Failed UPA Government eyes on temple gold to overcome rupee crisis
To hide its total failure on economic front, the UPA government seems to be planning to takeover gold from some temples. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which has been making gold imports more difficult through a series of restrictions, is reportedly discussing with banks on how to convince temple trusts to deposit their hoard of idle jewellery that could be converted into bullion. But the saints and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) have strongly opposed the move and said instead of taking over the temple gold the government should bring back the black money stashed away in abroad. The RBI, however, clarified on August 31 that it is not contemplating any proposal to buy idle gold and convert it into bullion, the saints and VHP leaders say the move is clandestinely going on.
VHP working president Ashok Chowgule recently wrote to RBI Governor saying that just issuing a clarification does not close the matter once and for all. First, the clarification says ‘at this moment’, and secondly it has labelled the gold as idle assets. “We would like the RBI to bear in mind that the gold with the temples has been donated by the devotees. The donation has been done on the basis of a deep spiritual desire on part of the individual, and the purpose will thus be lost if the gold is not with the temples,” Shri Chowgule said in the letter.
He said the present economic problem has been created by the government itself due to its incompetence. The gold with the temples belongs to the Hindu devotees, who donated it, and also to the Hindu samaj, and not to the government to do what it wants with it. Another thing is that the proposal of the RBI essentially puts the blame on the Hindus, since the RBI contends that it is the high gold import that has caused the current account deficit. In the past, high gold imports have taken place along with high growth rates. “Instead of taking the appropriate steps to correct the wrong policies, the government is penalising the Hindus. Hence, even if the gold is sold in the market, the problems will not only be corrected, but could well exacerbate them,” the letter said.
Meanwhile, the VHP general secretary Shri Champat Rai told the government to take back the black money stashed away in foreign banks rather than keeping eye on the temple gold. Reacting to the media reports, he said the temple trustees are the caretakers of the temple wealth, but not the owners. Thus they can’t sell the property belonging to the deity. Government should take back the money deposited in foreign banks to overcome the current rupee crisis created by its own failure. “If the UPA Government is serious about solving the foreign exchange crisis, it should ask the people at the helm of affairs to return the deposits they made in foreign banks,” Shri Rai said.
—Bureau Report
Adhivakta Parishad State Council Meeting in Indore
Investigative Agencies be made answerable to an autonomous body
Questioning the credibility of investigative agencies, the Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad demanded that to maintain fairness, transparency and reliability, the Investigating Agencies in the country should be made answerable to autonomous bodies like the Public Service Commission or Election Commission under the Constitutional provisions. It also said that no officer of any investigating agency should be posted as President or member of any Commission. The Parishad passed a resolution to this effect at its Madhya Pradesh State Council Meeting held in Indore on August 31. Former Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court Justice SK Dube was the chief guest. Adhivakta Parishad national organises Shri Kamlesh Singh also attended the meeting.
In a resolution the Parishad also said the report from Commission headed by a retired High Court judge should be called in respect of partial investigation conducted by the Investigating Agencies in recent time for conducting fair enquiry against the officers of Investigating Agencies and if in the same are found guilty proper recourse should be taken against them. The resolution also prayed the President of India to direct the Investigating Agencies to conduct the investigations in accordance with the law and procedure.
“For the last few years, the Investigating Agencies are being used as political weapons and their conducts are contrary to the human dignity and freedom and they are also being used for repression of nationalist powers. Central level Investigating Agencies like CBI, NIA and State level Investigating Agencies like ATS, OSG are violating human as well as constitutional rights during investigation of different cases,” the resolution said.
In Madhya Pradesh the Indore Bench of High Court in Habeas Corpus Petition bearing no.7346/2008 (Ramswaroop Patidar vs State of MP and others) filed in the case of Dilip Patidar directed for CBI investigation against the ATS Mumbai; but CBI has also not filed chargesheet against the erring officers despite the fact that they have been found guilty by the CBI. The Member of Parliament of Indore has also written one letter dated 8.3.2013 to the Chairman of Parliament pointing out the illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional conduct of the Investigating Agencies. The Advocates are also being restrained from making any conversation with their clients.
—Bureau report
News In Brief
Seema Tamta awarded PhD on Shri Guruji
Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Srinagar (Garhwal) recently awarded a doctorate degree to Seema Tamta on ‘Sociological analysis of Social Philosophy of RSS second Sarsanghachalak Madhav Sadashivrao Golwalkar’ who was popularly known as Shri Guruji. Talking about her research Seema said the visionary philosophy of Shri Guruji provided solutions to many social issues confronting the society and gave birth to a new transformation process that is still relevant in the changing social and cultural milieu of India. With this view an attempt has been made to analyse the thoughts, ideology and philosophy of Shri Guruji from a sociological point of view.
Sikh Sangat delegation calls on BJP Gujarat in-charge
Rashtriya Sikh Sangat president Sardar Gurcharan Singh Gill along with some farmers from Kutch region of Gujarat called on Gujarat BJP in-charge Shri Om Mathur in Jaipur on August 29 with a request to help them finding a sympathetic solution to their problems. The delegation told Shri Mathur that the State government talks about only 90 farmers who filed cases in the court, while the Collector issued orders to cease the land rights of about 1,000 farmers. The delegation also pointed out that there are about three to four thousand farmers whose land rights can be ceased in future. The delegation said if the agriculture land of these farmers is snatched away how they will survive.
Shyam Acharya honoured with Bapurao Lele Award
Senior journalist of Jaipur Shri Shyam Acharya was felicitated with Bapurao Lele Patrakarita Award in New Delhi on August 31. The Asharani Vohra women award went to Nivedita Kandekar while the photographer award was presented to Shri Devendra Rawat. The youth award instated in the memory of Shrikant Joshi was presented to Shri Amrit Joshi.
Senior BJP leader Shri LK Advani and RSS Sahsarkaryavah Dr Krishna Gopal felicitated the awardees. Shri Lakshminarayan Bhala introduced the Nyas activities, while Chairman of the selection committee and senior journalist Dr Nand Kishore Trikha announced the names of winners. Senior journalists Shri Baldevbhai Sharma and Shri Rajkumar Sharma and many other distinguished personalities were also present on the occasion.
Training camp of Grahak Panchayat in Delhi
A training camp of Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat was organised in Delhi recently. A total of 80 workers from 27 Prants attended the camp. President of Delhi unit Shri Bhimsen Sachdev highlighted the issues of Delhi consumers and apprised the workers how to work for resolving them. National general secretary Shri Somnath Khedkar told the workers how to be a good organiser and consumer activist. The valedictory session was addressed by Treasurer Shri Arun Khandelwal.
A Decade of Decays released in Chennai
Former Union Minister Dr Subramanian Swamy released a book, A Decade of Decays, in Chennai on September 3. Dr Swamy explained how the present Government is responsible for liberalising imports thus causing such a bad economic situation in our country. He appealed to the gathering to sink differences and unite together in bringing good governance. Noted economist Shri S Gurumurthy stressed on focus of leadership development. Shri Kanchan Gupta, columnist, Shri Nambi Narayanan, organiser of Swadeshi Jagran Manch, Tamil Nadu, Shri Ramamurthy and M R Venkatesh, Chartered Accountant and economist also shared the dais.
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