Mohammed Shakir (Indian politician) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Early life

Mohammed Shakir is a prominent leader of Anantapur district

Anantapur district

Anantapur District , ) is one of the 23 districts in Andhra Pradesh, India. The district headquarters is Anantapur City. It is currently a part of the Red Corridor.- Geography :...

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

Kadiri

Kadiri is a Small town, Mandal and a municipality in the southeastern part of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh, India. The Lord Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple is located in this town, and large numbers of Hindu pilgrims visit the Temple throughout the year. The Thimmamma Marrimanu Kadiri is...

, 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

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

Beedi

A beedi is a thin, South Asian cigarette filled with tobacco flake and wrapped in a tendu leaf tied with a string at one end.The word comes from beeda, Marwari for a leaf wrapped in betel nuts, herbs, and condiments....

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

Telugu Desam Party

Telugu Desam Party or TDP is a regional political party in India's Andhra Pradesh state. It was founded by former Telugu film star N. T...

. 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

Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy

Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy , popularly known as YSR, was a two-time Chief Minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. He is seen as the most popular chief minister of Andhra pradesh. His popularity is often attributed to various welfare schemes and development programs he championed for the...

then a very popular MP from the neighboring constituency, he became an MLA

MLA

- Organizations :* Modern Language Association, United States of America** The MLA Style Manual, its works cited page guidelines* Massachusetts Library Association* Medical Library Association, United States...

. 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

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

Kadiri

. She was also appointed as an All India Congress Committee

All India Congress Committee

The All India Congress Committee is the Presidium or central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress Party. It is composed of members elected from State-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousand members...

member by Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi

Sonia Gandhi

Sonia Gandhi is an Italian-born Indian politician and the President of the Indian National Congress, one of the major political parties of India. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv 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

YSR Congress Party

YSR Congress Party or Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party is an Andhra Pradesh political party founded by K.Shiva Kumar and was taken over by Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy , the son of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy . Both YSR and "Jagan" had been members of the Indian...

and is presently in the process of establishing the party in the villages adjoining Kadiri

Kadiri

. He, along with other leaders have recently opened a party office in Kadiri

Kadiri

from where they are able to reach out to the general public. He is actively involved in public welfare and social causes.

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