By Mohammad Abdullah Nadvi,
India is the second largest populous country of the world and is home to almost two hundred million Muslims. The number of Muslims living in the country is second largest as a whole, and comes just after Indonesia in terms of biggest Muslim population in a single country. Ironically, given the official facts and figures pertaining to the community, Muslims in India lag far behind the other fellow citizens in terms of education, economic condition, social status and social security dimension. Importantly, in recent years, taking into consideration the continuous deteriorating status of the community, the Government of India apparently attempted to initiate some appropriate actions to tackle the major problems faced by the community as a hurdle in the way of positive progression. In this regard, on March 9, 2005 on the initiative of the Prime Minister, an official committee was set up under the chairmanship of ex-high court judge Mr. Rajendar Sachar. The committee was assigned the task to empirically survey and assess the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community in the country. After taking fifteen months to critically examine the ground realities and the factors pushing the community towards abject conditions, the committee produced its report in June 2006. Interestingly, along with illuminating several already anticipated factors causing the backwardness of Muslims, the committee held that the continuous indifferent approach of the successive governments towards the community has aided and abetted in propelling the poverty and illiteracy among the Indian Muslims.
Furthermore, bringing into light the rampant malfunctions and corruptions in Waqf management practices, the report noted that it is quite paradoxical that the present Indian state in which nearly six hundred thousand acres of Waqf land/properties have been existing since more than one century, there still reside almost 38% Muslims in absolute or relative poverty. According to the committee’s report the total productive Waqf properties of the country presently generate merely 1.63 billion INR per annum, which amounts to a meagre rate of return of 2.7 per cent. In contrast the report states that (SCR, 2006: 156):
“if all of the productive and unproductive properties are put to efficient and marketable use they can generate at least a minimum return of 10 per cent which is about Rs. 12,000 crores (one hundred and twenty billion) per annum”.
Thus it is quite obvious from this report that there is a great deal of corruption and mismanagement involved in the current Waqf management, and this ultimately deprives the potential Muslim beneficiaries of their possible means of sustenance and other benefits.
Apart from this, in an endeavour to track down the major factors causing the Muslim community to continue remaining into abysmal situation in the country, the Sachar Committee Report found a number of causes putting obstacles in their way of development. Importantly, shedding adequate light over the pathetic economic and financial conditions of the community, the report held that poverty has been one of the major hindrances in the way of prosperity and progress of Indian Muslim. To this end, taking a critical approach towards the current Waqf management practices, the report shows how this well-established and highly potential tool of poverty alleviation and social welfare is being malfunctioned and misused in the country. Also the report suggests the Government to hand over the responsibility of Waqf management to the community itself and proposes a number of methods to put them into more efficient and productive uses.
Muslims officially account for 13.4% of total population of the country, and out of this, almost, 38% are below poverty line. Earlier in a rough estimation, the worth of Waqf properties in India were estimated to be approximately 1500 million rupees (3 billion $) in late Nineties. Nonetheless, contrary to this estimation, the Sachar Committee Report reveals that there are 4.9 hundred thousand registered Waqf properties in the country and their book value is sixty billion INR. Moreover, the report further elaborates that this book-value is premised on half century earlier estimation. Otherwise, the report states the current value of these properties has grown many folds since. Significantly, in the above-discussed estimation, thousands of family related Awqaf have not been counted, as they are not recognized as Waqf under the modern Indian Waqf act. Thus it is evident from the above-stated facts and figures that if managed discretely, these Waqf properties can play a pivotal role in uplifting the economic and social status of downtrodden Muslims in the country.
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The author is a Doctoral Candidate (Islamic Economics), Markfield Institute of Higher Education Leicestershire, UK, 0044-7438508698, abdullahfaizi99@yahoo.com