बेबाक · Editorial
ట్రస్ట్ లో ఉంచబడింది, తప్పిపోయిందిః భారతదేశం యొక్క కుంభకోణాల వెనుక ఉన్న కస్టడీ గ్యాప్
ఆలయ ట్రస్టులు, పరీక్షా సంస్థలు, సంక్షేమ జాబితాలు మరియు బ్యాంకు ఖజానాలకు అప్పగించిన డబ్బును మళ్లిస్తున్నట్లు ఆరోపణలు ఉన్నాయి-మరియు నష్టం తర్వాత అమలు చేయడం అదుపుకు ప్రత్యామ్నాయం కాదు.
మోసాల సీజన్
ఈ నివేదికలలో పోలీసులు మరియు ఎన్ఫోర్స్మెంట్ రికార్డును చదవండి, అప్పుడు ఏ ఒక్క శీర్షిక కూడా సంగ్రహించని ఒక నమూనా బయటపడుతుంది. అయోధ్యలో ప్రత్యేక దర్యాప్తు
Whose money it is
Look at whose money it actually is. The offerings at Ayodhya were given by devotees, rupee by rupee, in faith. The ₹13.83 crore in assets the Enforcement Directorate has attached in Uttarakhand flowed from the Social Welfare Department of the Uttarakhand government, earmarked as scholarships for SC/ST students and allegedly claimed against ineligible, non-genuine and non-verifiable beneficiaries. At the Eluru Collectorate in Andhra Pradesh, farmers, small traders, artisans and other account holders protested to demand the return of gold they had pledged with Bank of Baroda. These are not victimless white-collar puzzles. They are the savings of the devout, the poor and the striving — the very citizens whose equal standing a republic exists to protect.
The ledger
Set the numbers side by side. In Uttarakhand, ₹13.83 crore attached over alleged fraudulent scholarship claims. In one online investment-fraud and money-laundering probe, the Enforcement Directorate has frozen ₹18.44 crore across 129 bank accounts. In Ahmedabad, two NEET-linked rackets were broken open, including a Telegram operation falsely promising leaked re-exam papers. Against this litany stands one quieter figure pointing the other way: in Goa, the Promotion of Vegetable with Assured Market Scheme has paid ₹27.83 crore to more than 6,200 farmers over five years. That contrast is the whole argument. Public money can reach the citizen cleanly — when custody is designed, from the first rupee, to make theft hard.
Two honest readings
Before judgement, both readings deserve their strongest form. In the system's favour: a Special Investigation Team now sits over the Ayodhya donation case, the Enforcement Directorate is pursuing the Uttarakhand scholarship case and an online investment-fraud probe, and Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Police busted two NEET-linked rackets. Detection is real, and it is working. The harder truth is that the reported cases surfaced after losses, allegations or public complaints had already emerged — after whistleblower claims, after counting staff drew suspicion, after account holders massed at a Collectorate. Enforcement that arrives once the money has moved is justice of a kind, but it is not protection. The state keeps winning the second half of a contest it should never have lost in the first.
A custody crisis
The considered verdict is that India has a custody problem, not merely a crime problem. Temple trusts, welfare departments, examination bodies and bank branches all hold other people's money or futures, and too many appear vulnerable to weak internal controls, thin verification and slow audit. Where allegations touch the influential, enforcement must also be — and be seen to be — even-handed, pursued by evidence and office, never by political address; selective vigour corrodes the very trust it claims to defend. Equally, an allegation is not a conviction: the Ayodhya probe, the Eluru gold-loan complaint and the Enforcement Directorate attachments are claims still to be tested through due process, and due process is owed even to the accused.
The way forward
Prevention is cheaper than prosecution, and it is designable. Large public-facing trusts and donation counts should be brought under independent, published audit with tamper-evident logging from the point of collection — the alleged loss in Ayodhya was, at bottom, a custody failure. Welfare scholarships need real-time beneficiary verification before disbursal, not a ₹13.83 crore attachment after the fact. Gold pledged for loans must be insured and digitally tracked so an ornament cannot vanish from a vault. Examination portals and student refunds deserve the security a bank is held to, and victims a fast, statutory route to restitution from frozen assets. Goa shows the upside of getting custody right; the rest of the ledger shows the cost of getting it wrong.
డబ్బు తరలించిన తర్వాత వచ్చే అమలు అనేది ఒక రకమైన న్యాయం, కానీ అది రక్షణ కాదు.
At stake is equal constitutional protection for citizens whose religious offerings, education-linked refunds, welfare entitlements and pledged assets are held in trust by institutions exercising public or fiduciary power.
Entrusted Money Custody Bill
Parliament should enact an Entrusted Money Custody Bill requiring temple trusts, exam bodies, welfare disbursing departments and regulated custodians to keep citizen funds in segregated auditable accounts, publish periodic custody-and-refund ledgers, and complete independent financial audits on a statutory deadline. The law should create a time-bound grievance and restitution mechanism while limiting oversight to financial custody, not religious practice, minority rights or academic autonomy.
మీ రాజ్యాంగ హక్కులు
ఈ కథలో రాజ్యాంగం ఏమి హామీ ఇస్తుందిAll persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion, subject to public order, morality and health.
Fundamental RightAny section of citizens with a distinct language, script or culture has the right to conserve it.
Fundamental RightReligious and linguistic minorities may establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
Fundamental RightThe State shall not deny any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws. Like must be treated alike; the law cannot be arbitrary.
Fundamental RightWhat this editorial rests on
Drawn from our live multi-newsroom feed — read the reporting at source.
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