full of pain and sorrow owing to the distress and
degradation he had to face at the hands of the British. He was a great
patron of poetry and literary work and some of the most eminent and famous
Urdu poets like Mirza Ghalib, Zauq, Momin and Daagh Dehlvi were of his
time.

It was at the time of Bahadur Shah that the War of Independence in 1857
started. The war started out as spontaneous and independent upsisings led
by leaders of diverse faiths. For the war to have any chance of success,
it needed a central figure to rally around. In Bahadur Shah Zafar the
freedom fighters -both Hindus and Muslims- found that symbol of freedom
and therefore nominated him as their Commander-in-Chief. In the initial
stages, the freedom fighters were successful, but later on the strong and
organized British forces defeated them. Bahadur Shah, who had been
proclaimed as an emperor of whole of India, was overthrown.

He was arrested with his three sons and a grandson. Captain Hodson killed
his sons and grandson and their severed heads were brought before him.
Bahadur Shah Zafar himself was tried for treachery. He was exiled to
Rangoon (now Yangon), Burma (now Myanmar), in 1858 where he lived his last
five years and died in 1862 at the age of 87.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958)
Maulana Abul Kalam Mohiuddin Ahmad Azad, one of the greatest sons of
modern India was the president of the Indian National Congress during the
most crucial period in the Indian freedom struggle, from 1940 to 1946. Yet
Lord Mountbatten, the last British viceroy of India, excluded him from the
final discussions on the partition, choosing instead to call only the four
lawyers: Gandhi, Jinnah, Nehru, and Patel for consultations. The reason
for this was that Maulana Azad was the only Indian leader of stature who
opposed partition till the very end; he was probably the only Indian
statesman with a guilt-free conscience while all the others looked on in
horror at the bloodbath that followed the partition.

Abul Kalam Mohiuddin Ahmad was born in Mecca in 1888. His father, Maulana
Khairuddin, was a scholar and spiritual guide.

Abul Kalam was bestowed with prodigious intelligence, and completed the
course of higher Islamic studies, Arabic and Persian by the age of 16 and
became an established Islamic scholar and a powerful writer before he even
turned 20. He learned English secretly and on his own since it was
considered a taboo to learn the language by conservative Muslims of that
time.

In 1906, in an unusual move for a Muslim, Azad joined one of Bengal's
Hindu revolutionary groups, and persuaded them to start including Muslims,
and expand out from their traditional operating zones of Bengal and Bihar.

In 1908 Azad visited Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Turkey and returned to India
"more convinced than ever" that Indian Muslims must cooperate in the work
of political liberation of the country. In 1912, he started Al-Hilal, an
Urdu religious weekly, with the aim of politically and religiously
awakening the Muslim masses. In it he urged a joint Hindu-Muslim struggle
against the British. He later began the publication of a second magazine,
Al-Balagh.

He also started a Quranic college, Madrassa Al-Irshaad, before the British
expelled him from Calcutta.

When Mohandas Gandhi returned from South Africa and started his nonviolent
non-cooperation movement, Azad instantly saw its significance and became
one of the first prominent Indian Muslims to be allied with Gandhi.

Azad joined the Khilafat movement under the dynamic leadership of Maulana
Mohammed Ali Jowhar and Shaukhat Ali, and convinced Gandhi and the
Congress to support it as a means of fostering Hindu-Muslim cooperation
against the British.

In 1923, the thirty-five year old Azad was elected president of Indian
National Congress for the first time. Azad played a crucial part in the
1932 Salt Satyagraha launched by Gandhi, and consequently made another one
of his frequent trips to jail.

When the 1935 Government of India Act was passed, Azad became a key member
of congress' parliamentary board, formed to regulate its entry into
legislature. In 1940 Azad was elected president of the INC for a second
time.

The Congress party adopted the Quit India resolution on 9th Aug 1942; Azad,
along with most Congress leaders was arrested the next morning and
imprisoned in the Ahmednagar fort. It was here that he wrote a series of
letters, describing his days in prison that later were published as "Ghubar-i-Khatir."

When news of the critical condition of Maulana Azad's ailing wife was
brought to him in jail, he asked for permission to visit her. But the
British rulers, who had earlier escorted bGandhi to visit his wife's
deathbed, did not care even to reply to him.

