This Is Our Editorial Question On Ram Mandir: What Was The Need To Spend So Much Money On Building The Architecture Of Ram Mandir? When It Is Only About Faith And Worship, Can A Simple Temple Be Built, Which Costs Less Money?

The amount spent on temple construction is immense when the country has a bigger prevailing poverty ratio. The vast amount spent on building religious structures can be utilized to resolve poverty in the country. So if a portion of the amount spent on religious buildings is used to feed the needy, starvation could be easily wiped off. During the period of economic slowdown due to the Covid pandemic, the expenditure on the construction of temples is not a great move. More money must be spent on medical and related services as part of providing financial, material, and emotional support to the citizens of the country since the pandemic has affected the lives of people drastically.  

Next, the funding for all the construction requirements for temples must be done by the temple authorities themselves. That can be achieved when the government’s control over the temples comes to an end. The “missed call campaign” launched by Sadhguru on freeing the temples of Tamil Nadu from Government control is a fair example of this. Through this, the income of the temple can be managed by the religious building itself with its own committee members,  by regulating all the incomes from the temple accordingly so that they are self-sufficient to manage all the temple expenses including the redevelopment of the structures. The other religious places of worship like churches, mosques, etc are not in control of the government. Then why should only the temples be caught in action by them? In the present time, a percentage of income from the temples is sent to the Government, which should be eradicated and the amount for their own structural requirements must be saved which will make the temple’s self-efficient, and it will automatically lower the burden of the Government to spend huge amounts to meet the expenses like giving aid to the temples in need, promoting temple art and architecture, propagating religious tenets of the institution and many more. India being a secular country, should not have any control over the religious institutions by the government except for their auditing. 

Temples are the place of historical importance and many have now evolved to become places of learning, worship, and culture. Therefore the temples represent history and architecture as much as they are the place for worship.  

Another reason for the bigger initiative by the Government for temple construction is to promote religious tourism, which is a massive industry in India. Millions of tourists visit India on a yearly basis and the expenditure on religious tourism is getting higher in the meantime. Foreseeing this, the government intends to spend more money on the architecture of temples as it has the potential to add to its economic significance. Therefore by constructing an architectural marvel in the form of Ram mandir in Ayodhya will create more profits by achieving a boost in tourism (manpower-intensive sector), more employment benefits for the people, more development potentials for the region to support the tourism like advancements in transport facilities, hotels, healthcare units, real estate, etc. Hence, the Nagara style Ram mandir proves the potential for economic growth and prosperity in the future.