There is a lot of priceless treasure troves or call them antiques of which the estimated sum by the present monetary standards runs into several hundred billion of dollars. What is more surprising is that this enormous treasures that have been brought from hidden sources through ages have been kept as exhibits for centuries and the same has not been properly valued and utilized for the real benefits of the masses. This is even more surprising when one tries to consider the huge amount of wealth that are in possession of nations of which not even a significant percentage has been utilized for raising the standard of living of the population of that particular region or country. The most ironic fact is seen that the wealth has been accumulated or found to be in possession of those countries who are virtually in poverty or that the major part of its population still lives below the poverty. In this context one can ask as to why this wealth remains or what use has it been put for the society as a whole. Whether such wealth can benefit anybody or whether these hidden treasures now unearthed ought to remain as a publicly exhibited treasure trove or that it glorifies the image of the poor of the land is the biggest question posing the social community.
The antique value of these treasures dug up or found out after being hidden from the view of the masses for several generation is by itself too great yet the correct cost estimate or value of such a stock of wealth, both movable and immovable, could be made so that the benefits could percolate to the masses at the lower level. However, this poses a significant problem as most of these treasures found in the possession of certain individuals, communities and religious organization can make the task cumbersome and highly sensitive issue and can bring about a near civil war if all the stakeholders are not taken into confidence. Further, these treasures by their very nature of being antique and having historic significance can by itself prove to be difficult for governments to act upon. As per the known areas of commercial and economical field of study these wealth cannot be brought to circulation in their present form as several formalities including stakeholders co-operation, court permits and legal hurdles ought to be crossed before the same wealth can be brought into circulation for the benefit of the populace.Again, these wealth for the reason of both social and cultural sensitivity issues and due to their antique value cannot be immediately taken over by the government and sold out in the open market. In fact, this is all the more difficult as there can be arguments for and against about the exact market value of these hidden jewels and as to who should benefit out it according to priority basis. Further, any rash action like selling off the hidden treasures can trigger something like a civil war if not properly defined in the economic or market sense not to say anything about the rampant corruption that would ensue without it being managed in the right way.
Why I say this is that just recently there has been a sudden surge in news relating to the astounding discovery of priceless wealth stored in one of the temples of Kerala in India. Stupendous Sree Padmanabha Wealth has become like a folklore in India abroad. If the estimate is right the wealth of the temple of Lord Padmanabha in Thrivanthapuram is stated to be more than one lac crore of rupees or more than $100 billion dollars. Now that is only so far as the wealth that has been discovered so far. It seems that there is yet another one or two chambers yet to be opened and their estimate yet to be taken by the Supreme Court of India. Whatever be the case the wealth is enormous by any world standards. Now the task before everybody is the way this wealth could be used such that the benefits of it percolate down to the lower rungs of the society ladder. As the custodian of this wealth is the temple and the temple authorities it is rather risky indeed if the wealth is wrongly handled bringing in the wrath of the Hindu community. Well, then how can this be done? Of course, it is not sane economics to distribute it evenly to the public at large in their physical form nor can this be exchanged for money as this might not only attract taxes, but the process can immediately result in corruption and ill conceived plans for benefiting the common man including those of other communities.
Monetizing of the Treasure Troves
All treasures for that matter even those of that are within certain communities can be monetized if there is a consensus on a plan as to how this wealth could be utilized justly and properly. Here, again I reiterate that all stakeholders must be involved in order to bring about a unanimous solution to the problem. No unilateral decision should be made which could result in widespread chaos and confusion. Yet monetizing ought to be considered as this can only bring about the proper distribution of wealth and the means of achieving the level of economic justification for such large treasures troves which otherwise would remain idle and serve no purpose. In India and around the world we see several such treasures that are held as national heritage and exhibited for tourists. There is Nizam's treasures of which nothing much has been done. As far as the Egyptians are concerned the pyramids bring in quite a lot of money in the form of tourism money and hence they so far had no need of monetizing the same except in the recent times of political turmoil. Yet calculating the monetary worth alone is not sufficient, but these heritage wealth many of which lies in the hands of the Archeological Department can be monetized without having to make efforts to shift them or transfer them in an authoritative manner by the government. Here, we shall look into the Gigantic Sree Padmanabha Temple Wealth alone.
