Proposed Hindu Administration

satyameva jayate nānṛtaṁ, satyena panthā vitato devayānaḥ, yenākramantyṛṣayo hyāptakāmā, yatra tat satyasya paramaṁ nidhānam - Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.6

Truth alone triumphs; not falsehood. Through truth the divine path is spread out by which the sages whose desires have been completely fulfilled, reach where that supreme treasure of Truth resides.

Created by Jijith Nadumuri at 28 Feb 2014 04:55 and updated at 28 Feb 2014 04:55

Article by : Krishnahara Chakravarty:- "Your comments on this article is welcome."

Brief

Since 300 BC, Hinduism has stopped expanding and since 700 AD it has been steadily shrinking. In 300 BC, Hinduism was from Afghanistan to Philippines. And some 35% of population and some 50% of land area was lost to other religions by 1600 AD. The Sikhs and Marathas stopped the further losses and regained a lot of the land, but neither could regain people. Their "reconquest" was too weak compared to the "Spanish Reconquista". Why was it so weak? And in 1947, Hindus lost all their lands in Pakistan and later lost all their lands in Bangladesh. And since 1947, half the North East and half the Kashmir has been lost. And since 1700 till today, Hinduism has been losing people to Missionaries. And in past 20 years, the rate at which Hinduism is losing against Missionaries has been steadily rising.

In some other article, I will write on reasons why lost in past. This article is more about present and possible future directions. IMO, following are the present day reasons why Hinduism is losing against Missionaries :-

the Missionaries have tie up with MNC-owners; and MNC-owners have better technology\Military than India ; better technology is because there is RTR police Chief, RTR-judges, Jury System, Wealth Tax, Inheritance Tax etc in Western countries etc while we dont have such laws in India; so Missionaries gain due to wealth of MNC-owners
the appointments and wealth-allocation in Churches is "better" managed than Temples. Why do I say “better”?
I say better due to following reasons :

In one Protestant sect namely Church of England, the allocation of church money is decided by Priests, but Priests are appointed by PM\MPs, and are under control of Jury if the do something criminal !! And there is no inheritance over Church property.
In all other Protestant sects, local community elders appoint local priests ; so inheritance over church money simply doesnt apply ; and so protestant churches have no tendency to hoard wealth, and so they use their wealth in community building and expansion
The allocation of church money in Catholics is decided by Priests headed by Pope ; the next Pope is elected by 100-200 seniormost priests titled as Cardinals ; so inheritance doesnt exist as priests cant marry, and guru-pratha i.e. existing head appoints next head doesnt exist ; and so catholic churches have no hoarding and also use their donation money in community building and expansion
while Hindu Temple’s money’s allocation is decided by temple-owners (trustees) and or sect-head (Guru) which owns these temples. The trustee positions pass via inheritance or using guru-pratha i.e. Guru appoints next Guru. So there is tendency to hoard wealth and also use it away in creating gaudy shows and luxuries.
A solution was worked out by Sikh Gurus, particularly, 10th Sikh Guru Shri Gobind Singh and was implemented over all Sikh Gurudwara, but sadly never implemented over all temples across India. And IMO we should implement it today. The solution is —- by creating "Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee" type law for all Hindu temples, we can reduce hoarding of temple wealth, and stop downfall of Hinduism.

Now today, to fix the factor-1, we need to have RTR, JurySys, wealth tax, inheritance tax etc laws in India, which I have discussed on http://rahulmehta.com/301.htm . This facebook-note is only on how Hindu temple’s management can be strengthened .

Religious beliefs and appointment/administration in religious bodies

There are two aspects in religion —-

beliefs on God, Soul, spirituality etc and
administration over temple priests, temple managers and temple wealth.

And the way temple priests\managers are administered has impact on beliefs. The followers in each religion donate huge funds to their temples, mosques, churches etc. Now I would compare and contrast how people in different religion decide the following issues :

who will decide where to use temple money
who appoints temple managers and priests and now one generation appoints the next generation of priests
how temple wealth passes from one generation to another.
and the methods used for (a)-(c) will decide “how much control the followers will have over the messages that the priests give to the community members”.
So how are temple wealths managed in ancient Hinduism, present day Hinduism, Churches, Mosques, Gurudwara etc?

