Removing the Cog in the Waqf Wheels: A Policy Formulation for Nigeria

The Nigerian state is the most populous African nation with a sizeable number of Muslims. While other countries with a significantly fewer number of Muslims benefit from the visible dividends of a thriving waqf institution, the same cannot be said of Nigeria. The institution of waqfs in the country is almost non-existent or, at best, described as comatose. Therefore, this study attempts to formulate workable prescriptions for waqf development in Nigeria. Data were gathered from relevant documents, such as related local regulations and the result of previous studies. Considering the normative characteristics for the functionality of waqf institution, the data were analysed using documentary enquiry, legal reasoning, descriptions, narratives, and critical studies on the waqf system in Nigeria. The findings indicate a dire need for dedicated legislation for waqf operations in the country that will expedite establishing a sound and well-functioning waqf system. This future law should incorporate the policy briefs contained in this paper.==================================================================================================== ABSTRAK – Menghilangkan Hambatan Perputaran Wakaf: Formulasi Kebijakan untuk Nigeria. Nigeria adalah negara di Afrika yang terpadat dengan jumlah Muslim yang cukup besar. Tidak seperti negara-negara lain yang bahkan jumlah penduduk Muslimnya jauh lebih sedikit, Nigeria hampir tidak bisa mendapatkan keuntungan apapun dari adanya sistem wakaf dalam Islam. Eksistensi lembaga wakaf hampir tidak terlihat di negara ini, atau, dapat dikatakan sedang mati suri. Oleh karena itu, kajian ini berupaya untuk menghilangkan hambatan-hambatan operasionalisasi wakaf dengan merumuskan formulasi yang dapat diimplementasikan untuk Nigeria. Data penelitian dikumpulkan dari studi dokumentasi seperti undang-undang dan peraturan terkait serta hasil-hasil kajian yang relevan. Dengan pertimbangan karakteristik normatif fungsi lembaga wakaf, analisis dokumen dilakukan dengan penalaran hukum, telaah deskriptif, naratif, dan studi kritis terhadap fungsi wakaf di Nigeria. Hasil kajian menyimpulkan bahwa ada kebutuhan mendesak bagi Nigeria untuk membentuk undang-undang khusus wakaf yang dapat mempercepat pembentukan sistem wakaf yang sehat dan fungsional. Formulasi policy brief dari kajian ini dapat digunakan sebagai bahan pembentukan aturan dimaksud.

Democracy Through Darkness

Chapter 8 reviews the focus of this book—how and why people keep their politics a secret—based on observations of CWG and the survey data. This chapter argues that the existence of political secrecy says that the democracy in the United States is dark. That the fear laid bare in the women’s experiences and the sizeable number of people who engage in secret political expression are evidence that liberal democratic norms are being threatened. But it also considers how political secrecy might tell us that democracy is alive. That people continue in the face of opposition and that secrecy can be a tool to help people engage in politics when they feel it is risky. Finally, this chapter addresses the implications for practitioners, asking them to consider the ways in which they privilege public expression, and encouraging them to consider this an inaccurate picture of the public itself.

COVID -19 Impacts on World Business Economy

The cornerstone for globalization was laid down by brave adventures who were on a quest to discover countries which were isolated from the rest of the world. The diverse culture, cuisine, attire of the people from the newly discovered countries was something which attracted more travelers. It is evident that the lockdown has had severe impact on all global economies whether it would have a lasting impact depends upon on the growing rate of each country and their ability to indulge in production activities even with the restrictions in place due to the rising cases and this solely lies in the hands of the government. If a sizeable number of citizens are vaccinated this would help in achieving herd immunity which would result in decreased infection rate. As the cases decrease the government is more prone to relaxing the lockdown restrictions and lift the curfew which would aid the industries to start production and gradually the economic activities would flourish.

Research Note Consumption of Raw Flour in the United States: Results from the 2019 FDA Food Safety and Nutrition Survey

Several outbreaks of shigatoxin-producing E. coli (STEC) in the past decade linked to flour and flour-associated products have raised concerns that the consumption of raw flour represents a public health risk as a vehicle for foodborne pathogens. The extent to which consumers know and understand they should not consume raw flour is unclear. In the fall of 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration collected data on uncooked flour perceptions and self-reported consumption behaviors via the Food Safety and Nutrition Survey (FSANS), a national probability survey of U.S. adults (18+). Cross-tabulations and regressions were used to analyze the data (n=2,171). Thirty-five percent of consumers reported having tasted or eaten something with uncooked flour in it in the last 12 months. Responses differed significantly by sex, race, education, and age. On average, respondents indicated that uncooked flour is not likely to contain germs that can make people sick, with significant differences noted by demographic categories. Respondents rated raw homemade cookie dough as moderately likely to have germs that can make people sick, with significant demographic differences. In conclusion, U.S. consumers are largely unaware that raw flour is risky to consume, and a sizeable number are consuming products that contain raw flour.