While he was in the prison, twice the British destroyed the manuscript of
his commentary on the Quran, Tarjumanul Quran. Azad did not give up and
when he was finally able to publish it, the commentary was accepted as a
great scholarly work by the Islamic scholars.

Azad did not let his personal grievances against the British come in the
way of national good. After his release from the prison, he led the
Congress delegation in its negotiations with the British Cabinet Mission
in 1946. That same year he joined the interim government and became the
education minister.

Azad tried his utmost to prevent the partition of India and after
partition, Azad strove to protect Indian Muslims against the onslaught of
the horrible communal frenzy that engulfed vast tracts of North India. He
teamed with his old friend Gandhi in trying to bring the crazed masses
back to their senses, and to save India from being washed out in the flash
flood of blood that followed partition.

In his book India Wins Freedom, Azad poured out his grief at the
partition, its aftermath, failure of the political class, pettiness of
personal ambition, rashness of passion, and craftiness of the British. It
is considered by many to be a definitive documentation of the final leg of
India's journey to Independence and sovereignty.

As India's first education minister, Azad laid emphasis on technical,
adult and women's education. Abul Kalam Azad died on February 22, 1958 at
the age of seventy.

Indian Muslim Council-USA has instituted the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Award
to recognize the best Muslim high school student from the Indian Diaspora
population in the US.

Maulana Muhammad Ali Jowhar (1878-1931)
Maulana Muhammad Ali Jowhar was a dynamic national political leader, a
courageous journalist and a poet par excellence.

He was born in Rampur and was educated at Aligarh Muslim University and
the Oxford University (1898-1902).

He launched his famous English weekly "Comrade" from Calcutta in 1911 and
his Urdu weekly "Hamdard" from Delhi in 1913.

He became a principal leader of the Khilafat Movement. He was the younger
of the famous 'Ali Brothers' and led the Indian Khilafat delegation to
London in 1920.

He played a crucial role in establishing Mohandas Gandhi as a national
leader after Gandhi returned from South Africa.

In 1923, Mohammad Ali served as president of the Indian National Congress.
He was imprisoned at the time and after his release, he went straight from
prison to Kokannada to make his Presidential address to the Congress. In
spite of his extremely busy schedule, he found time to write his
autobiography 'My Life a Fragment'.

In 1930, he became the president of the Khilafat Conference and attended
the first Round Table Conference, where he delivered a memorable and fiery
oration against the subjugation of India and in favor of immediate
independence. He was in ill health and demanded in his speech, "Give me
freedom or give me a grave in a free land"

After giving a soul-stirring speech at the First Roundtable Conference in
1930, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jowhar died in London. He was buried in
Jerusalem since he did not wish to return to an India that was not free.

H.G. Wells, the celebrated English novelist proclaimed: `Muhammad Ali
possessed the pen of McCauley, the tongue of Burke and the heart of
Napoleon'.

Indian Muslim Council-USA has instituted the Maulana Muhammad Ali Jowhar
Award to recognize the best in-depth coverage of the Indian Diaspora in
the US media.

Rafi Ahmed Kidwai (1894-1954)
Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, who grew up to serve India as a brave freedom fighter,
a visionary reformer and an excellent administrator, was born on 18
February 1894 in a middle class Zamindari (landlord) family at Masauli in
the Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh.

He obtained his BA degree from Aligarh University, but soon after joined
the Indian freedom struggle. At the time of the historic joint session of
the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League at Lucknow, where the
Congress-League Pact was signed in December 1916, he participated in the
meetings with his Uncle Vilayat Ali. He also became a regular member of
the Khilafat Movement in 1920.

He was the main force behind the Non-Cooperation Movement in Barabanki
district. He was jailed and sentenced to six months in June 1930 for
spearheading a no-rent campaign by farmers and villagers, in the Rae
Bareli district.

Kidwai became a minister in Pandit G.B. Pant's cabinet in United Province
when Congress governments were set up in many provinces under the
Provincial Autonomy Scheme in 1937. He was given the revenue portfolio and
under his stewardship, UP was the first province to enact land reforms to
amend some of the ills of the Zamindari system. In April 1946, he became
the Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He introduced many reforms in jails,
which aimed at making prisoners better citizens.

