Nagpur’s Hussain receives two prestigious scholarships

NAGPUR: Against all odds, 23-year-old Hatim Hussain has etched his name as one of the five recipients of the Rhodes scholarship from India. He is also one of the 148 recipients of the Schwarzman scholarship.
The Rhodes scholarship, established in 1902, is among the world’s oldest and most prestigious international postgraduate awards for a three-year study at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.Former President of the US Bill Clinton, ex-Australian Prime Ministers Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull have been the prominent recipients of this scholarship.
Hussain was selected after a highly competitive preliminary selection process by a committee consisting of former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and seven others. He is only the third person to receive the scholarship from the city in the last 59 years. Hussain plans to pursue Bachelors in Civil Law (BCL) and later DPhil at the University of Oxford.
Schwarzman scholarship is fully funded postgraduate award for Masters at Tsinghua University, China. Nearly 4,700 candidates from around the world had applied for the scholarship. It is a programme designed to create the next generation of world leaders who can effectively bridge the gap between China and the rest of the world.
Hussain pursued a 5-year integrated BCom LLB (Hons) from Gujarat National Law University and was awarded three scholarships. At the university, he has been a recipient of numerous gold medals for excellence in law and has worked at the University of Cambridge, UK, advising governments in various countries on complex financial regulations.
He is also leading efforts in Gujarat to educate and spread awareness of legal education among Muslim communities. He teaches the importance of basic constitutional rights in various schools and will study regulatory innovations that could help in resolving poverty and inequalities.
Speaking to TOI on receiving the coveted award, he said, “It is a great responsibility for someone coming from a background of inequality. Everyday, I tried to figure out why the issues were not being resolved and what caused them in the first place.”
“The Rhodes envisages self-development as a collective or social good, and I consider it as an enabler for people like me who come from marginalized backgrounds,” he added.