Editorial 1: The Waqf Bill 2024 is one that needs review

Context

The Bill suffers from procedural irregularities and has retrograde steps and irrationalities.

Introduction

Our fundamental rights are enshrined in the Constitution, Part III, where, according to Article 26, every religious denomination has the right to manage its own affairs in matters of religion, acquiring, owning and administering property. Also, as in Article 13(2), the state is forbidden to make any law which takes away or abridges the rights conferred by this Part, declaring that any law made in contravention of this clause shall be void.

A case of dilutions 

The Waqf Bill 2024 suffers from infringements.

• The Uttar Pradesh Sri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983 provides that no non-Hindu is eligible to be a member of its management at any level.
• It adds that where any of the four specified Secretaries of the Uttar Pradesh government, Cultural Director and Varanasi’s Collector and Commissioner is not Hindu, the person who is available next in the hierarchy shall be a member of the Board. Similar provisions exist in the laws in some other States. 

Religious Endowments Act, 1863

• Persons from religion must be included: Even the Religious Endowments Act, 1863 says that the ‘members of the said committee shall be appointed from among persons professing the religion for the purposes of which the mosque, temple or other religious establishment was founded or is now maintained….’
•  Community management: The management of Sikh and Christian properties is done fully by the communities concerned without any state interference. 

Proposals by Waqf Bill 2024

• Key ideas: It has been proposed by the Minority Affairs Ministry to reserve for ‘non-Muslims’, two member seats each in the Central Waqf Council and all the State Waqf Boards.
• No muslim majority: And, the statutory requirement of being Muslim is proposed to be removed for a majority of the seats in all these bodies governing waqf properties. 

Previous Waqf efforts

• One can recall that the earlier JPC Waqf (1996-2006) had worked for close to a decade, having sought information through advertisements inserted in a number of newspapers published across India in all the scheduled languages.
• The Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee: had also done its homework for 18 months. Both had travelled across India separately to listen to and receive representations from the multiplicity of stakeholders and people in general.
• The data collected: were later collated by professional consultants. Such a huge exercise was the basis of drafting the Bill that was enacted as the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2013, strengthening the hitherto existing Waqf law with robust improvements. 

• Omission of Provisions: Now, through the Waqf Bill 2024, the Ministry is attempting to omit these and many other existing provisions that strengthen the waqf administration in India. 
• Lack of stakeholder consultation: Unlike the Justice Sachar Committee and the earlier decade-long Waqf JPC, it did not carry out a similar exercise — of reaching out to people especially stakeholders such as the Central Waqf Council (CWC), the State Waqf Boards, the mutawallis (managers of waqfs) and the well-known national-level Muslim socio-religious organisations and institutions.
  • Even their starting point should not have been the Waqf Bill 2024. Rather, it should have been 2014 since when the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2013 had to be implemented. 

Lack of CWC Functioning

• Such work, of reaching out to the stakeholders across India and people in general, and collecting information should have been done by the apex body of waqf management, i.e., the CWC, whose statutory membership the Ministry has, ironically, kept vacant for the last couple of years.
• The council has to have 20 members, all of whom are mandated to be Muslim.
• Even the secretary has to be Muslim.
• But, for two years, there was only the chairman (the Minister himself). There has been no full-time Muslim secretary of the council.
•  For the last two years, the Ministry has given additional charge of Secretary, CWC to an officer of the ministry who is not Muslim and whose hands are full with his original charge. 

Violation of section 9 of Waqf Law

So, the provisions of the existing waqf law (Section 9) stand violated.

• And, the 2024 Bill has been drafted, presented and piloted by the Ministry by largely leaving out the Muslim community whose say in the matter could have at least been made possible through the CWC.
• Incidentally, it is interesting that the internal management of the CWC is financed from income of the waqfs linked to the mandatory 1% annual income contributed by the State Waqf Boards. 