Custodians of the Wealth
As for the inventory taken of the Sree Padmanabha Temple treasure which runs into billions of dollars or more than a lac of crore of rupees, there is unanimous agreement and the Supreme Court verdict that the wealth belongs to the temple. Now the temple alone wouldn't have much of an idea as what to do with the wealth other than directly give it off as alms or freebies to select few of the community or simply lay still and say that it has a lot of wealth in its possession. Now lets look at the picture somewhat differently in order to monetize the wealth and bring it into circulation as legitimate money for economic and social betterment.
It is already agreed that the Custodian of the Wealth is the temple and for this reason lets call them the First Custodian. Now to involve the monetizing of the wealth the Central Bank of the country, namely the Reserve Bank of India has to be involved. Under an agreement with the stakeholders and the State and Central Government, the Reserve Bank of India takes in lease for 99 years the whole of wealth in the possession of the temple authorities. Remember, no actual shifting or transfer is taking place and this is only an agreement between the Reserve Bank and the Sree Padmanabha Temple. With this lease agreement in force the Reserve Bank of India becomes the legalized Second Custodian of the wealth for a period of 99 years. Of course, for this the RBI gives a lease amount to the Sree Padmanabha Temple periodically for the period of 99 years. The temple can utilize this money to maintain its premises and security and other expenses. This again is only a nominal amount unlike other lease agreements as the RBI wouldn't be in a position to give off a percentage of the amount as interest or rent annually. That would mean the sheer size of the monetary expense would be too big and may not find appropriate usage. For this too an agreement of all stakeholders should be unanimously met. As far as the security of the wealth is concerned the RBI would duly give its own security at the temple premises without having to shift the wealth into its vaults. True, lease held assets have difficulties of being pledged in normal terms yet the Reserve Bank of India which is the Supreme Bank of the country and the Banker's Bank can bring forth some form of mechanism to make this quite possible with perhaps a legislative act in place. As it looks after the monetary needs of the country and the requirement of note printing as well as provide the corrective measures for mooting the aggregate demand and supply in the economy it is in a unique position to act as a powerful Second Custodian of these wealth and treasures on behalf of the Indian economy.
Now what should the Reserve Bank of India do here as the Custodian No 2 ? It should allow for creation of special credits for commercial banks on the basis of the custody of wealth which it holds as lease. The credit that is created by the commercial banks should be spent for long term projects only. It goes without saying that very long term projects can only cushion the effects of inflation. Any short term projects would bring about inflationary pressure on the Indian economy. What are the long term projects?
The long term projects ought to concentrate in areas that are the most essential for the development of the country. some of the areas for such specialized projects could be as follows:
(1) Very Large Hydro Electric Projects
(2) Providing a network of Energy Plants run on non-conventional fuels and their Research & Development
(3) Linking large rivers of the country by building long canals and artificial man made rivers for irrigation purposes and bringing large tracts of desert and non fertile lands into irrigation network and forestation.
(4) Large infrastructure projects that could take several years for completion and pave way for development of roads, bridges, and artificial construction of Unique Shipyards
(5) Building Space Stations and Lunar Stations
The above examples are suggestive only and can include other large projects where the time of completion can go to several years and even decades.
Urgent FICCI call for the partnering of private and government institutions major long term infrastructure projects is a case in point and this can only lead to further development and sustaining the growth rate for the Indian economy.
This idea need not necessarily be confined to the temple properties alone, but can even be carried out for other heritage properties including those immovable properties so long as the money remains within the country. Gigantic Nizam's Wealth can be utilized in this way and so also those treasures in the hands of the archeological department presently kept as exhibits for public to see.