Administration of "temples" in ancient Hinduism - In Ramayan and Mahabharat, one doesnt find any mention of even one temple which has huge amount of gold and wealth !! All we read about are Ashrams, which served as temples. The donation money coming to ashrams was mainly used to support cows, provide cow milk to all, provide education of Maths, Science, Law, Language and Weapon Use to all children, be rich or poor in the society, provide medicine to the poor and the general welfare of poor. Thats why Ashram head was called as "Purohit" — "per hit" i.e. one who thinks about others' well being !!! And there was no inheritance over Ashram. Ashram would not necessarily pass to Ashram head's son. It would pass from one Saint to another Saint respected in community. The tenure was NOT permanent. The saints were always travelling. Such setup is now seen in very few Hindu sects only. Control followers had over the temples and its messages : It is not clear to me how much say followers had, as it is now matter of past and not too many documents exist.
Administration of temples in present day Hindu temples - Today, temples are not community property. They are owned by trusts, and for all legal purposes, they are as good as private property of the trustees. The temple owners aka trustees decide where temple wealth will be used. Trustees are often lifelong and temple owners decide the next set of temple trustees i.e. owners !! The temple passes from one trustee to another via appointments by existing trustees and not broad elections. And many key persons appoint themselves with lifelong term. So sometimes, management may remain with an inefficient person for a long long time. And when existing owners pass away, the new owners are appointed by inheritance i.e. son of temple owner becomes temple owner or some nephew of that temple owner will become temple owner. And in some sects where temple-owners have to remain unmarried, there is guru-pratha i.e. outgoing temple-owner will appoint one of his favorite disciple as next guru. Transfer of priest may happen, but if sect is small, then there will not be much transfers. The control followers have in Hindu temples : The followers , including even middle elitemen, have NO say over message the priests give or in deciding how temple managers will use wealth. The apex elitemen will have significant say as the priests do depend on temple trustees. But in temples where priests are the owners themselves, even apex-elitemen have very little say.
Administration of Mosques - The mosques are owned by trusts called as Wakfs , and trustees are community elders, respectable businessmen, persons seen as "warriors for community" and other persons with good reputation in community. They are appointed in open public meeting with consensus of local muslim elders. Every local muslim is asked to attend such meetings. There is NO formal voting, but implicit vote does occur. The trustees are NOT for lifetime and they retire after 4-5 years and may get re-appointed. The trustees' son does NOT have guaranteed position. Too many members from same family is discouraged. In fact, some trusts practice tradition that only one person from family can become trustee at a time. The trustees appoint mullah and he is salaried employee. The trustees decide how temple wealth and donations will be used. There is NO inheritance and no guru-pratha in prieshood. Mullah have to have degree from recognized collages such as Deobadhi etc. The transfers of Mullahs from some mosque to another is common. The mullahs also perform semi-judicial duties in some areas and resolve disputes and also dispense punishments. This is sometimes called as Shariat Courts. All judicial and management decisions are taken in public meetings. The control followers have over Mosque : The poor followers have no say, but the middle elitemen become mosque trustees. And so middle elitemen have control over priests and thus control over the message that the priests give; and middle elitemen also have control over how mosque funds will be used.
Administration of Catholic Church - (see http://www.bible.ca/catholic-church-hierarchy-organization.htm) The catholic priests remain unmarried and cant have any property in their own name. All property and donations coming to Church belongs to the Vatican. The Catholic hierarchy is as follows - Pope -> Bishop -> Local Priest . There are some 3000 Bishops and some 200,000 Local Priests who serve some 1 billion Catholics across the world. Some Bishops have titles of Cardinals and Arch-Bishops, and title is given by Pope after opinions by existing Cardinals and existing Arch-Bishops. And most important thing seen is how many members they have added and retained. There are some 120 Cardinals as of today. Cardinals serve life time, but they generally become inactive after age of about 80 years though title of Cardinal remains with them. Pope's term is lifetime, but now trend that Pope will retire at the age of about 85 years may be shaping. The most important difference between Catholicism and present day Hindu Sects is that 100-150 Cardinals elect next Pope and thus next pope is NOT via inheritance or via guru-pratha. The outgoing Pope makes no statement or will on who will be next Pope. Since priests dont marry, the question of inheritance doesnt arise across hierarchy . In case the priest has affair and has a child from the affair, then the child need not want to remain unmarried and so he may not even join priesthood. The transfers inside the country as well as across the world is common. This gives priests a worldwide exposure. The priests are encouraged to take professions. eg many priests work as teachers, doctors, lawyers, editors and even menial jobs are not looked down upon. eg some priests have worked as carpenters as well. The priests are discouraged from taking jobs in Polic and Government positions with power, except during wars when priests are allowed and even encouraged to serve as soldiers !! From 300 AD onwards, many priests worked as judges across Europe, and this reduced after Jury System started across Europe. Due to "vow of poverty", the Priests cant own any property in his name. They dont have any house, any car or even a bank account in their name. All wealth is in the name of Church. And salary they make from their profession is also deposited in church !! And the vow of poverty prohibits them from consuming luxurious items. The control followers have : The followers, be poor or middle elitemen or apex-elitemen have no direct say, but given that there is no inheritance in priests
Administration of the Church of England : Church of England headed by Queen of England , and Archbishop of Canterbury. In theory, PM and MPs have no say but in reality, PM and MPs do have broad say in how Queen and Archbishop and Priests run the Church of England. The PM and MPs, and even Queen doesnt interfere in day today matters. But long range policy decision making involves Queen, PM and MPs in very indirect way. How? The Archbishop of Caterbury is appointed by Queen = PM. And the priests are recruited/promoted by a Board which is formed by Archbishop, Queen = PM and MPs !! And MPs are elected by voters. In addition, Jury Trial applies on criminal actions of priests. The control follower have : The followers of the Church, namely people of England, have 2 ways to control the Church - via PM and via Jury. Thus Church of England is fully democratic. And via MPs via PM via "board to select/promote priests", the followers have control over what message that the church will give to commons, and how church wealth will be used.
Administration of Episcopal Protestant Church : The church is owned by a trust formed by Episcopal elitemen. The Trustees rotate and same inheritance is not guaranteed. The priests are appointed by Trustees who are elitemen. But the criminal actions by priests will be decided by Jurors chosen at random from society. So priests and elitemen have near zero control over Jury. The control followers have : The followers have no direct control over Church owners or managers, except via Jury. But Jury is chosen from whole of the society, not just followers. And Jury will intervene only if there is criminal intervention, not otherwise. Since elitemen are the trustees, and they appoint the priests, the followers have no direct say on what "message" priests will give. But the followers can vote with their feet, and join any other Church !! And Church or Priests cant use force to stop them as Jurors will simply not allow them to use any force. So in order to retain followers, the Church trustees and priests do have to listen and cater the followers.
Administration of other Protestant Churches : Almost all Protestant Churches, except Church of England, in Europe and USA, are administered in a way similar to Episcopal Church. The sect is headed by a trust consisting of elitemen of sect. The trusts appoints the Priests who give message and give spiritual counseling.The control followers have : Since elitemen are the trustees, and they appoint the priests, the followers have no direct say on what "message" priests will give. But the followers can vote with their feet, and join any other Church !! And Church or Priests cant use force to stop them as Jurors will simply not allow them to use any force. So in order to retain followers, the Church trustees and priests do have to listen and cater the followers.
Administration of Sikh Gurudwara : IMO, the Sikh Gurudwara administration is the best of all ways, and appears to be most Vedic in nature. And IMO, all Hindu temples should be administered along this lines. And the single most reason why the Sikhs became so powerful was because the way Gurudwara were administered. have SGPC Act i.e. Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee Act and all Gurudwara are administered as per the guidelines of this act. I have described this in next section in details. The control followers have : The followers have complete control, as they elect Gurudwara heads.

