Temple of boom: Rs 1 lakh crore and counting

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Call it the mother of all treasure hunts. The stock-taking by a panel of experts at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple has catapulted the shrine located here to the country's richest, with reports claiming that the value of recoveries may have touched close to Rs 1 lakh crore, more than Kerala public debt of Rs 70,969 crore.

With one more "secret" vault yet to be opened, the figure in all likelihood will go up further. But sources said the figures could only be speculation as it wasn't possible to determine the antique value of the precious gems and jewellery. "These are antique pieces and it's not possible to determine their prices," said historian and former director of Indian Council of Historical Research M G S Narayanan. In other words, the worth of the treasure could be intimidatingly higher.

The Supreme Court-appointed committee on Sunday refused to confirm reports about the value of the recoveries, saying that its mandate is limited to making an inventory of the assets.

Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy said the treasure would remain with the temple. "The wealth belonged to the temple and it will be preserved where it was found. There is religious and historical significance to the findings. The state will ensure its security," Chandy told reporters on Sunday.

Chandy said the police would patrol the shrine 24X7 and a control room had already started functioning. "Permanent security arrangements will be put in place only after consultations with the chief priest of the temple and the Travancore king who is the caretaker of the shrine," the CM said.

A source said the seven-member panel was stunned by what it found in the secret vault marked `A' during its inspection on Thursday. There were close to 1,000 kg of gold coins, some of these from the East India Company era and Napolean's period, about one tonne of gold in the form of rice trinkets, sack full of diamonds said to be from Burma and Sri Lanka, a rope made of gold and thousands of pieces of rare 'sarappoli' necklaces.

The stock-taking continued next day as only 30% of the assets could be counted on Thursday. Again there were surprises in the form of a three-and-a-half feet tall idol of Lord Vishnu studded with diamonds, emeralds and rubies, an 18-feet-long ornament used to adorn the deity and weighing 35 kg and 1 feet tall human figurines weighing 1 kg each. There were coins marked 1772 indicating they were from the era of former Travancore ruler Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma better known as `Dharma Raja' for his strict adherence to the rules of 'dharma'.

Entry was strictly forbidden for the media and public to the site. There are six vaults marked A to F in the shrine. The A and B cellars have never been opened after 1872. The panel had set out on the job on June 27 and opened three vaults marked C, D and F till Wednesday.

The observers, retired Kerala high court judge Justice M N Krishnan and Justice C S Rajan, said it was difficult give an exact date when the stock-taking would be completed. The B and E vaults remain to be opened.

Narayanan said there were specific documents called 'Mathilakam records' which speak about the history of the shrine and about how the assets came into it. "The temple has been known since the 9th Century and figures in the writings of that time. Native ruler of Travancore (then pricely state) Marthanda Varma had given away all the wealth to the deity and ruled the kingdom as the Lord's agent."

"Travancore was a very prosperous state and with its port facilities, traded in spices, sandalwood and ivory. The foreign currency recovered from the vaults may have come in through the trade route," he added.

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Not a lameduck PM, says Manmohan Singh

NEW DELHI: Dismissing talk that he is a "lameduck" Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said he has been entrusted with the job by the Congress party from which he has not heard "any contrary view".

Terming the perception that his government had gone "comatose" and was "lameduck" as clever propaganda of the Opposition "to which some sections of the media had lent ear", Singh asserted that "truth will prevail" and his performance will speak.

Singh spoke of "maximum possible cooperation" that he was getting from Congress President Sonia Gandhi whom he met one-on-one every week. He had never felt that she was an "obstacle".

During a 100-minute interaction with five editors at his official residence, a relaxed Prime Minister confidently fielded questions on a wide range of issues including the talk that Rahul Gandhi should take his place, the Lokpal Bill, corruption and relations with neighbouring countries.

Sonia Gandhi had done a "superb job" as Congress President for nearly 15 years now, he underlined.

Asked about occasional statements from party functionaries that Rahul Gandhi should become Prime Minister, Singh said that the Congress Party and its President had entrusted him with this job and he had not heard any contrary view from the Congress high command.

"In fact, the Congress high command has always been most supportive, particularly Mrs Gandhi," the Prime Minister said.

He went on to add, "Personally, if you ask me, the general proposition that younger people should take over, I think, is the right sentiment". Whenever the party "makes up its mind I will be very happy to step down, but so long as I am here I have a job to do".

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Anna Hazare to meet Sonia Gandhi tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Social activist Anna Hazare will be meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday to seek her support on the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Team Anna is meeting leaders of all political parties to explain its draft of Lokpal bill and seek their help in incorporating it in final draft.

Meanwhile, reacting to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's comment on the Lokpal, Anna Hazare said that the Prime Minister should try to convince his government on including the PMO in the Lokpal bill.

Manmohan Singh had said in his interaction with the editors earlier today said that he was not averse to the post of PM coming under the ambit of

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India on path for next round of growth, asserts Pranab Mukherjee

WASHINGTON: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee strongly refuted observations by US think- tanks, the government and industry that India has gone slow on economic reforms and insisted that a series of reforms are in the process, which will lead to the next round of growth.

However, Mukherjee observed that reforms in India require political consensus, which is being worked upon by the government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Reform is a continuous process and the UPA government is committed to it.

"The more you reform, there is the need for additional reform," he argued addressing a meeting of India and American corporate leaders, policy makers and think-tank members at a conference on the 'US-India Economic and Financial Partnership' jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Brookings Institute, a Washington-based think-tank.

"We have taken certain steps, as I was talking of structural reforms," said Mukherjee, who arrived in Washington on Monday leading a high-powered Indian delegation for the second India-US Economic and Financial Partnership discussions being held here.

"We have recently finalised the guidelines of the debt bonds. We have also decided that... FDI to be more user-friendly (and) all prior regulation and guidelines have been consolidated into one comprehensive document which is reviewed every six months. This has been done with the specific intent of enhancing clarity and predictability of our FDI policy to foreign investors," he said.

"Ownership and control is now central to the FDI policy and the methodology in this regard has been clearly defined. Discussions are currently underway to build consensus on further liberalisation of the FDI policy," he said.


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