Priest at your doorstep — create market for religious services.
Endowments Department (Govt. of Andhra Pradesh) seems to have inspired from the recent start-ups trend of aggregating the services, and is introducing the priest at your doorstep from this Ugadhi (8 April, 2016). A toll free number — 1800 425 6656, will be set up to avail the services of the priest for the ceremonies like babyshower, birth of a child, naming the child, feeding the first meal to a child, marriage, Aksharabhyasa (child learning the alphabets), and to perform death rituals. It is an interesting selection of services that are definitely performed in a Hindu family . These services are free albeit those availing them can donate any amount of money to the priest.
Though the intention of the government appears to uplift the priests at temples with annual revenue of less than one lakh rupees, P Manikyala Rao, the Endowment Minister also said
the novel programme will be taken up as part of propagation of the Hindu Dharma, especially in Dalitwadas.
Though the mandate of the Endowments Department (AP) is to administer the Hindu Temples, Mutts, Peetams and other Charitable Institutions and Endowments, and protecting their properties and appropriating income; conceiving this idea — though welcome, providing these services is not the duty of the government. Instead of leaving the religious services to market forces and creating the competition, one may wonder why the government is owning and driving such initiatives. A simple effort by the Endowments Department, like publishing the data online — about the priests at several temples and geographies would have given a choice for the families to select a priest of their choice, and given an opportunity for someone to float start-ups like of 7Vachan (Wedding aggregator, and consultant) benefiting everyone.
The Endowments Department in Andhra Pradesh is supervised by the A.P. Hindu Dharmika Parishad. The public are unclear as what constitutes the Hindu Dharmika Parishad, and who have authority to guide, and regulate the functioning of Endowments Department.
Clarifying the government’s role on Hindu temples, JSV Prasad , the Principal Secretary of Revenue Department (Govt. of AP) once said
