Minister for IT and HRD Nara Lokesh receiving a memento from Maharashtra Legislative Council Chief Whip Prasad Lad and Temple Connect founder Giresh Kulkarni at the closing ceremony of International Temples Convention and Expo, in Tirupati on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar
Minister for IT Nara Lokesh has suggested the use of technology to ensure efficient practices not only in temple administration, but also to bring places of worship closer to the public.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the second edition of International Temples Convention and Expo (ITCX-2025) organised by Temple Connect, in association with Anthyodays Prathishtan, here on Wednesday, Mr. Lokesh recalled the State government’s recent initiative to bring darshan and allied services in a hassle-free manner to the reach of the public on WhatsApp platform.
“We have started with the services of seven temples so far and will soon integrate the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), where all temple-related services can be availed of at the touch of a button. This way, we intend to bring the temples closer to the devotees,” he explained.
Referring to the social facet of temples, he explained that the TTD’s Annadanam scheme launched by former Chief Minister and his grandfather N.T. Rama Rao in 1985 to serve food to 2,000 pilgrims a day at Tirumala had now grown to serve 1.60 lakh meals a day.
Similarly, the TTD had extended medical services to lakhs of patients so far by conducting rural camps, special medical clinics for cancer, heart ailments, neurological and kidney related disorders. He also recalled the ‘Pranadanam’ scheme launched by N. Chandrababu Naidu during one of his earlier terms, which funded the poor patients suffering from life-threatening diseases.
Sanatana Dharma
Mr. Lokesh called it the responsibility of every Hindu to not only practice Sanatana Dharma, but also pass on the legacy with the cultural link intact to posterity. With the present generation kids having fantasy for mythical characters like Spiderman, Superman, Avengers etc., the Minister for Education saw the need to promote Ram Katha and Krishna Leela to the younger generation to remind them of their rich roots.
“Kids are increasingly getting glued to mobiles and tabs, thus getting away from knowledge-enriching books. I have never given mobile phone to my nine-year-old son Devansh,” he pointed out.
While appealing to religious institutions and temple organisations to play a collective role in infusing spirituality and devotion among the public, he hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making the world turn its attention towards India by according due importance to temples, religious fairs, cultural events and festivals.
Maharashtra Legislative Council Chief Whip and ITCX-2025 chairman Prasad Lad wanted all temples across the globe to be brought under a single umbrella to ensure self-governance and follow the best practices and SOPs.
He also saw the need to make temples free from the State’s administrative control and create an ecosystem where the big temples helped the smaller ones sustain.
Minister for Revenue Anagani Satyaprasad, MLAs Pulivarthi Nani (Chandragiri), Bojjala Sudheer Reddy (Srikalahasti), Arani Srinivasulu (Tirupati), Gali Bhanuprakash (Nagari) and K. Ramakrishna (Venkatagiri), Collector S. Venkateswar, TTD Board member G. Bhanuprakash Reddy and Temple Connect founder Giresh Kulkarni participated.
Published – February 20, 2025 03:46 am IST