Administration of Sikh Gurudwara – SGPC act

The reader can obtain SGPC Act details and details on how Gurudwara are managed from net. The reader may also ask his Sikh friends. I will briefly summarize the administration of Sikh Gurudwara here. A good link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akali_movement .

A brief history behind SGPC act may be useful. The Sikh Guru had created a tradition that Gurudwara head will not be hereditary nor appointed by some oligarchy, but the Gurudwara head will be elected by all adult Sikhs in the village or a cluster of villages. Please note – every Sikh, be rich or poor, be if of any birth, be literate or illiterate had one and equal vote. This was the first case of Universal Suffrage after a long time in History. Even in Greece, which practiced “Universal Suffrage”, the slaves had no right to vote and so only some 20% population had voting rights as remaining 80% were slaves. While in Sikhism, there was no concept of slavery – in fact slavery was banned. So almost every adult Sikh was a voter. So one can rightly say that first implementation of Universal Suffrage to elect Gurudwara head came in Sikhism. The last Guru, Guru Gobind Singh made it a formal tradition. The representatives elected from village Gurudwara would appoint other apex-Sikh authorities. IOW, apex-Sikh authorities were indirectly elected, by Sikh masses. And they were not appointed. Later, Golden Temple in Amritsar became main centre for apex religious authorities in Sikhs. And so the tradition that village Sikhs will elect Gurudwara Heads who will then elect Golden Temple heads started. But election of Golden Temple heads was not fully a formal codified process.

The election procedure made Sikhs far more powerful than Moguls as well as Afghans. But Sikhs could not become even 1/10th as powerful as British. Why not? Because in Britain, the clergy was appointed by Board created by elected MPs and PM, and PM was elected by MPs and MPs were elected by some 5% of population, and Jury System represented 100% of adult population. While in Sikhs, though clergy was elected, the King was not elected but was hereditary or decided by oligarchy. The Sikhs could not implement the proedure of election of Kings. Why not? Because election of state-head without Jury System and Right to Recall gives rise to runaway populist postures followed by runaway irresponsibility !!!

