Revision as of 16:37, 17 September 2021

Assets

2017: one of the richest in the world

G.P. Shukla, Tirumala temple emerges as one of the richest in the world, March 14, 2017: The Hindu

Sri Venkateswara, presiding deity of Tirumala, has emerged as one of the richest deities on the planet if one goes by the declaration of assets by other major religious institutions across the world.

According to sources, the fixed deposits being held by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, sole custodian of the hill temple, with various nationalised banks are pegged at Rs. 8,513 crore. The institution also has deposits of about Rs. 1,978 crore received in the form of donations to various trusts as on March 31, 2016.

Gold reserves

The TTD is also converting the interest earned on gold deposits into gold reserves and reinvesting them in the form of deposits. During 2015-16, the gold reserves went up by an estimated 190 kg.

According to statistics, the TTD holds gold deposits of about 5,796 kg with various public sector banks in addition to another 32 kg earned at the time of maturity till December 31, 2016.

In May 2016, the temple handed over about 1,400 kg gold to the government mint in Mumbai urging it to deposit the same under the short term bank deposit for three years.

The temple is all set to register an income of Rs. 740 crore in the form of interest on fixed deposits for the current financial year, and budget estimates for 2017-18 project it at Rs. 790 crore.

Gold deposits

2014

Balaji temple deposits 1,800kg gold offerings with SBI

PTI | Aug 2, 2014

TIRUPATI: A whopping 1,800kg of gold offerings made by devotees of Lord Venkateswara at the famous hill shrine at Tirumala was in Aug 2014 deposited by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD)with the State Bank of India, taking the total deposits made by it so far with various banks to more than 5,000kg.

This was the largest single deposit of gold made with the bank in the entire country.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) manages the cash-rich temple

The gold offered by devotees in the hill temple hundi was deposited under SBI Gold Scheme for a period of five years at the rate of interest of one per cent, which effectively would mean addition of 12kg of gold per year.

This was the first deposit of the precious metal by TTD in two years because the banks had stopped accepting gold due to restrictions imposed by the RBI. After negotiating with various banks, SBI was the first to come forward to accept the gold deposits at one per cent interest rate per annum and TTD welcomed it.

The deposited gold is taken to government mint at Mumbai by SBI by incurring transportation charges, transit insurance, melting and refining charges and pure gold of 0.995 purity is taken as gold deposit.

The interest on gold deposit was likely to fetch TTD around 12 kg of pure gold every year, netting a total of around 60kgs in the five year period, temple sources said.

Since 2010, on maturity of gold deposits, TTD has been converting the interest earned also into gold which would again be kept as deposits.

In addition to the Aug 2014 deposit, TTD had around 4,335kg of pure gold under gold deposits with the SBI, Corporation Bank and Indian Overseas Bank.

These gold deposits earn an interest of 70kg of pure gold approximately every year to the TTD coffers.

Hereditary priests

As in 2018

Sandeep Raghavan, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams hereditary priests: An in-depth look, December 24, 2018: The Times of India

The judgment of Hyderabad High Court on superannuation has given a breather to hereditary priests under the management of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). Though HC gave the order on the petition by two hereditary priests of Tiruchanur temple, managed by TTD, hereditary priests of Tirumala argue that it is applicable to them too.

The priests had moved HC challenging TTD’s decision to retire hereditary priests on completion of 65 years. They argue that since their post is hereditary, there is no retirement for them. TTD is yet to act on the HC order. As hereditary priests and TTD board lock horns, TOI looks at the system

Q: Who are hereditary priests in Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirumala?

A: Priests from four families form hereditary priests in Tirumala. They are descendants of the first priest Gopinathacharyulu, an expert in Vaikhanasa Agama, a code on temple rituals. Vaikhanasa Agama is one of the two traditions of worship followed at temples associated with Lord Vishnu. Vaikhanasa Agama is the tradition at Lord Venkateswara temple. The other form of worship is Pancharatra Agama, which is followed in Sri Padmavati temple at Tiruchanur Gopinathacharyulu’s descendants thereafter became popularly known as Archaka Mirasi families or hereditary priests and have been associated with Tirumala temple and Govindaraja Swamy temple for about 2,000 years (Miras in Arabic means hereditary). The hereditary families are Paidipally family, Gollapalli family, Peddinti family and Tirupatamma family. Dr AV Ramana Deekshitulu, former chief priest, hails from Gollapalli family.

Venugopala Deekshitulu, who replaced Ramana Deekshitulu, also hails from Gollapalli family. He got the opportunity of chief priesthood at the age of 54. Many others from the same family may never get the opportunity to become the chief priest or a head priest if there is no superannuation clause.

