The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has announced that its alumnus Muhammed Abdul Lateef Jameel has promised to provide a generous financial grant to the institute. The grant is part of the Abdul Lateef Jameel Poverty Action Lab which is working to reduce and alleviate poverty in different parts of the world. The Abdul Lateef Lab bases its efforts on the application of modern sciences and technology and the utilization of research which has proved to be an effective tool in fighting poverty in the world. The lab also designs programs which help in combating poverty. This grant will enable the lab to expand its activities in the next five years to achieve its major objective of improving the lives of 100 million people in various parts of the world by the year 2013. The lab applies the concept of random experiences which is used in the medical field to assess the most effective methods in improving the lives of poor people and children's health besides upgrading women's productivity by engaging them in cottage industries. Susan Hockfield, President of MIT, said, “Within the original grant which led to the launching of the lab, Muhammed Abdul Lateef Jameel has offered a creative and unique benevolent work for supporting anti-poverty research which will effectively lead to changing the lives of millions of poor people in the world.” She reiterated that the lab results have made practical improvements to the lives of these people pointing out that the new grant will help to convert these visions into development policies all over the world. In 1994, Abdul Lateef Co. Ltd extended a grant to MIT for the establishment of the A. Lateef Jameel program in commemoration of the company's founder A.L. Jameel.
