Yogi Adityanath administration looking to tap development funds for statue building

• The UP government is seeking funds under the Companies Act of 2013, which requires companies to allocate 2% of their average net profit for three years to CSR.
• The 86 religious tourism projects require an investment of 2,725 crores. This includes the proposed construction of a 100-metre statue of Lord Ram in Ayodhya for 330 crores.
  
• The funds are better spent elsewhere. Uttar Pradesh lags behind the rest of the country on a number of important development indicators.

India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, falls short on a number of important development indicators. According to data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, only 43% of households in the state have electricity, 45% of the women are literate, 23% of babies are immunised and 30% of the men have knowledge of HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, 4 of the 10 least developed districts in India are in the state, as per a baseline ranking by Niti Aayog.

And yet, the UP government’s main priority seems to be the appeasement of its Hindu vote bank. The Yogi Adityanath-led administration is seeking funds for 86 religious tourism projects under Section 135 of the 2013 Companies Act, which orders companies of a certain size to allocate 2% of their average net profit for three years to corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.

The projects require an investment of 2,725 crores, according to an investment prospectus prepared by the state government with Ernst and Young. A key project is the construction of a 100-metre tall statue of Lord Ram in Ayodhya, which is expected to cost 330 crores. This is nearly triple the amount of funds that the government allocated to providing books and uniforms to school kids in its budget for 2018-19. The project, which was first announced in October last year, brings to mind the spending spree of Mayawati, the former chief minister of UP, whose investments in parks and statues cost the state an estimated 5,919 crores.

Other projects in the prospectus include the 100-crore redevelopment of a pilgrimage route in Varanasi and 45-crore additions to the Gorakhpur Temple, where Adityanath is the head priest.

When the CSR policy was drawn up, it was envisioned as a way to get corporate India to contribute to social causes and improve development outcomes. Under a prescriptive (but not exhaustive) list, the major CSR activities recognised were eradicating hunger, promoting education, encouraging gender equality, improving the quality and accessibility of healthcare, protecting the environment and skill development.

However, the act has consistently been used to divert funds to unnecessary ends, even at the behest of the government in some cases. In October last year, four public sector oil companies - ONGC, HPCL, Indian Oil Corp and Oil India Ltd- spent a combined total of 121 crores on the construction of a statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat.

The funds that the UP government is asking for are better spent elsewhere. Perhaps in providing better footwear for schoolchildren or effectively implementing work guarantee schemes in villages or providing community health centres with vans. However, this is the same administration that has allocated 98.5 crores to cow shelters and 1,500 crores to Kumbh Mela festivities in its budget for next year. It clearly needs to get its priorities straight.