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Donation & religion

22 August 2008

Sir It is becoming a common sight – people collecting donation in the name of renovation/ construction of religious monuments and other religious activities. But we are unaware of any Rules/Acts regarding the collections and contribution of such donations.

It is observed that almost all classes of citizens donate for the religious purpose but do hesitate to ask whether their donation is genuinely being utilized.

It is understood that the religious body does not come under the Civil Society Act. If it is true, we need to have a Rule/Act, so that religious fundamentalist would not take advantage of religious rights under the constitution and misuse religious fund to promote political party or terrorism, against the interest of fellow citizens and the country, as it has been happening in other parts of the world.

Therefore, to prevent and detect illegal activities in the future, the following points needs to be discussed favourably: The formation of local community tshogpa (involving all class of citizens) is necessary to deal with financial matters, rather than keeping it in the hand of individual Lam/Priest or influential citizens.

To conduct periodical supervision on technical and financial management by the dzongkhag administration if found necessary and finally audited by the Royal Audit Authority to ensure public accountability and quality of work.

The proposal to renovate/construct religious structures needs to be supported by technical drawings, cost estimates, land documents and information on enough source of fund for government approval.

The time of completion to be followed strictly, as some of the religious structures are said to be in incomplete or under construction for many years and individual/group is/are in practice of collecting donation till date, stating that they are facing shortage of fund to complete works. It is also observed that some people come forward at first to offer their savings for the construction/renovation of religious monuments, but later on approach the government for approval to collect donation to complete works.

Lt. (retd.) Tshering Namgyel,
Samdrupjongkhar

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Posted by Bhutan Observer · Filed Under Opinion 

Comments

2 Responses to “Donation & religion”

  1. Nalenjan on August 22nd, 2008 7:26 pm

    Lt. (retired) Tshering Namgyel had made an apt article on this issue. All he says is true. Our innocent and truely religious people are often taken for rides by crooks not hesitating to victimising our people. Government must do something to right this wrong.

    Tshering Namgyel’s recommendations could be adopted with little additions or modifications here and there if need be. We also know that some are genuine collectors but their mission is often suspected because of the nasty deeds of the crooks and land up not getting much donations for a right cause.

  2. Sangdor on August 27th, 2008 6:10 pm

    Actually, the collection of donations for religious purposes has been regulated since a NA decision in (if I am not mistaken) 2006. This resolution states that collection has to be approved by the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs based upon a full project plan including budget and division of responsibilities as well as architectural plan etc. This has to be submitted through geog, dzongkhag, National Commission for Cultural Affairs and finally approved by the Ministry.
    Even when approval is officially given (and every donation leaflet should have the approval number on it), donations can only be provided for a limited time (like, a year) and only in the dzongkhag where the religious project or monument is located.

    I know all this from personal experience. We tried to go through this whole process for renovation of a lhakhang in Trashigang last year but finally had to give up when reaching to the Ministerial level because of lack of time and contacts.

    There are several unfair sides to this whole process, although in principle I think it is good and useful that there are rules and regulations regulating this.

    First of all, there is still a lot of collection of donation going on without the official permission, and even if permission was given, a lot of collection goes on outside the time allocated and outside the dzongkhag permitted. There is, like with tobacco, plastic ban etc. a severe lack of enforcement of rules.
    Secondly, it is unfair that the collection of donations is limited to the dzongkhag where the object is located, because the amount of money that civil servants (can) donate is much higher than that farmers can donate, and therefor, the funds that become available for restoration in Thimphu, Paro etc. is much higher than in rural dzongkhag.
    Thirdly, the process has to be more easily accessible to the common people and more backstopping (technical and administrative) should be provided by the dzongkhag cultural section because without this the process is too long, complicated and unclear.

    I hope there will be people taking this seriously and something constructive will be done to improve this situation.

    Thanks la.

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