Kidwai became the minister for communications after India gained its
independence. He was later entrusted with the portfolio of food and
agriculture at a juncture when there was a severe shortage of food.
Undaunted, Kidwai set out to apply his administrative skills to the
problem and soon turned man-made scarcity into abundance.

Kidwai was a man of considerable learning, which was not confined to
scholarship alone. People, not books interested him. His strong point was
a bold and imaginative approach with a human touch. He was a man of action
and lent excellent support to Prime Minister Nehru and India.

Ceaseless strenuous work shattered his health and he died on 24 October
1954. To honor this great man, who worked tirelessly, first to free India
from foreign occupation and then to ensure its self-sufficiency in food
production, the premier cancer hospital in South India was named after
him.

Indian Muslim Council, USA has instituted the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award to
be given as recognition for selfless service rendered to uplift the
oppressed and the disadvantaged segments of the Indian society.

Tipu Sultan (1750-1799)
Tipu Sultan, one of the greatest heroes of India was born on November 21,
1750 at Devanhali, a small town near Bangalore. He was the eldest son of
Haider Ali, the ruler of Mysore and was named after Tipu Mastan, a Sufi
saint of Arcot.

Tipu Sultan was an outstanding general and the hero of many battles in
which he inflicted crushing defeats on his enemies. The British forces
suffered some of their worst military defeats in India at his hands. He
employed the military tactics of swift movement and sudden surprise
against his enemies, who would either surrender or retreat in panic.

His primary aim was the expulsion of the British from India and for this
purpose he sought assistance from wherever he could. But the two other
important powers of southern India, namely, the Marathas and the Nizam,
had shut their eyes to the impending danger of foreign domination and the
British used them as tools to achieve their objects. His maxim was that
"it was far better to live like a tiger for a day than to live like a
jackal for a hundred years."

Tipu Sultan was an outstanding administrator, an enlightened ruler, a
great reformer and a patron of learning. He was endowed with great vision.
He was the only Indian ruler who understood the changing world and foresaw
the dangers of British imperialism. He was the first Indian ruler to have
understood the importance of building an effective navy. He was the first
Asian ruler to support the American Revolution and recognize the United
States of America as an independent nation. He tried to form alliances
with Napoleon and Ottoman caliphate of Turkey to expel the British from
India.

Despite spending most of his life engaged in wars, he introduced great
reforms in almost all departments of the state administration, which
brought unprecedented peace and prosperity to his people. He treated all
his subjects, irrespective of their religious beliefs, equally and fairly.
He developed agriculture and industry in his dominion and initiated
progressive agricultural reforms beneficial to the peasantry. The Sultan
took effective steps towards the promotion of trade and industry in his
country. He established several factories and built an Armada to protect
his marine commerce from pirates and to fight the British navy. This led
to the development of international trade with several countries,
especially of the East. He set up trading agencies in several coastal
towns and established large factories for manufacturing watches,
ammunition, cutlery and paper. Cottage industries also thrived. His state
was surplus in food grains, sugar, glassware, paper, silk and cotton
cloth.

Tipu Sultan was killed on May 4, 1799 by the treachery of some of his own
ministers and generals during a siege of his capital Srirangapatnam by the
British during the fourth Mysore war. The Sultan chose an honorable death
to a life as a vassal to a foreign power. One of the British commanders,
who took part in the battle, was reported to have declared that "the World
will soon forget us but will always remember Tipu Sultan." The commander,
Arthur Welsley was proven to be partially correct. He too became famous,
as the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon in the battle of
Waterloo.

Indian Muslim Council-USA has instituted the Tipu Sultan Award to
recognize services that safeguard and promote India's interests.

Convention 2003 Awards

Indian Muslim Council – USA
Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award in Humanitarian work
For self-less service towards the upliftment of the poor and the oppressed
classes in India
Fr. Cedric Prakash
Santa Clara – June 28th, 2003

Father Cedric Prakash
Fr. Cedric Prakash, a Jesuit Priest, and the spokesperson for the United
Christian Forum for Human Rights, India, has committed himself to the
service of faith and promotion of human rights, communal harmony, justice
and peace, for the last 30 years. Presently, Fr. Prakash is Director of
“Prashant” - a Centre for human rights, justice and peace, and is also the
Coordinator of the Province Office for Integral Social Development (POISD)
in Gujarat, India.
Fr. Prakash was Director of St. Xavier’s Social Service Society, (SXSSS) -
an organization involved in the slums of Ahmedabad. He has founded SHANTI
- an initiative to promote communal harmony, justice and peace.