The British had implemented democratic procedures in “spiritual life” as well as “temporal life” i.e. British had democratic traditions

After 1860s, there was some lapse in election. Though local Gurudwara heads were elected, the apex-authorities started getting appointed by elitemen. The Sikh elitemen were under British influence due to contracts they were getting from British. The British even managed to get some Hindus, who weren’t Sikh, appointed as Mahant in Golden Temple !! So apex-clergy of Golden Temple favoring British. The local-clergy in Sikhs was elected, and so local Sikh clergy showed pro-India anti-British tendencies. So the clashes between Gold temple clergy and increased. And the clash became serious after apex-Sikh-clergy honored General Dyer after Jallianwallah Baug massacre !! The rank and file of lower clergy and whole Sikh community heavily criticized the decision of the apex-clergy. The apex-clergy had taken this decision under the influence of British, and some handful of Sikh\Hindu elitemen who were influential due to contracts they were getting from the British. Apparently, General Dyer was looking for some honor in India after he was severely criticized for Jallianwallah Baug massacre. And so he influenced Sikh\Hindu elitemen to ask the Golden Temple Mahants to honor him. And the Golden Temple Mahants actually honored General Dyer. The Sikh students, lower-clergy and almost whole Sikh community demanded removal of these Mahants !!

The demand from Sikh community to restore the old procedure of election of apex-clergy grew. Appalled by the rising fervor, the British enacted SGPC Act Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee Act, which created a full scale democracy over Gurudwara.

As per SGPC, the Sikhs have an Gurudwara Election Commission of their own. Each adult Sikh is a registered voter. Every few years, the elections are held, where the Sikh voters elect local Gurudwara Committee Members. The local committee members elect National Committee Members, Akal Takht Chief etc. The Committee Members appoint priests , raagi etc. The next committee members are elected. Re-election of same person again and again is discouraged. None one has life term. And next members are mostly not relatives of former members, unless they also have high social standing. So the Gurudwara Heads don’t have life term, and they also don’t have inheritance.

This is opposite of Hindu Temples, where inheritance and life term is the norm.

Since Gurudwara don’t have life term and inheritance, there is no tendency in temple trustees and managers to hoard wealth that comes via donations. So whatever donations that come, they spend for community welfare such as food for poor, medicine for poor, education for all, weapon use education for all etc etc.

The proedure that Gurudwara Prabandhak will be elected and will not have life term made Sikhism so strong that they could thwart Moguls, Afghans etc. But the Sikhs could not implement this procedure of elections in polity. While British had the procedure of elections on polity, and “indirect representation of popular will” in Church via Church of England. So British were stronger than Sikhs, and so Sikh Kings lost.

Why didn’t all Hindu temples adopted Sikh model of temple management?

The Sikhism has spiritual beliefs as well as a method of managing temples. The method of managing temples could have been explained to all Hindus in a way acceptable to them. But many spiritual beliefs such as not giving importance to Murti Puja was not acceptable to most Hindus.

So here, my opinion is that IF (1) the good temple management methods of the Sikhs are explained to Hindu devotees across Hinduism (2) and if they are asked to adopt good temple management methods (3) and not asked to change their spiritual beliefs or rituals THEN the good temple management methods may become acceptable to all Hindus.

How life term and inheritance increases hoarding in temples

Here, a reader may rightly confront me with a valid question. Whats wrong with life term in temple and what’s wrong with inheritance over temple? And what’s wrong with guru-pratha i.e. guru chooses one of his follower as next guru?

Lets compare the two scenario – first where temple head A has term of two years only and second scenario where the temple head B has life term. Lets say in both cases, the heads A and B received donations of Rs 1 crore. Now B, who has life term, will think of keeping that Rs 1 crore for as long as he can and not spend it. And A who has fixed term of few years, then in worst case, he may try to siphon some of it in his personal pocket ; but beyond a limit it is not possible ; and so A will spend as much as possible on community work because that can get him fame and also increase his possibility of re-election. So life term decreases the desire to spend and increases desire to hoard, while fixed term of few years decreases desire to hoard and increases desire to spend on community work.

And inheritance and life term go together !! Each institution which has life term will have inheritance and inheritance exists only in institutions which have life term. The fixed terms automatically cancel life-term as well as guru-pratha.

How life term and inheritance in temples weakens community’s defenses

Inheritance makes the problem worse, because the head B will now want to save the money for his heir. And the heirs will also pressure him to spend as little as possible !! And so hoarding will further increase and community work will further decrease.

The desire to hoard and not spend money on community work can drastically weaken a community’s ability to defend itself. Consider two communities A and B. Say A has temple heads with fixed term, and head is elected by followers and has no inheritance. And B has temples with life term and inheritance. Now consider that community-A is being attacked by outsiders. Say out of 1000 persons, some 100 decide to fight. Say 10 die and 10 get badly injured. Now if temples do not assist the injured and family members of those who died and or were injured, then in next round of attack, fewer will fight and so community will lose to invaders. While consider in community B where there is no hoarding. There, the temple head will assist the injured persons as well as family members of those who died and got injured. So in next round, many more will join the fight.