Now, there are 23 hereditary priests in Tirumala temple. There are 35 non-hereditary priests too.

Q: Since when have Mirasi priests been in the temple service?

A: In the absence of recorded evidence, hereditary priests claim that their families have been performing rituals in Tirumala since time immemorial. According to a legend, about two millennia ago Lord Sri Venkateswara, presiding deity of Tirumala temple, appeared to Vaikhanasa priest Gopinathacharyulu in a dream. The priest was looking after rituals in Venugopala Swamy temple in Tirupati. The Lord guided the priest to Tirumala where he found the ‘Mula Virat’, the self-appeared idol of Sri Venkateswara.

A shepherd too had an apparition and he went to Tirumala hills where he found the idol. Descendants of shepherd ‘Sannidhi Golla’ family and priest have been claiming hereditary status since then.

Q: What was the status of Mirasi priest families?

A: Hereditary priests had full patronage under various rulers including Muslim and British. The Tirumala temple was under royal patronage too. Pallava, Chola, Pandyan and Vijayanagar rulers (900 CE to 1670 CE), Muslim kings (1678 to 1801), East India Company (1819-1847), and Hathi Ramji Mutt (1847-1932) controlled the temple before TTD was set up in 1933 by the British government. The TTD Act was promulgated in 1932 by Madras Presidency. TTD, though autonomous, is controlled by AP government since November 1, 1956.

Q: Was there any break in hereditary priest system in Tirumala?

A: Yes. The state government abolished the Mirasi system in 1987. This affected many hereditary priests. The legal battle continued till 1996 but priests could not get hereditary status.

The state government restored certain procedures of the Mirasi system in 2007 but without the financial benefits.

Q: Do hereditary priests enjoy any special financial benefits?

A: No. They get salaries and other emoluments as per TTD rules.

Q: What is their pay pack like?

A: Hereditary Pradhana Archaka (chief priest) draws a monthly salary of Rs 82,000 while other head priests from hereditary families draw salaries of about Rs 52,000. Non-hereditary priests draw salaries based on their experience, ranging from Rs 30,000 to Rs 60,000.

Ramana Deekshitulu got Rs 30 lakh from the temple in recognition of his services. Two other hereditary priests also got similar compensation, while the case of priest Srinivasa Murthy Deekshitulu is pending as he sought a higher amount.

Q: Besides hereditary priests, are any other hereditary families attached to the temple?

A: There are mirasdars (hereditary) like Prasadam mirasdars and Jeeyangar mirasdars. The descendants of saint-poet Sri Tallapaka Annamacharya are also part of the temple hereditary system.

Q: Who is Dr AV Ramana Deekshitulu?

A: Dr AV Ramana Deekshitulu is an authority on temple rituals. He also holds a doctoral degree in microbiology.

He took over as priest in 1967 after the death of his father.

He was retired in 2018 on completion of 65 years.

Q: What are the controversies surrounding Dr Ramana Deekshitulu?

A: Besides the legal fight over superannuation of hereditary priests, Ramana Deekshitulu has been known for several controversies. He received flak twice in 2010 and 2012 when he allegedly broke the temple rules to accord special blessings to Mukesh Ambani and his son, Anant. In 2017, he took his grandson into the temple through the main door (Mahadwaram), which is restricted to only a few VVIPs. He accused the state government of sacrilege in conduct of holy rituals, neglect in security of precious and antique jewellery, and taking unilateral decisions.

Q: What is the latest status on superannuation rule?

A: TTD has not yet decided on the HC order. Hereditary priests, who were forcibly retired, are waiting for TTD’s next move before proceeding legally. Ramana Deekshitulu’s petition is pending to be admitted in the Supreme Court. In another case, Deekshitulu was directed by the apex court to knock the doors of the state high court. The priests had planned for a showdown, but later decided against it because of the case pending in SC. Download The Times of India News App for Latest India News.

Labour laws, labour welfare

Criticism: 2014

Tirupati's labour rules aren't divine

Brinda Karat The Times of India Nov 16 2014

The country's richest shrine underpays and overworks the army of workers who keep it clean, run its kitchens and roll its famous laddoos, says CPM leader Brinda Karat.

If you have been to Tirupati, you would have been amazed at the tremendous feat of management of the endless stream of pilgrims. There is a daily flow of at least 40,000 pilgrims and on auspicious days, this number reaches a lakh or more.

