Temple Technologies

 Subject: Counting Donations — Welcoming SBI's Role, and the Next Step

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Respected Shri Nripendra Mishra ji,

Please accept my pranam.

I was glad to learn that the Trust has replaced its own 36-member counting staff with a team run by the State Bank of India, working two shifts under supervision that includes ex-servicemen reporting to the Trust daily. After the events of this summer, this is a welcome and necessary move — oversight has shifted from an unaccountable, self-managed arrangement to one under a regulated bank's watch.

I do want to flag, respectfully, that this is a governance fix rather than the structural one I described in my earlier letter. The counting itself is still being done by human hands — only the payroll has changed. As I had written then: no amount of supervision fully closes a gap that manual counting itself leaves open.

I would suggest the Trust now build on this good first step, in this sequence:

1. 0–3 months: Introduce bank-grade bulk note-counting machines (as used in RBI currency chests) alongside the SBI team, moving to machine-primary counting once confidence is built.
2. 3–6 months: Add the serial-number audit trail per note, and a tamper-evident chain of custody from hundi box to counting machine.
3. 6–9 months: Install live public display of running totals in the counting hall — a step that would place the Ram Mandir ahead of even Tirupati on transparency.
4. 6–12 months: Extend the same rigour — weighing, hallmark-logging, video inventory — to jewellery, ornaments, and coins.
5. 12–18 months: Integrate all of the above into one system, open to independent audit, not just internal review.

The equipment for all of this is inexpensive, off-the-shelf, and already in daily use in our own banking system. The SBI handover shows the Trust's genuine intent to fix this; I hope it is the first step toward removing the human hand from counting altogether, not the final one.

I would be glad to elaborate on any part of this, as before.

With deepest respect and best wishes for the great work you are leading,

Hemen Parekh Mumbai www.hemenparekh.ai | www.hemenparekh.in