By Nurul Islam Laskar, MM News,
GUWAHATI,3 NOVEMBER 2014: Dr Saif Sheikh, Vice President (Business Development & Finance), Jina Pharmaceuticals Inc, Illinois (USA) visited the Regional Institute of Science & Technology (RIST) on the outskirts of Guwahati on Monday morning.
He made a presentation on ‘Scope for higher studies in the United States of America’ following which he interacted with students and faculties of RIST. He also made a tour of the University of Science & Technology Meghalaya (USTM) and laid the foundation of the Federation of Aligarh Alumni Associations (FAAA) House in USTM campus. This FAAA house is expected to play a vital role in the facilitation of higher studies and campus recruitment of students of both RIST and USTM in the coming years. Incidentally, Dr Sheikh is also the President of FAAA which has 12 AMU Alumni Associations across USA as its affiliates.
Speaking on the sidelines, Sheikh informed that FAAA is a non-profit, secular, non-partisan, and non-political organisation serving educational, social, literary, and cultural needs of the community. The Association devoted to charitable, educational, literary, cultural, and social activities, formed to promote the interest of the Aligarh Muslim University, its student body and its alumni.
He further informed that an Aligarh Education Endowment Fund (AEEF) has also been established for the enhancement and modernisation of education, and improvement of educational opportunities for the underprivileged section s of the Indian society, especially the minorities. This should result, in the long run, in economically uplifting these groups and helping them to become productive members of the Indian society.
In a startling revelation, Sheikh remarked, “Over the last decade, India has undergone tremendous economic growth, fuelled by the information technology revolution supported by its large pool of college graduates. Unfortunately, a large section of the Indian society has been left behind primarily because of lack of educational opportunities, especially in science and technology. The digital divide is continuing to widen for this section of the society. A glaring example of a component of this underprivileged section of the society is the Muslim community. Although numbering 150 million, the Muslim community constituting 13.5 per cent of the population in India, has produced only 1.5 per cent of the graduates in technical and medical fields.
During this brief visit, Dr Sheikh was presented an ‘Award of Excellence’ by Mahbubul Hoque, Chancellor of USTM, for his noteworthy achievements in USA and making India proud by his good deeds. Dr PG Rao, Vice Chancellor of USTM, was also present on the occasion.