Urban–Rural Dichotomy in Planning: Review of Legal Framework in Four States of India

Current urbanisation trends in India show a quantum jump in number of ‘census towns’, which are not statutorily declared as urban areas, but have acquired all characteristics of urban settlements. Sizeable number of such census towns are not located near any Class 1 city. Lack of proper and timely planning has led to unplanned growth of these settlements. This article is based on a review of planning legislations, institutional framework and planning process of four states in India. The present article analyses the scope and limitations of the planning process adopted in the rapidly urbanising rural areas of these states. The findings reveal that states are still following a conventional approach to planning that treats ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ as separate categories and highlights the need for adopting an integrated territorial approach to planning of settlements.

The Protection of Fundamental Human Rights

In contrast to the previous Constitution, which was modelled on the 1850 Prussian constitution, the current Constitution of 1946 was heavily influenced by the US Constitution. In general, the courts has been instrumental in developing human rights law via constitutional review, particularly since the 1970s there have been a sizeable number of cases where the court found a law to be unconstitutional. The latest case involved a provision of the Civil Code which found the differential treatment of legitimate and illegitimate children in inheritance to be against equal treatment.

A Positive Resampler for Monte Carlo events with negative weights

We propose the Positive Resampler to solve the problem associated with event samples from state-of-the-art predictions for scattering processes at hadron colliders typically involving a sizeable number of events contributing with negative weight. The proposed method guarantees positive weights for all physical distributions, and a correct description of all observables. A desirable side product of the method is the possibility to reduce the size of event samples produced by General Purpose Event Generators, thus lowering the resource demands for subsequent computing-intensive event processing steps. We demonstrate the viability and efficiency of our approach by considering its application to a next-to-leading order + parton shower merged prediction for the production of a W boson in association with multiple jets.

Determinants of Metabolic Syndrome and 5-Year Cardiovascular Risk Estimates among HIV-Positive Individuals from an Indian Tertiary Care Hospital

Longer survival due to use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has made human immunodeficiency virus- (HIV-) infected individuals prone to chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Metabolic syndrome (MS), a constellation of risk factors which increase chances of the cardiovascular disease and diabetes, can increase the morbidity and mortality among this population. Hence, the present study was conducted with the objectives of estimating the prevalence and determinants of MS among ART naïve and ART-treated patients and assess their 5-year CVD risk using the reduced version of Data Collection on Adverse Effects of Anti-HIV Drugs (D : A : D) risk prediction model (D : A : D(R)). This hospital-based cross-sectional study included 182 adults aged ≥ 18 years. MS was defined using the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel-3 (NCEP ATP-3) criteria. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were done to identify the factors associated with MS. Prevalence of MS was 40.1% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 33.0%–47.2%). About 24.7% of the participants had at least a single criterion for MS. Age >45 years (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.3; 95% CI = 1.1–4.9, p < 0.018 ) and body mass index (BMI) > 23 kg/m2 (AOR = 6.4; 95% CI = 3.1–13.1, p < 0.001 ) were positively associated with MS, whereas daily consumption of high sugar items was inversely associated (AOR = 0.2; 95% CI = 0.1–0.5, p < 0.001 ). More than 50% of the participants were found to have moderate or high 5-year CVD risk. Observed prevalence of MS among HIV patients was higher than other studies done in India. Considering a sizeable number of participants to be having moderate to high CVD risk, culturally appropriate lifestyle interventions need to be planned.

Inflation from f(R) theories in gravity’s rainbow

In this work, we study the f(R) models of inflation in the context of gravity’s rainbow theory. We choose three types of f(R) models: $$f(R)=R+\alpha (R/M)^{n},\,f(R)=R+\alpha R^{2}+\beta R^{2}\log (R/M^{2})$$ f ( R ) = R + α ( R / M ) n , f ( R ) = R + α R 2 + β R 2 log ( R / M 2 ) and the Einstein–Hu–Sawicki model with $$n,\,\alpha ,\,\beta $$ n , α , β being arbitrary real constants. Here R and M are the Ricci scalar and mass scale, respectively. For all models, the rainbow function is written in the power-law form of the Hubble parameter. We present a detailed derivation of the spectral index of curvature perturbation and the tensor-to-scalar ratio and compare the predictions of our results with the latest Planck 2018 data. With the sizeable number of e-foldings and proper choices of parameters, we discover that the predictions of all f(R) models present in this work are in excellent agreement with the Planck analysis.

Immediate psychological impacts on the inmates of a quarantine-isolation facility in North Kashmir: a pilot study

Background: During the current COVID-19 pandemic as part of various control measures quarantine-isolation facilities have been setup throughout India. To the best of our knowledge no study has been done so far on the mental health aspects of the inmates from Kashmir region.Methods: This was a questionnaire based qualitative cross sectional pilot study. A cohort of 301 inmates (196 males and105 females) consented and completed the study questionnaire from March 2020 to June, 2020. The relevant data was statistically analyzed.Results: Short lived negative impacts were seen in a sizeable number of patients. These negative correlates of mental health remained manageable as we followed the guidelines of MOHFW. Only a small percentage of ~ 4% (11 of 301) inmates needed psychiatric consultation and treatment. However they safely completed their mandatory stay period in the facility.Conclusions: Based on the results of our study, we conclude that optimum medical care during the pandemic remains the main focus and rightly so, but nevertheless mental health domain needs to be equally strengthened at the facilities in particular for short term impacts and the community in general for long term impacts.