So

if the temples have tendency to hoard wealth, then
support coming from temple to the injured, the family members of dead and family members of injured decreases,
and so number of persons willing to fight to defend its members decreases
and so the community will lose against invaders
This was principal reason why non-Sikh-Hindus lots, but Sikhs could give a fight. Because in non-Sikh-Hindus, the injured and family members of dead/injured got negligible support from temple owners due to tendency of temple owners to hoard wealth. Whereas the Sikh Gurudrwara Prabank were elected and had no tendency to hoard wealth, and so they supported the injured and family members of dead/injured. And so fighting sprits in Sikhs remained intact and progressively increased. And so Sikhs could protect themselves and Hindus from onslaught of Moguls and Afghans.

How Arya Samaj provided better management but the growth stalled

In Arya Samaj, the temple trustees d not have life terms. They have term for a few years after which they are replaced by other trustees who need not be their close relatives. The trustees are respected businessmen, industrialists and intellectuals. The outgoing trustees decide the new trustees. It is similar to way protestant churches are managed. IMO, the Sikh way of electing temple head is better but Arya Samaj’s method is far less bad than inheritance and life terms. Due to rotation of trustees, there is no tendencies to hoard wealth and so donations get used to work which strengthen community.

The method Arya Samaj adopted could have been copied in all temples. But it didn’t happen because the beliefs and temple management methods got too much inter-linked. If temple management method alone were presented to other Hindus, they may have accepted it. But IMO, they were presented along with beliefs. And certain beliefs were not acceptable to other Hindus such as opposition to Murti Puja. And so temple management methods also didn’t get copied.

How inheritance has enabled Missionaries to take over temple wealth

The inheritance in temple has created a chronic mess. I would give example of a temple, which wish not to name. That temple was made some 1000 years ago, and had one Mahant. After than, his 5 sons became Mahant. They each serve on days by rotation. Each of the 5 sons had 2 to 4 sons, totaling some 12 sons. After the death of the 5 sons, some these 12 grandsons become the heir. Now these 12 used to serve by rotation. But their share is not same. Say A had two sons A1 and A2, and B had 4 children B1, B2, B3, B4. Then share of A1 and A2 will be twice of B1 to B4. Now often, a Mahant would die without son, and adopt a son or son is born after his death, and so there will be law-suit on whether he is Mahant or not. And there will be disputes on shares. So some 20-30 generations later today, the temple has over 500 Mahants and there are over 50 unresolved court cases related to inheritance. Using these law-suits as pretext, it becomes possible for Govt of India to take over the temple management. And since major political parties in India are Missionary agents, the temple income gets donated to charitable trusts run by Missionaries. And thus Missionaries manage to get money from temples to convert Hindu into Christians !!

Thus inheritance over temples has created 10s of disputes, making it easy for Govt to take over the temple wealth.

Tax exemption to religious and other trusts

A very important issue associated religion, charity and all trust is tax exemptions they get. Here I have proposed a uniform tax exemption structure for ALL trusts, be religious or charitable or educational or whatever. The structure I propose is

Every adult citizen will be qualified for same amount tax exemption for trusts – say Rs 1000 per citizen per year (it will decrease if he has more than 2 children) divided into 10 units.
A citizen can go to Patwari’s office and allocate his units to anyone or more Trusts. Eg he can allocate say 1 unit to Trust-A , 2 units to Trust-B, 5 units to Trust-C and rest 2 units to Trust-D
The Trusts will get tax-exemption equal to units they have received, multiplied by the amount per unit.
The amount per unit will be same for all citizens irrespective of religion, caste etc, and may only depend on age, number of children he has etc etc. The amount will be decided by Parliament for every year.
In addition, there will be no double taxation on donation, but there will be taxation at maximal rate. Eg say income tax rate for individuals is 0%, 10%, 20% and 30%. Then if a person-A who was in 30% bracket donated say Rs 1000 to trust, then the tax on that donation will be 0%. But if a person who was in 0%, 10%, or 20% bracket donates Rs 1000, then tax on that donation will be 30%, 20% or 10% respectively. All the cash donations will be taxed at 30% rate. All the foreign donations will be taxed at 30% rate. The wealth will be taxed at corporate rate. On all taxes, the exemption of (number of exemption-units * amount per unit) will apply.

I will skip the details of taxation. But the reader must note one thing —- that religious trusts will NOT have get unlimited wealth tax exemption and income tax exemption that they have today. Their incomes, and donations will be also taxed. And the exemption they get will be proportional to number of followers they have, and if followers have given then exemption units.

The solution I propose in brief

I am proposing a an SGPC type structure over Hindu temples. The issue is of sects —- there are multiple sects and each sect would like separation of others. Also, central issue is taxation – the religious trusts be taxed at par with corporates with some discounts. If trusts are not taxed, then nothing will stop individuals from making trusts and evading taxes. And another issue is – State\Center relations and language. Not every State would like all its temples managed by Central authority due to language issues.