Reconstitute the CWC 

• Democratic approach: Now, in keeping with universally acclaimed democratic and legislative traditions, the Ministry would do well to quickly reconstitute the CWC in accordance with existing waqf law.
•  More evidence based approach: And, such a reconstituted council should steer and supervise the process of collecting facts, data and views in association with all the state Waqf Boards, the mutawallis and national-level Muslim non-government organisations and institutions. 
• Impact of Not Reconstituting the CWC: For two years, even the council’s normal statutory works (monitoring the works done by the State Waqf Boards, including financial performance, surveys, revenue records, maintenance of waqf deeds, removing encroachments of waqf properties and audit) have been affected. 

Proposed changes in CWC membership

• On the other hand, as against the existing mandate of 100% statutory Muslim membership in the CWC as well as in the State Waqf Boards, the 2024 Bill proposes to reduce it to less than 50%.
• Also proposed is dropping the requirement of the CWC Secretary and CEOs of all State Waqf boards being Muslim.
•  It is difficult to fathom why the Ministry wants this, contrary to Articles 15, 25, 26, 29. When the management of endowments of all faiths by people of the faith concerned is statutorily guaranteed, why should not the waqfs be managed fully by the Muslim community? 

Confusion about women’s representation

• There is some confusion regarding the proposal in the Waqf Bill to have at least two women in the CWC and in the State Waqf Boards.
• This was already done through the Waqf Amendment Act 2013 and notified in the gazette on September 23 of that year.
• The Ministry needs to re-examine this proposal and issue a clarification.

Changes in Waqf Tribunal

• The Bill proposes to remove the expert on Muslim law from the Waqf tribunal’s bench, wishes to do away with the finality of the tribunal’s orders and waters down the level of punishment in violations of the law by encroachers and other offenders.
• It withdraws the discretion of State Waqf boards to identify derelictions and proceed against encroachers.

Re-registration of Waqfs

• It proposes derecognising all ‘waqfs-by-user’ and enjoins upon the central government to create and control a new portal wherein every existing waqf has to re-register itself supported by the original waqf deed even though it is centuries old.
  • If this is not done, even normal legal rights will be denied to such waqfs. 
• Discontinuation of Donor’s Will (Mansha-e-Waaqif): The Bill proposes to discontinue the mandatory implementation of the donor’s will (Mansha-e-Waaqif) and withdraws the existing benefit to Waqf law from the application of the limitation Act even though it remains available to similar properties of other faiths.
• Thus, the Bill deserves to be returned to the Ministry on account of procedural irregularities, infringements, retrograde steps, irrationalities, non-justifications and preconceived notions. 

Conclusion

There is also confusion about the number of waqf properties in India. It is important to note that there is only one authentic figure — 4,90,021 — available for public access in the Report of the Justice Sachar Committee (p 220). This figure is based on written communications received from the State Waqf Boards. The recent exercise of GPS/GIS mapping of waqf properties counts ‘manageable units’, which may be many in every waqf property. Thus, a more collaborative lens is required in Waqf amendment bills

Editorial 2: In France, a summit for diplomacy, technology and diversity

Context

The 19th Francophonie Summit has priorities that will resonate with those of India’s

Introduction

France will host over 100 Heads of states and government and high-ranking officials for the 19th Francophonie Summit on October 4-5, 2024. The summit will take place in Paris and in Villers-Cotterêts, a city where, in 1539, King François I declared French as the country’s official language. It will deal with a number of key international questions that also matter to many non-French-speaking countries, and especially to India. These include the renewal of multilateralism; and major digital issues linked to the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as the need to promote cultural and linguistic diversity.

Francophonie and Cultural Diversity

• As the famous Senegalese President and poet Léopold Sédar Senghor said, “Francophonie is the integral Humanism.”
• The key messages of the summit: will be that: far from being barriers or creating divides, multilingualism and cultural diversity foster mutually beneficial exchanges and collective thinking, and, as such, should be cherished.
• Matching India’s interest:  I have every reason to believe that this spirit, shared by 321 million French speakers across the world, including Puducherry (India), also resonates with India’s own priorities. 

