Mr Abdur Razzaque Ansari

Mr. Ansari spent most of his childhood making handloom products and selling them. He would travel over 15 kilometres on foot to Ranchi to sell his goods in the local market. His hand made clothes would sell out well because he always focused on ensuring the quality of his work. After selling his goods, he would while away his time outside the gates of a school run by Khan Bahadur Habibur Rahman, a respected leader in the Muslim community. One day, Khan Bahadur himself noticed the boy, and asked him why he visited the school every day. Ansari revealed his desire to attend school and acquire an education. The magnanimous Khan Bahadur fulfilled his wish, and allowed him to attend classes whenever he could. Mr. Ansari received some primary education from the school. Later, he travelled to Balsokra village – over 60 kilometres away from Irba – to try and gain a secondary education from the school there. He was first denied admission because he was older than the children there, and because he had no money to pay. However, Mr. Ansari managed to negotiate a deal with the management. He offered to cook all the meals for the schoolchildren in exchange for lessons. Mr. Ansari’s perseverance was rewarded when he graduated from secondary school with distinction.

Mr. Ansari then sought to change the fate of his family and pwoplw by taking on all challenges as they came. After he returned home, he took action to open a secondary school in Irba to educate the members of his community. Soon, children from all across the Ormanjhi block began attending classes at the institution. Mr. Ansari’s commitment towards educating his community was so strong that even government agencies had begun to notice and applaud his involvement. Mr. Ansari encouraged his wife to gain an education. She mirrored her husband’s dedication by completing her secondary school education and becoming the Head Mistress in a new school for girls in Irba. Together with the help of Shri Yugeshwar Thakur and Shri Ram Tahal Choudhary, Mr, Ansari assisted in open a number of schools in the Ormanjhi block, helping to break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy in the region.

Mr. Ansari did not stop there. He worked towards bringing the Momin weaver communities together, and organised them into a primary cooperative society that would help ensure employment and living wages for the poverty-stricken people of the region. He helped establish a number of cooperative societies for weavers, and build the apex body that helps them live their own lives comfortably by relying on their own hands. Mr. Ansari once said that his deeds were inspired by a couplet recited by Ali Sikander, a famous Urdu poet fondly called Jigar Moradabadi.