The solution I propose is to form three types of HMPC = Hindu Mandir Prabandhak Committees – one National Level , one for each State and one for each Sect. Each Committee will have one head and 4 members elected by voters for 2 years term, but can be recalled any day via SMS/ATM or personal visit to Patwari office. Each HMPC will have status of a Religious Trust. One person can serve as member for no more than 4 years of his life. In addition, the recruitment of priests\staff will be via written exams and the priest\staff can be expelled using Jury System. A criminal case will be tried by Jury of regular court.

The wealth owned by each HMPC will be taxed, and setoff of Rs 100 (of specified amount) per year per member will apply. And each citizen can give tax break to 5 Trusts. The taxation rules will be same for all Trusts – Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddist or Muslim or any other Charitable Trust. A citizen can be member of any number of Trusts. The members can be voting members of non-voting members. Only voting members will elect committee members.

Some more details are as follows:

NHDPT = National Hindu Devalaya Prabandhak Trust : Every Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddist etc will be born voting member of this Trust, unless he himself removes his membership. He may give his exemption previlege to this Trust or may not, but his voting right will continue. Muslims and Christians cannot become member of this Trust. The head of Trust will be elected by ALL members, and will be recallable. The Head will appoint 4 Managers, who can be replaced by voting members. The Trust will have to pay income tax as well as wealth tax, and tax emption will be equal to exemption units it recieves. To start with , NHMPT will manage 4 temples only – Amarnath Devalaya in Kashmir, Ram Janam Bhoomi Devalaya, Krishna Janam Bhoomi Devalaya and Kashi Vishvanath Devalaya. Later, it can take over temples if a Sampradaya willingly hands it over to NHDPT.
RHDPT = Rajya Hindu Devalaya Prabandhak Trust : Every State will have one RHDPT, where every Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddist etc who is voter in that State will be also a member in that Trust, unless he wishes not to be. He may give his exemption previlege to this Trust or may not, but his voting right will continue. Muslims and Christians cannot become member of this Trust. The head of Trust will be elected by ALL members, and will be recallable. The Head will appoint 4 Managers, who can be replaced by voting members. The Trust will have to pay income tax as well as wealth tax, and tax emption will be equal to exemption units it recieves. To start with , RHDPT will manage the temples in the State which Sampraday want to give to entire Hindu Community in that State.
RT = Religious Trust : Every existing Hindu Trust will called as RT. In the beginning, only the trustees will be VM = Voting Members and zero NVM = Non Voting Members, and then the VMs with 67% majority can add more VMs and NVMs. One citizen can be VM or NVM in any number RT, provided that RT also allows its VM\NVM to be members of other RT. The VMs = Voting Members will appoint the Head, who will appoint 4 Managers. The VMs can replace the Head and/or any Manager any day. The Trust will have to pay income tax as well as wealth tax, and tax emption will be equal to exemption units it recieves. If RT has internal law that the children of voting members will become voting members, then they will automatically become voting members. And once an RT accepts that “children of voting members will become voting members”, it cannot cancel this policy.
The Muslim and Christian Religious Trust will be governed as per existing law. The same tax laws will apply on them , and the exemption they will get will be equal to units allocated by their memebrs or non-members.
The Religious Trusts of today pay no income tax and pay no wealth tax. This will change. All trusts will have to pay taxes on market value of the plots/buildings they own, gold/silver they own, income they earn, and also donations they get. And all trusts will get exemptions depending on the exemption units they obtain from citizens. In existing trusts, the Trustees will be taken as voting members. They need not have non voting members.

Details of the proposed National Hindu Devalaya Prabandhak Trust

The NHDPT = National Hindu Devalaya Prabandhak Trust will come into existence , after following draft is printed in the Gazette by PM

[The officer , position in square brackets [ ] is the officer who is supposed to execute the instruction]

[Definitions]

The word Trust means NHDPT = National Hindu Devalaya Prabandhak Trust.
The word Chairman means Chairman of the Trust
The word Trustee means Trustee of the Trust
The word Hindu citizen here would mean a registered voter who is Hindu, Sikh, Buddist or Jain, or called as Hindu by the Chairman, unless the citizen has called himself non-Hindu
The word may means may or need not, and clearly means “no binding”.
section-1 : Appointments and replacement of Chairman and Trustee

1.1 [ PM ] The PM will form NHDPT = National Hindu Devalaya Prabandhak Trust , with PM or any Hindu Minister he chooses as working Chairman , and any 4 Hindu Ministers of his choice as the Trustee.

1.2 [Collector] If a citizen of India above 30 years wishes to be Chairman, he can appear before Collector. Collector would issue a serial number for a filing fee same as deposit amount for MP election and put his name on the PM’s website.

