{"id":92464,"date":"2025-04-03T14:44:40","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T14:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/india-approves-bill-overhauling-muslim-land-boards\/"},"modified":"2025-04-03T14:44:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T14:44:40","slug":"india-approves-bill-overhauling-muslim-land-boards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/india-approves-bill-overhauling-muslim-land-boards\/","title":{"rendered":"India approves bill overhauling Muslim land boards"},"content":{"rendered":"

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India\u2019s parliament passed a bill<\/a> on Thursday to reform hugely wealthy Muslim land-owning organisations, with the Hindu nationalist government saying it will boost accountability while the opposition called it an \u201cattack\u201d on a minority.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s government argues the bill will boost transparency to more than a dozen powerful Waqf boards, which control properties gifted by Muslim charitable endowments.<\/p>\n

There are around two dozen Waqf boards across India, owning some 900,000 acres (365,00 hectares), a multi-billion-dollar property empire that makes them one of the biggest landholders alongside the railways and the defence forces.<\/p>\n

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who tabled the bill on Wednesday, said it would check corruption and mismanagement and reduce the hold of a few entrenched groups.<\/p>\n

The bill was passed by the lower house of parliament after a marathon debate that stretched into the early hours of Thursday.<\/p>\n

It is expected to be passed by the upper house of parliament later on Thursday, handing far larger powers to civil servants in the supervision of Waqf boards.<\/p>\n

Amit Shah, the interior minister and a close Modi aide, said the changes would help \u201ccatch the people who lease out properties\u201d for individual gains.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat money, which could be used to aid the development of minorities, is being stolen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Non-Muslims, who will be included in the boards as part of the new bill, will only be involved in \u201cadministrative\u201d matters, Shah said.<\/p>\n

However, opposition parties accuse the government of pushing \u201cpolarising politics\u201d at the expense of India\u2019s Muslim minority of 200 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Waqf (Amendment) Bill is a weapon aimed at marginalising Muslims and usurping their personal laws and property rights,\u201d opposition Congress Party chief Rahul Gandhi said.<\/p>\n

Gandhi called it an \u201cattack\u201d by Hindu nationalists which he charged was \u201caimed at Muslims today but sets a precedent to target other communities in the future\u201d.<\/p>\n

Opposition parties see the bill as part of Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party\u2019s (BJP) efforts to win favour with its right-wing Hindu base.<\/p>\n

Modi\u2019s BJP has backed right-wing claims of mosques built over ancient Hindu temples and led efforts to construct a grand Hindu temple<\/a> at the site of a demolished Mughal-era mosque in Ayodhya.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

India\u2019s parliament passed a bill on Thursday to reform hugely wealthy Muslim land-owning organisations, with the Hindu nationalist government saying it will boost accountability while the opposition called it an \u201cattack\u201d on a minority. Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s government argues the bill will boost transparency to more than a dozen powerful Waqf boards, which control […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2025\/04\/031928401b54a7c.jpg?r=192848","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t