Reducing the divide 

• About the organisation: Founded in 1970, the l’Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (the International Organization of La Francophonie) is an institution organising relations between countries that use the French language.
• Renowned founding members: Prominent statesmen such as Léopold Sédar Senghor, Habib Bourguiba (Tunisia), Hamani Diori (Niger) and Norodom Sihanouk (Cambodia) were among its founding fathers. 

Key goals of the organisation

• Promoting French: The aim of the organisation is to promote the French language and cooperation between its 88 Member States and Governments (54 full-fledged members, seven associate members and 27 observer members).
• This aim is enshrined in the Charter of La Francophonie, adopted in 1997 at the Hanoi Summit.
• Inclusive organization: From the outset, the organisation has been a forum of discussions and projects between countries boasting diverse cultures, economic and geographic situations as well as different political orientations.
• Promoting democracy: Francophonie has been promoting democracy, peace, prosperity with the idea of reducing any so-called “North/South divide” as well as bolstering cultural and linguistic diversity.
• Promoting Cooperation:  Today, La Francophonie also provides a cooperation framework for key global issues such as digital technology, gender equality, and economic matters, under the leadership of Secretary General Louise Mushikiwabo, former Rwandan Minister for Foreign Affairs. 

Renewing multilateralism 

• Conducting summits: In the face of a fragmented world, the Summit, which takes place every two years under the leadership of a rotating host country, is meeting to decide on the main orientations of the organisation.
• France’s first time: For the first time in 33 years, the summit will be hosted by France.
• Theme and vision of the summit: Upholding “Create, Innovate and do Business in French”, the theme, a new method of discussion will be followed during the Summit.
  • Civil society stakeholders will be able to exchange more directly with summit officials to promote solutions and explore new avenues for cooperation. 
• Focusing on multilateralism: Heads of states and high-ranking officials will deliberate in Paris on how to renew multilateralism.
  • As France’s President Emmanuel Macron has stated in his speech at the 79^th United Nations General Assembly, the renewal of multilateralism implies that we must change the governance composition of our main institutions.
• Prance favouring India: This is the reason why France supports the bid by India and other G-4 nations for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.
• Representative institutions: We need to make our international institutions more efficient, which also
  • Reforming Finance: Beyond that, we need to work on a common financial agenda and to thoroughly reform the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. 

Renewing multilateralism

• Tackling multiple challenges: As President Macron has pointed out: “These institutions were conceived, designed and calibrated at a time when the challenges were not the same, when the world economy was not the same size, when demographics had nothing to do with it.
• Capacity building and finance: We need to give these institutions the capacity to act to finance the projects that the countries of the South need. This reform is imperative for our collective credibility.”
• Environmental focus: As we need to build an agenda that allows us to tackle climate change, biodiversity preservation, global health issues, as well as reduce inequalities, France believes that La Francophonie can make an important contribution in this regard. 

A focus on digital technology 

• Digital boost: The summit will also have a major focus on digital technology at a time when AI is proliferating in our societies.
• Promoting Diversity: AI tools have raised new questions about the protection of creation and the promotion of diversity.
• Cater to Rights: Platforms must be able to enforce citizens’ rights in their own language, while AI can also become a tremendous asset for French and all other languages, by facilitating translation.

As it is one of the civilizational challenges of our century, France will follow up on these deliberations by hosting the AI Action Summit in February 2025. 

Way forward:  Opportunities for India

On the margins of this summit, the first FrancoTech Fair, a major event that will bring together more than 150 exhibitors from various nations to discuss pressing challenges of our times, will be held. Topics will include opportunities and challenges in developing AI; energy transition; education, and, more broadly, human capital development. For young Indian innovators with international ambitions, this event will offer opportunities with Francophone actors from around the globe. 

Conclusion

Multilateralism, innovation, AI, cultural and linguistic diversity, the La Francophonie topics are of shared interest and importance for France and India. The Paris AI Action Summit in 2025 as well as the India-France Year of Innovation that will be launched in 2026 will be important moments to push forward new collective solutions in these fields and ensure a more inclusive society.