Resourceful Archeological Department of India can undoubtedly give a supportive hand to monetize many of its movable and non movable exhibits. Clarion Ministry of Finance Office call for rapid development of infrastructure can only be done by monetizing many of the wealth of the country which otherwise would remain only dead money. Of course, the catch here is that all the stakeholders would have to come to a level ground to make the thing possible. Antique Thiruvanthapuram's Padmanabha Temple treasures are only one such case among the several that India boasts.
The antique value of these treasures dug up or found out after being hidden from the view of the masses for several generation is by itself too great yet the correct cost estimate or value of such a stock of wealth, both movable and immovable, could be made so that the benefits could percolate to the masses at the lower level. However, this poses a significant problem as most of these treasures found in the possession of certain individuals, communities and religious organization can make the task cumbersome and highly sensitive issue and can bring about a near civil war if all the stakeholders are not taken into confidence. Further, these treasures by their very nature of being antique and having historic significance can by itself prove to be difficult for governments to act upon. As per the known areas of commercial and economical field of study these wealth cannot be brought to circulation in their present form as several formalities including stakeholders co-operation, court permits and legal hurdles ought to be crossed before the same wealth can be brought into circulation for the benefit of the populace.Again, these wealth for the reason of both social and cultural sensitivity issues and due to their antique value cannot be immediately taken over by the government and sold out in the open market. In fact, this is all the more difficult as there can be arguments for and against about the exact market value of these hidden jewels and as to who should benefit out it according to priority basis. Further, any rash action like selling off the hidden treasures can trigger something like a civil war if not properly defined in the economic or market sense not to say anything about the rampant corruption that would ensue without it being managed in the right way.
Why I say this is that just recently there has been a sudden surge in news relating to the astounding discovery of priceless wealth stored in one of the temples of Kerala in India. Stupendous Sree Padmanabha Wealth has become like a folklore in India abroad. If the estimate is right the wealth of the temple of Lord Padmanabha in Thrivanthapuram is stated to be more than one lac crore of rupees or more than $100 billion dollars. Now that is only so far as the wealth that has been discovered so far. It seems that there is yet another one or two chambers yet to be opened and their estimate yet to be taken by the Supreme Court of India. Whatever be the case the wealth is enormous by any world standards. Now the task before everybody is the way this wealth could be used such that the benefits of it percolate down to the lower rungs of the society ladder. As the custodian of this wealth is the temple and the temple authorities it is rather risky indeed if the wealth is wrongly handled bringing in the wrath of the Hindu community. Well, then how can this be done? Of course, it is not sane economics to distribute it evenly to the public at large in their physical form nor can this be exchanged for money as this might not only attract taxes, but the process can immediately result in corruption and ill conceived plans for benefiting the common man including those of other communities.
Monetizing of the Treasure Troves
All treasures for that matter even those of that are within certain communities can be monetized if there is a consensus on a plan as to how this wealth could be utilized justly and properly. Here, again I reiterate that all stakeholders must be involved in order to bring about a unanimous solution to the problem. No unilateral decision should be made which could result in widespread chaos and confusion. Yet monetizing ought to be considered as this can only bring about the proper distribution of wealth and the means of achieving the level of economic justification for such large treasures troves which otherwise would remain idle and serve no purpose. In India and around the world we see several such treasures that are held as national heritage and exhibited for tourists. There is Nizam's treasures of which nothing much has been done. As far as the Egyptians are concerned the pyramids bring in quite a lot of money in the form of tourism money and hence they so far had no need of monetizing the same except in the recent times of political turmoil. Yet calculating the monetary worth alone is not sufficient, but these heritage wealth many of which lies in the hands of the Archeological Department can be monetized without having to make efforts to shift them or transfer them in an authoritative manner by the government. Here, we shall look into the Gigantic Sree Padmanabha Temple Wealth alone.
