Mohammed Wajihuddin, TNN Feb 17, 2013, 06.16AM IST
MUMBAI: Congress leader and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi could only address the students of Aligarh Muslim University via video conferencing as bad weather spoilt her plans to reach there, but that didn't stop a prominent Muslim NGO from putting up a charter of demands before her. The 'Muslim charter of demands to UPA chairperson', carried in Urdu newspapers on Saturday and issued by the Zakat Foundation of India (ZFI), asks Gandhi to act on 15 demands which cover a number of socio-economic and educational issues concerning Muslims.
Topping the charter is the establishment of an Indian Waqf Service. Since there aren't many senior IAS officers available to be CEOs of Waqf Boards in different states-Waqf Act rules state that only senior IAS officers can be appointed CEOs-ZFI wants the government to establish a separate Indian Waqf Service. This was also recommended by the Sachar Committee and the JPC on Waqfs but has been ignored by the Waqf Bill.
Another demand is to amend the 1950 presidential order and make the scheduled castes definition religion-neutral. As per the order, a scheduled caste member loses his SC status once he converts to Islam or Christianity forfeiting all the attendant benefits. Elaborating on the need to send the charter of demands to Gandhi now, ZFI's president Syed Zafar Mahmood said: "Many states will go to polls soon and the Lok Sabha polls are just a year away. Many of the points in the charter had been promised by the Congress but the promises have not been fulfilled."
The charter of demands also includes a suggestion to make villages and wards (in urban areas), not district or block, as units for the planning of development schemes. "Schemes for the development of Muslim-concentrated districts are not reaching the targeted beneficiaries. Villages and wards should thus be made the units of planning," said Mahmood.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-17/mumbai/37143837_1_senior-ias-officers-waqf-boards-waqf-bill