Waqf is an outstanding socio-economic tool of Islam which has played a great role in the history of Islam. India owns a substantial amount of waqf properties in terms of lands, buildings, and other assets. However, the chapter argues that waqf has failed to achieve the expectations of Indian Muslim society due to widespread issues in the management and administration of waqf in the country. Waqf requires huge statutory and administrative reforms in India. Many studies have been conducted about the waqf properties and the issues in its administration in India. However, none of them has examined it in terms of SWOT-TOWS analysis. In this study, the SWOT analysis is conducted to uncover the internal strengths, weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and threats of the waqf in India. The TOWS analysis is carried out to crossmatch between strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Along with that, the study also put a glance at the potential of Indian waqf institutions in dealing with the economic problems of the country post-COVID-19. The study develops strategies that can help the Indian waqf to achieve its potential development and implies that waqf has sufficient strengths and opportunities in India to deliver its desired objectives and help the Indian economy to revive post-COVID-19.
TopIntroduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely damaged the global economy and caused historic downturns in most economies as they imposed strict lockdowns to limit the spread of the disease. The World Bank (2020) has predicted the worst global recession in 2020 with a 5.2% contraction in global GDP and expected its long-lasting wounds on the world economy. According to the World Bank (2020), the pandemic will drive most of the economies in 2020 into a recession and cause a historic drop in their per capita income. Furthermore, the recession will affect economies with large informal sectors which approximately contributes to 70% of the employment in emerging and developing economies.
India is one of the developing countries which is severely affected by Covid-19. Currently, it is the second most infected country in the world with more than 4.2 million cases. On top of that, unlike other countries, the Covid-19 cases in India are predicted to rise in the coming weeks (Slater & Masih, 2020). Apart from health consequences, the economic upshot of Covid-19 on the Indian economy is also devastating. At the moment, India is experiencing the lowest statistics since its trade liberalisation in 1990 (Kumar et al., 2020). The data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) indicates a record 23.9% decline in GDP for Q1 of FY 2020 (Chidambaram, 2020). Economists have predicted a 10.5% contraction in the country's overall economy for the FY 2020-2021, which is worst in history (Mishra, 2020). According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), 21 million salaried jobs were lost during April-August 2020, increasing the unemployment rate from 7.4% to 8.4%. The CMIE further added that the salaried jobs do not appear to increase in parallel with economic growth or with an increase in entrepreneurship (Bureau, 2020). Some economists predict a K-shaped economic recovery in India which implies that the affluent will enjoy the recovery while others will continue to suffer (Ninan, 2020). The estimates by the World Bank indicate that around 12 million Indians will be driven into extreme poverty due to the Covid-19 (Kumar A., 2020). Therefore, there is an urgent need to lessen the economic consequences of the pandemic, safeguard the vulnerable population of the society and pave the way for sustainable recovery. Waqf can immensely contribute to the Indian economy to recover from its current economic dilemma. It can play an important role to push the Indian economy out of its present crisis. Waqf is an outstanding socio-economic tool of Islam which has played a very important role in Islamic history. Many organisations, infrastructures, even many cities were developed through the waqf system (Ismail & Possumah, 2018). Waqf can be defined as a ” detention of movable or immovable asset from the ownership of the owner and devotion of its usufruct to the needs of the Muslim community in a manner that it cannot be revoked, inherited or sold (Abdul Razak, 2020). India owns a substantial amount of waqf properties in the world in terms of lands, religious buildings, and graveyards, etc. (Rasool, 2017). The history of waqf in India can be traced back to the later years of the twelfth century when a Muslim sultan Muhammad ibn-sam founded a waqf on his name (Cizakca, 2000). During the establishment of the Mughal empire in the sixteenth-century scale of awqaf in the Indian subcontinent increased rapidly. According to Nadwi (2013), currently, there are around 490,000 (4.9 lac) registered waqf properties in India. The area under these properties is estimated at six hundred thousand (6 lac) acres with the book value of INR 6000 crores (INR 60 Billion) and the market value of around INR 1.2 trillion. Currently, official revenue from those properties is INR 1.63 billion per annum amounting to the 2.7% rate of return. However, according to the Sachar committee (a committee constituted by former Indian prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to examine the social, economic, and educational status of Muslims in India), if these properties are efficiently managed and properly used, it can at least generate 10% of return which is about INR 120 billion per annum. According to the report by the joint parliamentary committee of India, awqaf in India holds the third-largest ownership of land after the Indian railways and defense department. Yet, because of worse administration, poor management, lack of development initiatives, illegal encroachments, and unnecessary political involvements these socio-religious charitable institutions are “dying slow but sure death” in India (Khan I. A., 2014).