Modified addendum (religious)

["Dr. Sanjeev Sabhlok" <sanjeev@sabhlokcity.com>]

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Ashish wrote:
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>The dominant Hindu community should  remember that the minority needs
>special attention in a democracy, cos their aspirations may not be
>adequately represented in the First-Past-The-Post voting system.  C'mon
>folks, have some heart; if Hajj pilgrimage is important for muslims (and
>it is), we should be willingto spend a bit to this end.  Remember that
>the aspiring Hajjis still have to provide most of the funds for their
>travel.  
>
>Its like subsidising farmers for urea/rice/kerosene or pampering govt
>workers - not efficient or fair, but serving a socio-economic purpose. 
>Since we are discussing a manifesto, lets be focussed, and concentrate
>on overhauling the features of our system that are most in need of
>repair.  Chasing after "minority appeasement" issues are
>counter-productive.  We will worry about them when the rest of our house
>is in order.  

Ashish, I objected to religious subsidies not because I am a 'dominant
Hindu' but because I am a minority myself - an agnostic. My aspiration is
to NOT fund religious activity using my tax money.

In view of your objection, though, I propose the modified para as follows:

"While we would preserve and maintain all ancient religious sites
as part of our cultural heritage, any direct subsidization of on-going
religious activity by the state would be phased out over a decade since 
it hurts those who do not believe in any religion. The state has strictly no 
business in dabbling in religious activity. Instead, religious bodies
registered 
under a suitable law and which disclose their accounts publicly, including
all 
donations, would be provided income tax exemption on their donations, 
just like the exemption provided to many other organizations.
Further, no religious place of worship would be permitted to be constructed
or to continue on public property such as roads."


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