1.3 [Talati , Patwari, Village Officer (or his clerks)]

(1.3.1) If a citizen comes in person to Talati’s office, pays Rs 3 fee , and approves at most five persons for the Chairman position, the Talati would enter his approvals in the computer and would him a receipt with his voter-id#, date/time and the persons he approved. The fee shall be Rs 1 for those with BPL card.

(1.3.2) If a the citizen comes to cancel his Approvals, the Talati will cancel one of more of his approvals without any fee.

(1.3.3) The Collector may create a system of sending SMS feedback to the voter

(1.3.4) The Collector may create a system of taking finger-print and picture of the voter and putting it on the receipt.

(1.3.5) PM may add means to enable citizens to register approvals via SMS. PM may create a system where by citizens can register approvals via ATM

1.4 [ Talati ] The Talati will put the preferences of the citizen on district’s website with citizen’s voter-ID number and his preferences.

1.5 [ Collector ] On every Monday, the Collectors will publish Approval counts for each candidate.

1.6 [ PM ] If a candidate has approvals more than 35% of ALL Hindu citizens , and it is 1 crore more than approvals of existing Chairman, then PM may appoint him as the new Chairman

1.7 [ Collector ] If a citizen of India above 30 years wishes to be Trustee, he can appear before Collector. Collector would issue a serial number for a filing fee same as deposit amount for MP election and put his name on the PM’s website.

1.8 [ Talati , Patwari, Village Officer (or his clerks) ]

(1.8.1) If a citizen comes in person to Talati’s office, pays Rs 3 fee , and approves at most five persons for the Trustee position, the Talati would enter his approvals in the computer and would him a receipt with his voter-id#, date/time and the persons he approved. The fee shall be Rs 1 for those with BPL card.

(1.8.1) If a the citizen comes to cancel his Approvals, the Talati will cancel one of more of his approvals without any fee.

(1.8.3) The Collector may create a system of sending SMS feedback to the voter

(1.8.4) The Collector may create a system of taking finger-print and picture of the voter and putting it on the receipt.

(1.8.5) PM may add means to enable citizens to register approvals via SMS. PM may create a system where by citizens can register approvals via ATM

1.9 [ PM ] If a candidate has approvals more than 35% of ALL Hindu citizens , and it is 1 crore more than approvals least approved Trustee has, then PM may appoint him as the new Trustee and remove the Trustee with lowest approvals

1.10 [ PM ] One person can contest as Trustee as well as Chairman.

1.11 [ PM ] A person has served as Trustee or Chairman for 1000 days, then PM will remove him and replace by person with highest approvals.

1.12 [ Trustees ] The Chairman and Trustees will make the necessary rules to run the Trust and manage the employees

1.13 [ PM ] If the Chairman or Trustee becomes Trustee or employee of any religious Trust, PM will expel him and replace him with most approved Trustee or Chairman candidate

section-2: Managing the Trust and Membership

2.1 [ Chairman ] The Chairman will manage the Trust. The Chairman will recruit priests and other employees using written exams for a term of 1000 days. The Chairman may give contracts to outside contractors for specific tasks.

2.2 [ Chairman ] The Chairman will create a Jury System to hear complaints against the employees. The Chairman will prepare and administer the Jury System draft and appoint the officers to manage the Jury System

2.3 [ Chairman ] If any employee becomes employee or Trustee , then after a Jury Trial, the Chairman will expel him.

2.4 [ Chairman ] If an employee has served for over 2000 days, then the Chairman may remove him after Jury Trial. After that, the employee may serve as Trustee\Chairman for another 1000 days.

section-3 : National Temples

3.1 [ PM ] As the plot becomes available, the PM will handover following 4 plots to the Trust – Amarnath Devalaya in Kashmir , Ram Janam Bhoomi Devalaya, Krishna Janam Bhoomi Devalaya , Krishna Janam Bhoomi Devalaya and Kashi Vishvanath Devalaya . The Trust will manage these 4 Devalaya

3.2 [ Chairman ] The Trust will also manage any Devalaya handed over to it by a Sampradaya. The Sampradaya may take it back within 15 years. After 15 years, Trust will formally ask Sampradaya if it wants the Devalaya back. If the Sampradaya replies NO, then the Devalaya shall be run by the Trust forever

section-4 : Membership and Voting Rights

4.1 [ Chairman \ PM ] Every person who is Hindu and above the age of 18 years on the date this Trust is formed will be Voting Member. The Trust will have no non-voting members. The word Hindu will include all Sampraday of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists etc. However, if a person declares by any means, that he wishes not to be called as Hindu, then his name will be suspended from the list, vut will be re-added when he wishes to be Hindu.

4.2 [ PM ] If a Hindu calls himself non-Hindu , his SC\ST status will not be effected by this law. If other laws effect the status, then it may be effected.

4.3 [ Chairman \ PM or officer Chairman appoints ] If a person converts to Islam or Christianity, then the Chairman will permanently remove his name from voter list after one year, unless he converts back within 1 year. During that one year, he cannot vote. And if he converts twice, then second time , his name will be permanently removed from the member list without 1 year wait. In case of dispute, the decision of Jury will be final.