Custodians of the Wealth
As for the inventory taken of the Sree Padmanabha Temple treasure which runs into billions of dollars or more than a lac of crore of rupees, there is unanimous agreement and the Supreme Court verdict that the wealth belongs to the temple. Now the temple alone wouldn't have much of an idea as what to do with the wealth other than directly give it off as alms or freebies to select few of the community or simply lay still and say that it has a lot of wealth in its possession. Now lets look at the picture somewhat differently in order to monetize the wealth and bring it into circulation as legitimate money for economic and social betterment.
It is already agreed that the Custodian of the Wealth is the temple and for this reason lets call them the First Custodian. Now to involve the monetizing of the wealth the Central Bank of the country, namely the Reserve Bank of India has to be involved. Under an agreement with the stakeholders and the State and Central Government, the Reserve Bank of India takes in lease for 99 years the whole of wealth in the possession of the temple authorities. Remember, no actual shifting or transfer is taking place and this is only an agreement between the Reserve Bank and the Sree Padmanabha Temple. With this lease agreement in force the Reserve Bank of India becomes the legalized Second Custodian of the wealth for a period of 99 years. Of course, for this the RBI gives a lease amount to the Sree Padmanabha Temple periodically for the period of 99 years. The temple can utilize this money to maintain its premises and security and other expenses. This again is only a nominal amount unlike other lease agreements as the RBI wouldn't be in a position to give off a percentage of the amount as interest or rent annually. That would mean the sheer size of the monetary expense would be too big and may not find appropriate usage. For this too an agreement of all stakeholders should be unanimously met. As far as the security of the wealth is concerned the RBI would duly give its own security at the temple premises without having to shift the wealth into its vaults. True, lease held assets have difficulties of being pledged in normal terms yet the Reserve Bank of India which is the Supreme Bank of the country and the Banker's Bank can bring forth some form of mechanism to make this quite possible with perhaps a legislative act in place. As it looks after the monetary needs of the country and the requirement of note printing as well as provide the corrective measures for mooting the aggregate demand and supply in the economy it is in a unique position to act as a powerful Second Custodian of these wealth and treasures on behalf of the Indian economy.
Now what should the Reserve Bank of India do here as the Custodian No 2 ? It should allow for creation of special credits for commercial banks on the basis of the custody of wealth which it holds as lease. The credit that is created by the commercial banks should be spent for long term projects only. It goes without saying that very long term projects can only cushion the effects of inflation. Any short term projects would bring about inflationary pressure on the Indian economy. What are the long term projects?
The long term projects ought to concentrate in areas that are the most essential for the development of the country. some of the areas for such specialized projects could be as follows:
(1) Very Large Hydro Electric Projects
(2) Providing a network of Energy Plants run on non-conventional fuels and their Research & Development
(3) Linking large rivers of the country by building long canals and artificial man made rivers for irrigation purposes and bringing large tracts of desert and non fertile lands into irrigation network and forestation.
(4) Large infrastructure projects that could take several years for completion and pave way for development of roads, bridges, and artificial construction of Unique Shipyards
(5) Building Space Stations and Lunar Stations
The above examples are suggestive only and can include other large projects where the time of completion can go to several years and even decades.
Urgent FICCI call for the partnering of private and government institutions major long term infrastructure projects is a case in point and this can only lead to further development and sustaining the growth rate for the Indian economy.
This idea need not necessarily be confined to the temple properties alone, but can even be carried out for other heritage properties including those immovable properties so long as the money remains within the country. Gigantic Nizam's Wealth can be utilized in this way and so also those treasures in the hands of the archeological department presently kept as exhibits for public to see.
Resourceful Archeological Department of India can undoubtedly give a supportive hand to monetize many of its movable and non movable exhibits. Clarion Ministry of Finance Office call for rapid development of infrastructure can only be done by monetizing many of the wealth of the country which otherwise would remain only dead money. Of course, the catch here is that all the stakeholders would have to come to a level ground to make the thing possible. Antique Thiruvanthapuram's Padmanabha Temple treasures are only one such case among the several that India boasts.