Born in November, 1951, Fr. Prakash has studied Economics, Philosophy and
Theology, and has been engaged in development activities. He has also been
on several committees / commissions, held Directorships / memberships, and
continues to function as Trustee in various governing bodies at both local
and national levels. He is also a liaison for the Local Capacities for
Peace Project out of Harvard University. .

He was awarded:
• The Kabir Puraskar - an award by the President of India in 1995 - for
promotion of Communal Peace and Harmony,
• The Anubhai Chimanlal Nagarika Puraskar - an award by the Mayor of
Ahmedabad in 1996 - for his contribution to the city of Ahmedabad

In the wake of the communal carnage, which engulfed Gujarat from February
2002, Fr. Prakash has been involved in works related to communal harmony,
justice and peace. He is part of a seventeen-member committee called
‘Citizens for Justice and Peace’ which constituted the Concerned Citizens’
Tribunal whose findings have been put together in a voluminous report
entitled “Crime Against Humanity”.

Indian Muslim Council – USA
Tipu Sultan Award
For courage in serving India and India’s interests
Praful Bidwai
Santa Clara – June 28th, 2003

Praful Bidwai
Praful Bidwai is a journalist by profession. He is a columnist and
political commentator with The Hindustan Times, Frontline, The Tribune,
The Kashmir Times, Siasat Daily, Loma, rediff.com, Rashtriya Sahara, and
20 other English and Indian-language newspapers since 1993. He has
contributed to The Nation (New York) and The New Statesman and Society
(London). He was Senior Editor from 1981 to 1993 for The Times of India;
earlier he was Senior Assistant Editor and Assistant Editor of the paper
in Bombay and New Delhi. He was also the Special Correspondent, Financial
Express, Bombay. Prior to that he was Assistant Editor with Business India
in Bombay.

Praful Bidwai has been a Senior Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Studies,
Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. He has served on a number of
learned societies and bodies including the Indian Council of Social
Science Research and International Network of Scientists and Engineers
Against Proliferation (INESAP). Praful Bidwai is a National Coordination
Committee member of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP),
India and a founder member of the Movement in India for Nuclear
Disarmament (MIND), New Delhi.

Bidwai read philosophy, economics, science and technology at the Indian
Institute of Technology, Bombay. He then pursued development studies,
political science and research in the labor movement and environmental
issues.

Praful Bidwai (with Achin Vanaik) received the Sean MacBride International
Peace Prize, 2000 of International Peace Bureau, Geneva. Bidwai
co-authored a book with Achin Vanaik, called South Asia on a Short Fuse:
Nuclear Politics and the Future of Disarmament. The international edition
is New Nukes: India, Pakistan and Global Nuclear Disarmament. He has also
co-authored with Vanaik, Testing Times: the Global Stake in a Nuclear Test
Ban and Something in the Wind: Politics after Chernobyl.

Indian Muslim Council – USA
Altah Hussain Hali Award in Humanitarian work
For self-less service towards the upliftment of Muslims in India
Mazoor Ghori
Santa Clara – June 28th, 2003

Manzoor Ghori
Manzoor Ghori is the Founder and Chairman of Indian Muslim Relief
Committee. He is Senior Clinical Scientist at Kaiser Permanent Medical
Center, Redwood City, CA. He has completed M.S in Management &
Supervision, Health Care Administration & Finance from Central Michigan
University, B.S in Medical Technology, Eastern Illinois University and
B.Sc in Chemistry & Zoology, Osmania University, India.

He founded Indian Muslim Relief Committee, which provides education,
health care services, and assistance to children and destitute women. It
has supported more than 75,000 children in past 21 years. IMRC also
provides medical and emergency aid to needy persons in emergencies like
droughts, floods, riots etc. IMRC is currently helping the effort in
Gujarat to rebuild the lives of the victims of last year’s violence.

He was a member of International Action Center delegation to Iraq. He
visited Iraq in 1998 with Ramsey Clark, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, and
Representatives from 90 different countries.

He is one of the founding members of Muslim Community Association of Santa
Clara, CA; he is the founder and past President of Ameen Housing
Co-operative Inc., which provides interest free homes for low and medium
income families in S.F. Bay area.

