In a significant administrative achievement, Karnataka has emerged as the first state in India to successfully upload records of all its waqf properties onto the central government's new digital platform, named Umeed. This milestone comes despite the state's initial opposition to the amendments in the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025, and a relatively late start to the digitization process.
Beating the Deadline: A National First
The Union Ministry of Minority Affairs had set December 6 as the final deadline for all states and union territories to complete the upload of waqf property data. While most regions are lagging, Karnataka has completed the task ahead of schedule. Athaur Rehman R, the nodal officer for central schemes at the Karnataka State Board of Auqaf, confirmed the achievement, stating they are the only state to have finished the work for all properties.
Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, publicly praised Karnataka for its prompt implementation on Friday. He noted that while states like Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir have shown good progress, the national tally remains low with only about 1.5 lakh properties registered so far. Several larger states are significantly behind in the process.
Karnataka's Waqf Data: A Closer Look
The state's progress reports reveal detailed insights. Karnataka initiated entries for 57,528 properties, out of which 51,098 have been approved through the platform's maker-checker-approver workflow. According to Rehman, the total number of properties is approximately 52,000, with the higher entry count including some duplicates that will be removed in the final review.
A district-wise breakdown shows where these Islamic charitable trust properties are concentrated:
- Kalaburagi leads with 6,870 properties.
- It is followed by Bidar (5,356), Vijayapura (5,047), Raichur (3,302), and Dakshina Kannada (3,275).
In the capital region, Bengaluru Urban has 1,384 properties and Bengaluru Rural has 756. Districts with the smallest inventories include Chamarajanagar (364), Kodagu (455), Hassan (666), Udupi (672), and Mandya (692).
The Secret Behind Karnataka's Success
Officials attribute this leading performance to strong coordination, early training, and consistent technical support. Rehman credited the board's leadership, including Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, Chairman Ali Baba Hussaini, CEO Mazuddin Khan, and members for ensuring seamless implementation.
The state board established a dedicated helpdesk for field operators and conducted a crucial training workshop in Bengaluru in October. This proactive approach helped resolve common hurdles like geo-tagging, documentation, and digital verification, which other states are still struggling with.
The Union Ministry has now written to chief ministers of lagging states, urging them to expedite the process. It has emphasized that delays will hinder the national consolidation of waqf assets and future planning. Funds have been released for Project Management Units to help states hire personnel for data entry and verification tasks.
The Umeed platform, introduced as part of reforms suggested by a central high-level committee, aims to replace fragmented state-level systems with a unified national database. The ministry plans periodic reviews post-deadline to monitor progress and push for nationwide parity. Karnataka's successful rollout is now seen as a vital test case for the system's scalability and a model for the kind of support other states will require to catch up.
