Roohi Zuberi (born 24 March 1959) is an Indian
social work
Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...
er and
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countr ...
activist.
Zuberi has also served as a senior cabinet member at
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...
.
Career
As a university student, she became district president of the
National Students' Union of India
The National Students Union of India, the student wing of the Indian National Congress (INC or Congress), was established on 9 April 1971. The organisation was founded by Indira Gandhi after merging the Kerala Students Union and the West Ben ...
. Zuberi is an advocate for
minority rights
Minority rights are the normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or gender and sexual minorities, and also the collective rights accorded to any minority group.
Civil-rights movement ...
. In 1986, she established the Women's Welfare Society in the Northern and Central India (महिला कल्याण समिति). In 2000, she ran for mayor of
Aligarh
Aligarh (; formerly known as Allygarh, and Kol) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capit ...
on the Indian National Congress' ticket. Zuberi advocated that there was the need for enacting a Muslim matrimonial code including the bride's consent to marriage.
On 30 January 2014, she was appointed to the
Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee
Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) is the Pradesh Congress Committee (state wing) of the Indian National Congress (INC) serving in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Congress Working Committee Appointed Priyanka Gandhi as General Secretary of UP ...
's Executive Committee.
Zuberi is currently president of the Women's Welfare Society in Uttar Pradesh. She is a member of the Executive Committee of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, and of the Minority Cell of the
All India Mahila Congress
All India Mahila Congress (AIMC), also referred to as Mahila Congress, is the women's wing of the Indian National Congress (INC). The most recent President was Sushmita Dev who left office in 2021. Currently Netta D'Souza heads the All India Ma ...
.
Political career history
*Distt. President NSUI, 1972–73
*Secretary of Abdullah Girls College, 1972–73
*Executive Member of Student Union of AMU, 1974–75
*Vice President of
Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union
The Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union (AMUSU) is the official Students' Union of the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.
The Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union is the university-wide representative body for students and is ...
, 1980
*President (ad hoc) of
Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union
The Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union (AMUSU) is the official Students' Union of the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.
The Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union is the university-wide representative body for students and is ...
, 1982
*Founded Women's Welfare Society, 1986
*District President Mahila Congress, Aligarh, 1992
*General Secretary Mahila Congress, U.P, 1993
*Vice President of the District Congress Committee
*Member of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (5 times)
*Secretary, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, 1996–2008
*Congress party Candidate for the post of Mayor (Aligarh), 2001
*General Secretary, UPCC
Additional position held
*Ex-Member
Railway Board
The Ministry of Railways is a ministry in the Government of India, responsible for the country's rail transport. The ministry operates the statutory body Indian Railways, an organisation that operates as a monopoly in rail transport and is h ...
*Ex-Member Telephone Advisory Board
*Ex-Member Lok Adalat, Aligarh
*Ex-Member District Consumer Forum
*Vice President Akansha Samiti, Formed by District Magistrate
Awards
* Bhartiya Nari Shakti Award for her role in women empowerment on 29 January 2014 at the Constitutional Club of India, New Delhi
* Rashtriya Gaurav Award, in the field of Social Work by the India International Friendship Society (2014)
Family background

Roohi Zuberi belongs to a family of
Marehra in Uttar Pradesh, India. Her father, the late Mr. Bashir Mahmood Zuberi (Advocate) (1921-1993) was a
freedom fighter
A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objective ...
in the
Indian Independence Struggle
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal. ...
against
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi language, Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Q ...
. He was also a social worker, a politician, and the
Chairman of the Marehra Municipal Board. During his life, he gave much of his personal property up for the development and welfare of the local population. The B. M. Zuberi Hospital in Marehra, a civil government hospital, is named after him.
Mrs. Zuberi is also related to Maulvi Bashir Uddin
who spent all of his assets to establish Islamia College in
Etawah
Etawah also known as Ishtikapuri is a city on the banks of Yamuna River in the state of Western Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Etawah District. Etawah's population of 256,838 (as per 2011 population census) m ...
,
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
in 1888 which was a similar effort to establish another university as happened in the case of
Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College
Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College ( ur, Madrasatul Uloom Musalmanan-e-Hind, italics=yes) was founded in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, initially as a primary school, with the intention of taking it to a college level institution, known as Muhammed ...
. He was a Congressite who wore Khadi and also published a highly respected paper al-Bashir.
He was awarded
Padma Shri
Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is confe ...
, but he did not go to receive it, just as he did not go to receive the title of
Khan Bahadur
Khan Bahadur – a compound of khan ('leader') and bahadur ('brave') – was a formal title of respect and honor, which was conferred exclusively on Muslim and other non-Hindu natives of British India. It was one degree higher than the title of ...
.
Former President of
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
Dr.
Zakir Hussain was also a student of this institution.
She is also the daughter-in-law of
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
and former
Parliamentarian Dr Sir Ziauddin Ahmad,
one of the mentors of the
Aligarh Movement
The Aligarh Movement was the push
to establish a modern system of Western–style scientific education for the Muslim population of British India, during the later decades of the 19th century. The movement's name derives from the fact that it ...
and Vice-Chancellor of
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...
,
who served as
Vice Chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor i ...
for three terms and later became the
Rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of Aligarh Muslim University.
Matin Zuberi,
was her maternal uncle and a scholar of international relations. Professor Zuberi was born at Marehra in the Etah district of Uttar Pradesh on 15 July 1930. After obtaining his Master's degree from Aligarh Muslim University, he went to St. Anthony's and Balliol colleges at the University of Oxford. On his return, he was appointed senior fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. He joined JNU in 1978 and continued there till 1995.
As a professor of international politics and disarmament studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Prof. Zuberi was an academic observer of international nuclear developments.
His contributions went beyond academics.
In three stints — 1990–91, 1998–99 and 2000–01 — he was a member of the National Security Advisory Board. On the last occasion, he participated in the preparation of the Draft Indian Nuclear Doctrine.
Earlier, he was a member of the Indian delegation to the United Nations Conference on Disarmament and Development.
Prof. Zuberi was also a member of the executive council of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and the governing body of the Society of Indian Ocean Studies.
Education qualification
She started her education in her hometown Marehra and thereafter moved to Aligarh for higher education. Her alma mater is
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...
, Aligarh,
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
.
*
B.A
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four ye ...
in Political Science from Aligarh Muslim University.
*
M.A
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
in Political Science from Aligarh Muslim University
*
L.L.B from Aligarh Muslim University
Personal life and family
Roohi Zuberi is married to Ahmad Zia-ud-din and they have three sons, Md. Zia-ud-din (Rahi), Shahbaz Zia-ud-din, Sheeraz Ahmad
and a daughter, Sadaf Ahmad.
References
External links
* https://books.google.com/books?id=uCsz_CwoxCoC&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=ruhi+zuberi&source=bl&ots=x3HnswmNbE&sig=TCZDv7DJ73Mjz2dXQ2uvkJcJRuU&hl=en&ei=C4VcTp_AFoLtrQeFmJHJDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&sqi=2&ved=0CEAQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=ruhi%20zuberi&f=false
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zuberi, Roohi
1959 births
Living people
20th-century Indian educators
20th-century Indian politicians
21st-century Indian politicians
20th-century Indian women politicians
21st-century Indian women politicians
Educators from Uttar Pradesh
Educators from West Bengal
21st-century Indian Muslims
Indian National Congress politicians from Uttar Pradesh
Indian social workers
People from Aligarh
Social workers from Uttar Pradesh
Women educators from West Bengal
Women in Uttar Pradesh politics
20th-century women educators