Religious places as units of ward self-development.

                

Since times immemorial temples, churches, gurudwaras , mosques and other religious sites have been patronized by kings, rich merchants, artisans and common people. In some rulers they went as a beacon of pride, in others a medium of transmitting religious knowledge. In some cases they were used as centres for prayers, dance, sacrifices, langars  in some others it was also used as a place which would act as local government with priests as village heads.

Currently, most religious places have become places for religious rituals where people donate and they are mostly kept as trusts but many small temples are under direct control of priests . Some of the religious places do charity work but most others are confined to religious rituals, religious knowledge dissemination or kept and managed as heritage sites or open to all as places of tourist attractions.

Considering the fact that India is dominated by hindu and muslim populations for the most parts of its territory, its a thought worth provoking to the mind whether temples and mosques could be used more constructively than they are being used right now.

As we know that most cities in India are divided into smaller ward units and each ward has its own issues wrt lighting, road, drainage, sanitation, park and its management, safety related issues, etc. Some of these issues are mostly dealt with the funds to the ward commissioner. Funds held with the Ward commissioner for the development of wards vis-a-vis actual expenses are mostly opaque and the person in charge is almost always out of funds to even provide proper lighting facilities let alone other facilities. This is where the religious institutions can make a decisive role given that there is at least one religious unit in each ward though ,in general, there are many.

Let's see how they work and how they can help us.

Working of most temples(general small ones) -

1. Managed by a priest or a group of people supporting the priest.

2. People donate and no books are maintained about the donations.

3.Unaccounted money also gets into temples which even corrupt people donate to maintain a (so-called) high status in the vicinity. 

Working of most religious trusts-

It is better managed where money goes to the trust and the trust sees it's development and fees of all workers inside the temple.

What can we infer ?

It can be seen that working of most religious institutions either benefits only those who work inside or the development itself of the particular institutions. Some of them like gurudwaras do some charitable work in form of daily langars which is highly beneficial for the poors in its vicinity. Others also need to contribute back to the society as if any religious institution is a place of GOD then GOD should be development-centric towards their children.

How can the current situation be bettered ?

1. All religious institutions (whether under a trust or independent) should be bound together ward-wise under a supervisory body with some members from the ward constituency and some independent posts from the state.

2. Every penny should be used for complementing the development efforts of the state towards the ward after managing institution expenses.

3.The amount available and the amount donated should be transparently available on some portal, though the name of people need not be disclosed to all, i.e. it should be voluntary(so that even black money comes inside as donations).

Benefits?

1. Religious accountability towards people will increase.

2. People will have more respect towards people of different religions.

3. Religious institutions will become units of local self-development .

4. Development of ward, depending on what the ward needs.

5. Better use of some unaccounted wealth of people which they may not pay to govt. but donate to these institutions.

6. Due to the transparency, people will have more faith in the democratic set-up.

7. They might become more aware about their surroundings, cleanliness, etc. as many people in small places in INDIA listen and follow their religious leaders more than they do to the government. So, priests can be trained through the supervisory body to communicate to people about maintaining proper environment ,etc.

8. The net donations(total - temple expenses) from people and fund given by the govt. can be integrated together to create a single large basket of development fund.