Express News Service
RAIPUR: In a bid to do away with vaccine hesitancy and rumours, the Chhattisgarh Zakat Foundation (CZF) has set a mandatory precondition for needy Muslim families to get themselves inoculated against Covid-19 before seeking financial assistance from the raised Zakat money.
Formed by educated Muslim youngsters in 2015, the foundation has judiciously worked out the procedure right from the collection of zakat (obligatory fund given out of wealth or assets) to the process of section and shortlisting of deserving students of the community who hail from impoverished background.
“This year we have set a prerequisite condition to offer scholarships to poor and needy students. Those who are 18 years and above must get the vaccine dose or the parents of schoolchildren should submit their Covid vaccination certificate along with the application seeking support of the zakat funds,” said Mohammed Tahir and Syed Aki, co-founders of CZF.
Getting vaccination is a personal choice but the CZF team stressed to opt for it as a safeguard from getting sick. “The Covid-19 vaccination will equally help others in the community where the vulnerable people can also feel safe. Everyone should realise that the pandemic is still there and through vaccination the people can get along towards normal life,” opined Syed Inamullah Bukhari and Akram Siddiqui, members of the foundation.
The Foundation, which began working with the annual corpus fund of Rs 9 lakh from obligatory charity money in 2015 rose to Rs 38 lakh in 2021. This year over 600 deserving and needy students from Class 6 onwards and those pursuing various professional courses including researchers are all set to get the scholarships as financial support.
The members felt that mass awareness and not apprehensions can make the difference in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic.
Obligatory ‘Zakat’ fund in Muslim community is paid at the rate of 2.5 per cent on wealth and assets, on which one year has lapsed.
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