Indian Muslim Council – USA
Moulana Muhammad Ali Jowhar Award in Journalism
For best in-depth coverage of Indian diaspora in the US
Rukmini Callimachi of Daily Herald for her series “The Passage From
India”.
Santa Clara – June 28th, 2003

Rukmini Callimachi
Romanian-born Rukmini Callimachi joined the Daily Herald as a staff
reporter in 2001. She previously covered India as a freelance reporter for
Time magazine and National Public Radio. She graduated from Dartmouth
College in 1995 and received her masters in linguistics from the
University of Oxford in 1999, where she also studied Sanskrit, the ancient
language of India. In 2000, she co-led the Royal Geographical Society's
expedition to Tibet.

Convention 2004 Awards

Indian Muslim Council – USA
Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award in Humanitarian work
For self-less service towards the upliftment of the poor and the oppressed
classes in India
Dr. A.R. Nakadar
Chicago – August 7th, 2004

Indian Muslim Council – USA
Tipu Sultan Award
For courageously serving India and India’s interests
Prabhudass D. John
Chicago – August 7th, 2004

PD John
John Prabhudoss is a human rights activist in Washington for the past 12
years. He has worked with various US and International lobby organizations
including the Apostolic Coalition and Council for International religious
Freedom since 1991. For 7 years, he worked as a Director of the
International Wing of the Apostolic Coalition. During his association with
the Coalition he spearheaded many campaigns on behalf of the Christian
church in many countries including the Christian church in India.

Later in 1999, he helped launch the Policy Institute for Religion and
State, a bi-partisan, pro-active think tank in Washington DC. The
Institute particularly studies the way in which majority faith in a nation
affects the policies and laws enacted by a particular government.

After the violence against the Christians in India increased dramatically
in 1998, PD John, along with many Indian American Christians, helped
organize the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of
North America. He has played a crucial role in bringing all like-minded
Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Muslims of Indian origin together
to fight the religious bigotry in India.

He has traveled extensively inside and outside the US to highlight the
issue of Religious violence against the religious minorities in India by
the Hindutva forces. He has organized numerous conferences, workshops,
discussion groups, symposiums and seminars in Washington DC to discuss
issues that affect all religious minorities in India. He also joined the
Interfaith Sadhbhavana team to visit the riot-affected places in Gujarat
last year and meet the victims.

Indian Muslim Council – USA
Altaf Hussain Hali Award in Humanitarian work
For self-less service towards the upliftment of Muslims in India
Kaleem Kawaja
Chicago – August 7th, 2004

Kaleem Kawaja
Kaleem Kawaja is a nationally-known social activist in the American Muslim
community. He obtained an MS degree in Engineering Management from the
Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, New York. Mr. Kawaja, is an engineering
manager in the
Sun-Earth-Connection program at the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. Mr. Kawaja
has been active in various South Asian community activities in Washington
DC for over 15 years. In recent years he has been president of The Muslim
Community Center, The Association of Indian Muslims of America, The
Organization for Universal Communal Harmony, and Maryland Chapter of the
American Muslim Council. Besides, Mr. Kawaja has been a member of the
Adabi Markaz for several years.

Indian Muslim Council – USA
Moulana Muhammad Ali Jowhar Award in Journalism
For best in-depth coverage of Indian diaspora in the US
Jerome McDonnel and Andrea Wenzel of Chicago Public Radio
Chicago – August 7th, 2004

Jerome McDonnell
Host, Worldview Chicago Public Radio

Jerome has been with Chicago Public Radio since 1984. He has served in
almost every capacity at the station beginning as an intern-volunteer.
He's stuffed envelopes, dubbed tapes, produced call-in shows plus a
weekend magazine show, had a number of technical functions, and a
management fling as well. Jerome was also the producer of Chicago Public
Radio's Midday with Sondra Gair, a international news analysis show. He
has hosted Worldview since 1994.

Jerome has been awarded the Peter Lisagor Award and the Illinois
Broadcasters' Association for Best Public Affairs Program in a series.
Andrea Wenzel
Producer, Worldview

Prior to becoming a producer of Worldview in July of 1999, Andrea was a
free-lance producer and intern for Worldview and an intern for Chicago
Public Radio's Mara Tapp Show. Previous internships included the
U.S./China Policy Foundation, CNN, and the White House Office of Political
Affairs.