4.4 [ Chairman ] If a Christian\Muslim wishes to become Hindu, the after approval of Jury who will verify his credentials, and after approval of ALL Trustees , the Chairman will be added to the list

section-5 : Donations, Incomes and Taxes

5.1 —— The Trust can obtain donations from any person or non-person entity or foreign entity. The Trust can also engage into any business activity like any corporation.

5.2 [ PM, CM ] PM, CM may collect applicable income tax, wealth tax and other taxes on the trusts.

5.3 [all] Taxes on donations : The donations will be taxed at the rate of (highest rate – highest slab paid by the donor in the previous year) ; cash donations and foreign donations will be taxed at the highest rate

5.4 [all] Tax Exemptions : The Trust will get exemption equal to exemption units citizens have given multiplied by amount per unit decided by Finance Minister. The citizen can give the exemption unit to a Trust by personally visiting to a Talati office or via SMS or via ATM, using interface as decided by Finance Minister.

Details of the proposed Rajya Hindu Devalaya Prabandhak Trust

The RHDPT = Rajya Hindu Devalaya Prabandhak Trust will come into existence , after the draft is printed in the Gazette by CM. If CM refuses to print it, then PM can declare President’s rule and then print it in Gazette via Governor

The drafts is similar to NHDPT except that members are Hindus residing in the state for over 6 months OR the state he belongs to. i.e. a Hindu will have a choice on which RHDPT he wishes to be member of. But he cannot become member of both. And if he changes membership, the new membership will become active after 6 months.

Details of the proposed Bharatiya Sampradaya Devalaya Prabandhak Act

The proposed BSDPT = Bharatiya Sampradaya Devalaya Prabandhak Act will come into existence , after the draft is printed in the Gazette by PM. IMO, PM will need to pass it in Parliament first. This draft is complicated, because while I propose to convert oligarchic control over temples into democratic control, I don’t propose that we should do it using Govt force or even tax incentive or any other incentive. IMO, the transformation should be via convincing the bhakts i.e. followers of each Sampradaya to leave oligarchic management and use democratic management.

Also, this proposed Act covers only Bharatiya Sampradaya except Sikhism. Though Sikhism is Bharatiya, it is already covered under SGPC Act, and so there is no need for a new Act to govern it. And since Christianity and Islam are non-Indian in origin, they will be governed using separate existing or new Acts.

The Right to Recall PM draft is a pre -requisite reading to understand this draft. RTR-PM-draft is given in section-6.6 of http://rahulmehta.com/301.htm . Another key issue is that to resolve disputes, of Trustees, the Collectors will use Jury System. The Jury System is described in chap-21 of http://rahulmehta.com/301.htm . The system proposed here also uses Juries of large size such as Juries of upto 1500 Jurors. Is such large Jury possible? Well, if Greece of 600 BC could use Juries of 1500 Jurors, then surely it is possible in India with much better technology then what Greece had in 600 BC. Such large Juries are necessary to reduce corruption and pre-built nexuses common in judges we have in India as of today. Even small Juries of 12 to 15 are sufficient in almost all cases. But many in India fear that small Juries can be bribed or coerced or both if the stakes are high and one or both parties are wealthy and strong. And so in such cases, large Juries such as Juries of 100-1500 Jurors should be used. In Greece, after trial, the Jurors would vote for punishment in a confidential way. In most countries , now Jurors vote is disclosed in court, but not kept in record. I have proposed open voting in case of Jury Trial. But the votes and names will not be kept in the records

I request reader to see the full draft is at https://facebook.com/note.php?notes_iid=10151836851231922

Conclusion

The above proposed laws IMO will reduce tendency to hoard donation money in various Bharatiya Sampradaya Trusts and so each Bharatiya Sampradaya’s management will work to strengthen the followers of the Sampradaya. This will IMO make each Sampradaya as strong as Sikhism. The proposed law creates a way to install democratic management in Hinduism at State/National levels and within various Sampradaya without use of force or any tax or grant incentive.

Thos who have faith in “rule of learned ones” against democracy may not agree with these proposals. But then, the law does not require them to convert their Sampradaya Trusts into democratic. They may continue with their existing inheritance or guru-prataha or oligarchy. Nevertheless, those who still oppose democratization of Sampradaya management, may oppose the proposed law-draft as “waste of time ; will bring no change ; the focus should be on brining moral values ‘ the Trusts should be headed by man of knowledge and not by elected men etc etc” . Well, those anti-democratic arguments have been around since ages. The flaw in their argument has been that “man with knowledge are not immune to nexuses, and nexuses can be covered”, and there is no way to prove integrity etc.

Video

The link below explains the proposed law in simple words :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp8-A69dNMQ#t=1507

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