- Mohammed Shakir (Indian politician)
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Mohammed Shakir Former Minister of Tourism & Forest, Govt of Andhra Pradesh In office
1983–1994Constituency Kadiri Personal details Born July 16, 1948
KadiriPolitical party YSR Congress Party Spouse(s) Shahnaz Shakir Children Shagufta & Shoaib & Shazia & Shakeeb Residence Kadiri Religion Islam Early life
Mohammed Shakir (Telugu: మొహమ్మెద్ షాకిర్) (مہمد شاکر) is a prominent leader of Anantapur district and has served as a Minister in the state cabinet as well as in the AP Legislative Assembly. He was born on July 16, 1948 to Late Haji M. Abdul Rahman sab (aka MAR), a prominent trader of Kadiri, He was the 5th among the 16 children in the family and his management skills were in full display right from a very small age. He studied in the local Zilla Parishad High School and later on in 1974 graduated in B.Sc from Veerashaiva College in Bellary becoming the first person in his family to have a degree. After completing his education he moved back to his home town of Kadiri instead of taking up stable government jobs as was prevalent in those days. He even turned down his Uncle Dr. Jaffer Khan's (a prominent Heart surgeon in the US) offer to sponsor him for higher education in the US. He had always wanted to be able to contribute to the development of his home town Kadiri, a severely drought hit region. He became a textile trader and ran a profitable business, employing quite a few people in this enterprise. At the same time he was actively involved in social causes and was a well known political activist. In the same year he got married to Shahnaz Shakir who like him displayed a zeal for these causes and actively encouraged and helped him to pursue them. She actively worked with the poor beedi workers in the community, helping them set up small shops through micro finance schemes, and lead a campaign to send their kids to school, in many instances convincing her father in law to sponsor their children.
Career
In 1983 he was noticed by the Legendary Shri N.T. Rama Rao garu who not only encouraged him to contest in the state elections but also made him a Minister in his Cabinet after the elections. During this period he strived for the upliftment of women and the downtrodden sections of the society. Some of his major accomplishments were the Degree college for Women, a residential school for the Harijans and other backward castes in Kalasamudram, Urdu Library, introduced Science courses in the Degree college, establishing a Fire Station and majorly renovated the Government Hospital etc. The idealist in him made him rebel against the nepotism and personality cult rampant in Telugu Desam Party. After struggling to change this culture he finally resigned from the party and once again became a grass root worker.
In 1988 Shri J.C. Diwakar Reddy Garu invited him into the fold of the Indian National Congress and in 1989 with active support from the late Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy then a very popular MP from the neighboring constituency, he became an MLA. During this term he was able to secure government grants for a Sericulture market. But the mainstay of the tenure remained getting government funds sanctioned to build houses for the poorer sections of the society, to this day he is renowned throughout the area for this effort and remembered by the people. He is a very humble person and a real man of the masses, friendly and approachable to all sections of the society and remains hugely popular.
In 2000 Kadiri Municipal council was reserved for women, despite her initial refusal Mrs.Shahnaz Shakir was persuaded by the towns folk to contest in them. She won with a thumping majority and brought home 29 of the 32 Councillors who contested with her, a record that stands unbroken and is a testimony to the popularity of the family, Not to mention that she is the first woman Chairperson of Kadiri. She was also appointed as an All India Congress Committee member by Indian National Congress President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi
The Municipality was in dire straits but she took the challenge head on, by successfully lobbying the state government into releasing funds not only to take care of the record deficits that were run up by the previous administrations but also managed to solve the water problem by negotiating with the Satya Sai Baba Trust. Though funds were hard to come by she was able to get funds sanctioned for Street Lightning, new streets were built and damaged ones repaired. She was also able to introduce the old age pension scheme to provide for the elderly poor. For the first time a Municipal Shopping complex was built to generate revenue to the municipality. Also sanctioned during this period was an E-seva Center, a computerized one stop shop to pay taxes n bills.
He participated in the fast with Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, the President of YSR Congress Party and is presently in the process of establishing the party in the villages adjoining Kadiri. He, along with other leaders have recently opened a party office in Kadiri from where they are able to reach out to the general public. He is actively involved in public welfare and social causes.
References
Categories:- Andhra Pradesh politicians
- YSR Congress Party
- Living people
- Andhra Pradesh MLAs
- Telugu politicians
- 1948 births
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