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30,000 temples are getting less than Rs 5,000 as annual income. Of these many are in dilapidated state and need funds for renovation, according to the HR & CE dept’s policy note (Tamil Nadu).

A M Rajagopalan says that there are 381 temples in the State that are 1,000 years old, 72 of which are very important for their architectural splendor.

“Most of the funds for temple kumbhabhishekham are raised by devotees and not the govt.So, why shouldn’t they be allowed to run the temples themselves?”

…The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) Department, through which the State government manages the temples, admits that over 30,000 temples “are getting less than Rs 5,000 as annual income. Among these temples, many of them are very dilapidated, requiring huge money for renovation.” In all, the HR & CE department controls 38,465 temples.

…HR and CE Minister KR Periyakaruppan could not be contacted for his comments.

FORGOTTEN PANEL REPORT FOR BETTER TEMPLE ADMINISTRATION

THE DMK regime in 1989 constituted a five-member committee headed by Kundrakudi Adigalar for recommending measures for better administration of the temples in Tamil Nadu.
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The panel submitted its report in 1990 but the government never made its recommendations public. The AIADMK regime that followed also did not do anything on the report.

HERE ARE THE EXCERPTS FROM THE REPORT: -

The government should avoid acquiring temple lands even for public purposes. Only when the government is unable to get sufficient lands from other sources, temple lands that are not of any use to the temples can be acquired by paying the prevailing market value.

The committee is of the view that the funds of the temples should not be spent or diverted to non-religious works either directly or indirectly

…As such, the temples should be exempted from income tax Long-term leases (more than 10 years) should be cancelled so that the income of the temples goes up considerably.

The temple lands in urban areas should not be sold out under any circumstance.
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A special scheme for renovating all historically important temples, visited by saints should be drawn up and all these temples should be renovated within a five-year time frame

The “right” and the “left” – Shaping the debate

Let us continue the discussion on socialism/ capitalism etc on the link above