Andrea has a B.A. and M.A. in the Social Sciences from the University of
Chicago.

Indian Muslim Council – USA
Bahadur Shah Zafar award for Communal Harmony
For promoting pluralism and communal harmony in India
Shri Kumar Poddar
Chicago – August 7th, 2004

Indian Muslim Council - USA
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Award
For excelling in education. To be given to a Chicago area student of
Indian origin.
Chicago – August 7th, 2004

Commendations

Letter from Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, National Advisory Council, India

Letter from the Consul General of India, IL, Chicago

Letter from Hon. Senator Peter Fitzgerald, IL, Chicago

Letter Letter from Hon. Congressman Nick J. Rahall, II, West Virginia

Letter from Hon. Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich, IL, Chicago

Letter from the Mayor of Chicago Hon. Richard M. Daley, IL, Chicago

Letter from Indian Cricketer Irfan Pathan, Gujarat, India [Auctioned Bats]

Letter from the Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment, MI

Letter from the International Association for the Advancement of Dalits [IAAD]

IMC-USA Press Releases

Various IMC-USA Press Releases

Initiatives

Indian Muslim NGO Network
An Initiative of Indian Muslim Council - USA

Email: ngos@imc-usa.org

IMC-USA 2nd Annual Convention (2004)
Participants:

* Indian Muslim Relief & Charities (IMRC)
* Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM)
* American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin (AFMI)
* Gujarati Muslim Association of America (GMAA)
* Indian Muslim Educational Foundation of North America (IMEFNA)
* Indian Muslim Education Support Group (IMESG)
* Iqra International Education Society (IIES)

Contact Information:

* Indian Muslim Relief & Charities (IMRC)
800 San Antonio Road, Suite 1
Palo Alto, CA 94303
Phone : 650-856-0440
Fax: 650-856-0444
Email: info@imrc.ws
Web: www.imrc.ws

* Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM)
P.O. Box 10654
Silver Spring, MD 20904
Email: Info@AimAmerica.org
Web: www.aimamerica.org

* American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin (AFMI)
29008 West Eight Mile Road
Farmington, MI 48336
Phone: 248-442-2364
Fax: 248-476-8926
Email: afmi11@aol.com
Web: www.afmi.org

* Gujarati Muslim Association of America (GMAA)
Lombard, IL

* Indian Muslim Educational Foundation of North America (IMEFNA)
950 75th Street
Downers Grove, IL 60516
Phone: 630) 852-0520
Fax: (630)-435-1429
Email: imefna@yahoo.com

* Indian Muslim Education Support Group (IMESG)
7524 N Kenton
Skokie, IL 60076
Phone: 847-329-7105

* Iqra International Education Society (IIES)
7450 Skokie Blvd.
Skokie, IL 60077
Phone:

Photos

Press Coverage

IMC-USA 2nd Annual Conventional coverage in the National

IMC-USA 2nd Annual Convention coverage in India Abroad

Theme

India's Muslims: Past, Present and Future will be the theme of IMC-USA's second annual convention.

Meet interact and network with Indian and Muslim leaders, professionals, NGOs, business owner and families.

Learn and share ideas with NRI's (non-resident Indians) of all religious backgrounds who are interested in safeguarding India's pluralism and are working towards a pluralist, prosperous and peaceful India.

Indian Muslims are the second largest community in India and the second largest community amongst the Muslims worldwide (over 150 million and around 12-15%).

Active in American Muslim scene at all levels, Indian Muslims are poised to help themselves and their counterparts in India who are facing severe challenges and left to defend themselves on their own.

* Share a unique, rich and enhancing experience
* Listen to eminent scholars, intellectuals, historians, journalists, community and human rights leaders
* Learn about the glorious past and great contributions of Indian Muslims to Islam and to India
* Learn of the dangers of Hindutva-fascism in the US and in India
* Learn about the challenges that over 150 million Muslims and other oppressed groups face in India
* Network with leaders and representatives of many different religious groups
* Network with charitable institutions working in India
* Enjoy a cultural program at the end - Bring Family & Friends

Focused Activities:

* Networking with other Indian Muslim organizations
* Professionals and Business Owners
* PIO’s / NRI’s
* NGO's
* Annual Recognition Awards
* Human Rights and Inter-Faith groups