The services offered to pilgrims are also quite unique. On any given day the eight large dining halls serve 40,000 free meals. There are around 600 barbers who also offer not only free services, but also a free blade per pilgrim, to allow them to keep their pledge of tonsuring their heads for Lord Venkateswara.

About 20,000 pilgrims avail of these services every day. There are 7,000 rooms available for residential purposes on payment. It is the only temple in the world that holds a geographical tag for its prasad -the famous laddoo.

The entire area is clean and orderly in spite of the large crowds.

Something to be proud of. Except that behind the order is utter disorder.

This temple is the richest in the country, a conservative estimate puts the annual revenue at Rs 2,500 crore. This is excluding its other huge assets. Despite this, the labour practices in Tirupati are grossly unfair. Of the 20,000 employees, 12,000 are on a contract basis even though they perform jobs of a permanent nature.Most of them have been working for the temple for 10 years.

Look at the plight of those making the famous laddoos. Only Vaishnava Brahmins are allowed to actually make the laddoos. They have a team of assistants who have to be Brahmins, though not necessarily Vaishnavas. It is said that an IAS officer, earlier in charge, who today holds an important position in the AP administration, actually removed 50 or so non-Vaishnava Brahmins who were making the prasad.

Why should laddoo makers have to belong to any particular caste? Aren't casteist practices prohibited by law? All told, there are 420 laddoo makers and their assistants who together make 1.25 lakh laddoos a day. The larger laddoo should weigh 750 gm while the smaller one should weigh 75 gm. Such is the skill that without any weighing machine the laddoo makers get the weight dead right each time.

In 1987, when a new system was set in place, there was a struggle by the laddoo makers to be absorbed as permanent employees and some went to court. Ten years later, the court ruled in favour of their regularization but the verdict was not implemented. It took another ten years for the employees to be regularized. But only those who were part of the initial case got the benefits. So at present, there are only 100 regular employees earning a monthly salary of Rs 35,000 and benefits for laddoo-making while the majority gets just Rs 15,000 a month with negligible benefits for the same job. They are not entitled to any paid leave and if they take leave for an emergency their salaries are cut.

Things are worse in other departments. The worst is the plight of the 4,000 cleaners and sanitation workers.Most of them are dalits. Any time of the day or night you will see women and men in uniforms with brooms, cleaning up after the pilgrims have left, making sure the toilets are clean. What are they paid? Less than Rs 6,500 a month. They have no benefits, no ESI, no provident fund and not even a weekly off. This virtual slave labour is employed by Sulabh International which has got one of the contracts for cleaning. The value of the contract is a closely guarded secret as RTI applications on the issue have been blocked. In any case, according to the law, it is the temple management as the principal employer that is responsible for the conditions of the workers. Incidentally, it is this clause of the responsibility of the principal employer that the Central Government wants to eliminate as has been done by the Vasundhara Raje gover nment in Rajasthan.

The servers and cleaners in canteens serving free food face similiar discrimination though they get some benefits.While 50 regular employees earn around Rs 25,000 a month, the rest of the 600 workers on contract do the same work for less than one-third the amount.

And the unkindest cut of all is that while regular employees can have free darshan of the Lord, contract employees have to pay for it.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust consisting of a chairman and 14 members, appointed by the Andhra Pradesh government along with a full secretariat headed by an IAS officer, are responsible for the management of the temple. The wealth of the temple is continuously augmented by generous donations. Even the hair devotees' sacrifice which is sold to wig-makers, brings in a revenue of at least Rs 200 crore a year.

Should not the management and the state government ensure that the army of workers who make the Tirupati experience unique be treated with respect and dignity?

The writer is member , politbureau CPM and former member Rajya Sabha

Personnel issues

’Employees of other faiths’: as in 2017

40 Tirupati staff face action for ‘following other religions’, December 30, 2017: The Times of India

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the globallyfamous hill shrine of Lord Balaji, is all set to issue notices to 40 of its employees for “following other religions”.

The move comes in the wake of demands from seers of various mutts and devotees that TTD be firm on those carrying out evangelical activities and practising other religions in and around Tirumala.

Sources said TTD will seek explanation from all the 40 employees before acting. While it is not clear as to what action would be initiated against them, sources hinted at immediate suspension.

It has been found that 44 persons, who follow other religions, are employed with the TTD, which is against the rules. Between 1989 and 2007, 37 persons got jobs and the rest earned employment after that.

Recently, a video of a TTD woman staff praying as per the religion she follows went viral. This evoked all-round criticism from Agama pandits and regular devotees. In the wake of allegations of evangelical activities being pursued, then government in united Andhra brought out an ordinance banning propagation of other religions in certain places of worship, including Tirumala.