Moin Qazi (b 4 April 1956) began his early career as a development journalist .While still at college he began writing on Issues relating to the plight of child labourers. .He undertook extensive research and led a sustained crusade against it. He worked with a league of   journalists and the newspaper columns ultimately received the attention of Indian courts whose judgments led to a series of reforms for child labourers.

Career

He did his post graduation in English and English with distinction from Nagpur University in 1980. . He obtained hi PhD in English from Los Altos University in 1989 and in Economics from Nagpur University in 2012.

He joined India’s largest bank, State Bank of India, in 1979 and worked for over three decades as a grassroots field officer, program manager, policy maker and researcher in development finance. He has played a key role in empowerment of women and education of girl children in rural areas. He has also been actively associated with affordable housing programmes for the rural poor.

An accomplished poet, he has contributed to Indian Pen, The Independent, The Illustrated Weekly of India, Kavya Bharati, The Muse etc. His poems have also been set to music by Hollywood companies. He received Hon D Litt at the World Congress of Poets held at Istanbul in 1989.

He was Editor of State Bank of India’s House Magazine Elephanta for from 2003 to 2008. .He was awarded the Best Editor Award for Corporate House Magazines by the Association of Business Communicators of India for three consecutive years.

He was also a Visiting Fellow at the University of Manchester.  He was a representative of commercial banks on the Expert Committee which collaborated with the University of   Manchester, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Rome, Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of Malaysia and Grameen Bank, Bangladesh for designing microfinance driven programs for poverty alleviation in underdeveloped and developing countries. .He served as Chancellor’s nominee on Nagpur University. He is a well known expert in microfinance and has coauthored the widely popular book, The Essential Microfinance.

Publications

He has contributed articles to Indian and foreign publications including The Times of India, Statesman, Indian Express, The Economic Times, Financial Express, The Hindustan Times, Business Standard, The Hindu, Mainstream, Asian Age, Far Eastern Economic Review and Asiaweek (Hong Kong) Daily Sabah (Turkey), Moroccan Times, Chicago Monitor, Sudan Vision and Times of Malta .He has authored several    books on religion, rural finance, culture and handicrafts. His books include:

·         A Journey into Soulscape,

·         Woven Wonders of the Deccan,

·         Muhammad: the Prophet for Eternity,

·         Village Diary of a Heretic Banker,

·         The Mission of Prophet Muhammad,

·         Women in Islam: Exploring New Paradigms’

·         Muhammad: Man and Prophet

·         and Umar Al Farooq: Man and Caliph.

.

Awards

Vocational Excellence Award for Community Service from the Rotary Foundation Internatinal; Michael Madhusudan Dutt Poetry Award; World Politics Essay Gold Medal; C.F. Andrews Centenary Essay Gold Medal; Gandhi Centenary Essay Gold Medal; Institution of Engineers (India) Gold Medal For Excellence In Essay Writing; Dr. Ambedkar Fellowship from   Dalit Sahitya Academy; Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavna Award; Bharat Gaurav Award; Nirmal Rattan Award; Frank Moraes Lifetime Achievement Award.

.