Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday strongly defended the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, amid ongoing debate in the Rajya Sabha. He dismissed apprehensions that the bill might negatively impact Muslim interests and emphasized that the Waqf Board’s operations, management, and benefits will remain exclusive to the Muslim community.

Rijiju rejects allegations, outlines purpose of amendment

Addressing criticism, Rijiju categorically denied that the bill undermines constitutional rights or religious autonomy. “Non-Muslims cannot interfere in Waqf Board affairs. Its creation, management and beneficiaries are confined to Muslims,” he stated. He added that any Muslim can still manage property under a trust without hindrance.

Explaining the role of the Waqf Board, Rijiju likened it to a Charity Commissioner, responsible for ensuring proper management of religious endowments. The proposed amendments aim to boost transparency, enforce accountability, and enhance the Board’s capacity.

Ownership proof made mandatory to avoid misuse

A significant provision in the amendment mandates documented proof of ownership before designating any property as Waqf. This move seeks to correct past practices where claims by the Waqf Board could automatically label properties as Waqf without verifying ownership.

Extensive consultations and public feedback

Rijiju highlighted the bill’s extensive pre-legislative process. According to him, over one crore suggestions were received from the public, and a Parliamentary Committee carried out consultations across ten major cities, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, and Hyderabad.

He traced earlier reform attempts, citing the 1976 Congress-era inquiry and the 2006 Sachar Committee Report, both of which emphasized the need for digitisation and strengthening of the Waqf Board. The number of Waqf properties has increased from 4.9 lakh to 8.72 lakh, with their income potential now significantly higher than the Rs 163 crore annual income reported earlier.

Implementing long-pending recommendations

Rijiju mentioned findings from the earlier Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) led by K. Rehman Khan, which pointed to poor infrastructure, lack of skilled manpower, and insufficient funds. The JPC had recommended establishing a centralized data bank and implementing structured leasing policies.

He accused previous governments of inaction, stating, “Committees were set up during the Congress and UPA rule, yet they failed to act. The Modi government is implementing reforms that they did not dare to.”

Contrasting the present and past efforts, he highlighted that while the UPA-led JPC in 2013 involved 13 members and consulted 14 states, the current JPC had 31 members, held 36 meetings, and consulted stakeholders across 25 states.

Rijiju asserted that the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, is a step toward ensuring efficiency, transparency, and better utilisation of Waqf properties, all while safeguarding the interests and autonomy of the Muslim community.

Delhi Teachers University Vice-Chancellor Professor Dhananjay Joshi said that India is a country which gives due importance to teachers as it is a Guru Pradhan country.

Speaking at the session Education Without Borders at the Bharat Shiksha Summit 2025, Prof. Joshi said the need of the hour is to train teachers in the country. “Today there is a need to save teachers. We need to work on teachers,” he said.

On the critical importance of teacher-centric reforms within the New Education Policy 2020, Prof. Joshi argued that focusing on the development of teachers is essential to creating a Viksit Bharat through a well-equipped and motivated teaching workforce.

Prof. (Dr.) Prabhat Ranjan, Vice-Chancellor of DY Patil International University, noted the importance of the NEP in veering away from the focus on English and to mother tongues in the country. He shared his university’s innovative approaches aimed at redefining education in India and emphasized the importance of bridging gaps between traditional and digital learning methodologies.

Dismissing university rankings put out annually by publications, Prof. Ranjan said the work of an educator is to ensure students learn leaving all such attempts at publicity on the wayside. There is no other focus required for an educational institution apart from focusing on students and research, he added. Rankings will come and go, he said.

Underlining the importance of being open to learning at any stage in life, Prof. Ranjan said that there is a need to learn new things every moment.

IGNOU Sanskrit Professor Kaushal Panwar, a Bharat Shiksha Sammelan awardee, said he was proud to be an Indian and what is present in this country cannot be anywhere else. 

Educators at the summit underscored how access to online tutorials and educational content has transformed learning. They highlighted that the students, even in rural areas, now have unprecedented access to knowledge. However, they also stressed the evolving role of teachers, particularly in “flip classrooms,” where students engage in discussions after reviewing study materials on their own.

Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying SP Singh Baghel on Thursday said students should aim for joining the Civil Services and seek posts in serving the country.

He said the blue beacons, which are used on cars of civil service officers, lasts long with promotions thrown in and is longer than the red beacons of politicians.

Speaking at the Bharat Shiksha Summit 2025, Baghel noted that the knowledge of English has been unevenly distributed across the country and this is what the National Education Policy 2020 seeks to rectify.

The focus on equal, quality education should have been there since Independence. But since that has not been the case, the children in rural areas have to suffer for the grave mistake perpetrated by the powers-that-be of Delhi, Baghel said.

Dwelling on the value of education, Baghel said education is such a key which can open even locks eaten away by rust. He noted that many generations of parents had sacrifices their lives and themselves for the education of their children.

Being literate is not enough, which is what most families insist on, and just degrees won’t help, he said. One should learn in good institutes, such as IITs and IIMs. We talk of Oxford and Cambridge but this is a country that produced the ancient seats of learning in Nalanda and Taxila, which were running to aplomb when the foundations were being laid in Oxford and Cambridge. Leaders of the independence movement studied abroad because the system in India had been bound under the Macaulay-introduced system, Baghel said.

Addressing the gathering, historian Vikram Sampath said that if you want to destroy a country, then all one needs to do is to give them a wrong understanding of their history. The distorted understanding of history is a gift of the British. History needs to be written from the perspective of India. Our Puranas tell how old the history of India is. This country is not a country built by the British, Sampath maintained.

Poet, lyricist and journalist Alok Srivastava said that in today’s time we have become very self-centred. In such a situation, talking about education is very commendable.

Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women VC Ranjana Jha, GTC Group Chairman RK Mahato and NLU Delhi Founder Ranbir Singh also addressed the programme.

Bharat Shiksha Samman awards were given to Prof. Ram Singh, Dr Rama of Hansraj College, Sanskrit scholar Dr Kaushal Panwar and veteran journalism teacher Dr Ramji Lal Jangid.