Tamil Nadu government triples pension for temple priests in villages

CHENNAI: The state government has tripled the monthly pension for village temple priests from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 and also tripled the annual income ceiling for availing this pension from Rs 24,000 to Rs 72,000.  

For this purpose, an additional expenditure of Rs 4.64 crore has been granted.

A G.O. issued in this regard said, “As on date, as many as 1,931 village temple priests who have served for 20 years in village temples which are not under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department are receiving monthly pension.  

By tripling the annual income ceiling, 1,325 more beneficiaries will get a monthly pension and that would cost an additional expenditure of Rs 2.31 crore to the State Exchequer.” 

The government has said that the number of beneficiaries under the monthly pension scheme should not exceed 4,000.

In 1996, the government ordered a monthly pension of Rs 500 to 1,500 village temple priests. 

Later, the number of beneficiaries was increased to 4,000.  The pension amount was hiked from Rs 500 to Rs 750 in 2007.  

The government also formed the Village Temple Priests Welfare Board in 2009.  In 2013, the monthly pension was hiked from Rs 750 to Rs 1,000.

DMK moves court on postal ballots for aged

The DMK on Wednesday moved a plea in the Madras High Court challenging the Election Commission of India’s recent order permitting voters above 80 years of age and differently-abled to opt for postal ballot in the 2021 Assembly elections.

Advocate P Wilson submitted before the two-member bench comprising justices R Subbiah and C Saravanan that a similar plea had been posted for January 7, and sought this plea also to be posted to the same date. 

According to the petitioner, the ECI, on September 22, came out with an order allowing postal ballots for aged people. However, the DMK raised contentions that it will lead to corruption with distribution of cash and other malpractices.