by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Mumbai : Despite the removal of the Haj subsidy from the 2018 pilgrimage season, there was no financial burden on the pilgrims as middlemen were eliminated and a transparent, fully online system was put in place, Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said here on Wednesday.
Terming the Haj-2018 as a ‘pro-pilgrim’ initiative, he said that in 2017, Rs 1,030 crore was paid to airlines for the airfares for 1,24,852 pilgrims, but in 2018, it came down to Rs 973 crore for 1,28,702 pilgrims who went for the pilgrimage through the Haj Committee of India.
This means Rs 57 crore less was paid to airlines this year though 3,850 more pilgrims travelled after ending the Haj subsidy, Naqvi pointed out.
Terming the Haj-2018 as “successful”, Naqvi said that for the first time since Independence, a record 1,75,025 Muslims from India performed the pilgrimage without availing any subsidy and expected the number to go up further in 2019.
Safety and better facilities and medical amenities for the pilgrims are the priority of the government. There will be no lackadaisical approach on this, he said while announcing the Haj-2019 season at the Haj House in Mumbai.
He said that the online application process will start on October 18, while the offline process will be taken up on October 22, making it the first time that the next year’s (2019) Haj preparations have been initiated immediately after completion of the current season (2018).
In 2018, a total of 3,55,604 applications were received, of which 1,66,387 were from women.
According to Naqvi, the early start of the Haj process will ensure availability of better facilities and smooth functioning as all the concerned agencies, both in India and Saudi Arabia, would get sufficient time to make arrangements.
“The process of airlines tender will be completed by November 2018 and accommodation process in Mecca and Medina by December 2018-January 2019,” Naqvi said.
All the 20 embarkation points will be functional like 2018 and Haj pilgrims can also go via Calicut Airport and the accommodation rates in Saudi Arabia shall remain unchanged for 2019.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The year 2018 that began with the end of Haj subsidy has been marked by a record 175,025 Indians heading for Saudi Arabia and is also distinct for a record 47 per cent women among the pilgrims including 1,308 without their ‘mehram’ (male companion).
“For the first time after the Independence, record 1,75,025 Muslims from India are going to Haj this year. These include record more than 47 per cent female pilgrims,” Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said addressing an orientation cum training camp here.
Despite removal of Haj subsidy and various new taxes imposed in Saudi Arabia, a lot of Muslims from India are going to Haj this year that too without any additional financial burden, he said. In fact, the airlines will be getting Rs 57 crore less this year from the passengers.
“Even after ending the Haj subsidy, airlines will be paid Rs 57 crore less … Last year Rs 1,030 crore was paid to airlines as air fare for 1,24,852 Haj pilgrims and this year Rs 973 crore will be paid for 1,28,702 Haj pilgrims going through Haj Committee of India,” Naqvi said.
For the first time, choice of embarkation points has been given to Haj pilgrims which has received overwhelming response. The minister said a total of 3,55,604 applications was received for Haj 2018 which included 1,89,217 male and 1,66,387 female applicants.
“For the first time a total of 1,308 women Muslim women from India are going to Haj without ‘mehram’,” he told the Haj Coordinators, Assistant Haj Officers, Haj Assistants and medical personnel including 98 women staff who are deployed to assist the pilgrims.
Representatives from Minority Affairs Ministry, Health Ministry and Urban Development Ministry informed in detail, various issues concerned to Haj, pilgrims, their health, safety and accommodation during the camp, the ministry said in a statement.
Flights for Haj will start from July 14, when pilgrims from Delhi, Gaya, Guwahati, Lucknow and Srinagar will embark on pilgrimage. On July 17 pilgrims from Kolkata, July 20 from Varanasi, July 21 from Mangalore, July 26 from Goa and on July 29 pilgrims from Aurangabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Nagpur will embark on Haj, he added.
Pilgrims from Ranchi will leave for Haj on July 30, from Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cochin, Hyderabad and Jaipur on August 1, and from Bhopal on August 3.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
New Delhi : The central and state governments in India should not provide subsidy or funds to pilgrimages of any religion, the CPI-M said on Wednesday, a day after the Centre announced withdrawal of Haj subsidy.
“As per the secular principle of the state, the CPI-M is not for state subsidy or funding of religious pilgrimages undertaken by individuals whichever religion they belong to,” the Left party said in a statement.
“Hence, there should be no central or state government funding, as it exists today, of providing subsidies and grants for individuals to go on religious pilgrimages,” it added.
On the withdrawal of Haj subsidy, the party said the sudden withdrawal of the subsidy seems “arbitrary and motivated by other considerations”.
“The Union government has decided to abruptly stop the Haj subsidy for pilgrims’ travel, though the Supreme Court had given a verdict in 2012 that this subsidy should be phased out over a 10-year period. The sudden withdrawal of the subsidy seems arbitrary and motivated by other considerations,” the CPI-M said.
The Narendra Modi government on Tuesday announced the withdrawal of Haj subsidy from this year which amounted to around Rs 200 crore last year, and said the money would be used for educational uplift of the Muslim community, especially girls.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Mohd Asim Khan,
New Delhi : Haj 2018 is likely to be costlier than last year but not because of the abolition of subsidy that the government announced on Tuesday.
The cost is likely to go up thanks to rise in expenses incurred in Saudi Arabia during the Haj such as accommodation, transport, food and the like. Notably, the government subsidy did not cover these expenses and was limited to the airfare.
Haj Committee of India (HCI) Chairman Mehboob Ali Kaiser told IANS that it was bargaining hard with Saudi authorities to keep the cost in check but local factors may result in the rise of Haj expenses this year.
In 2017, the HCI charged Rs 200,000 for Haj with ordinary accommodation (Azizia) and Rs 234,000 for deluxe accommodation (Green), which is closer to the Haram in Mecca.
“Over the last year, the electricity tariff in Saudi Arabia has shot up three times. Also, the petrol prices have doubled. The accommodation cost is also going up. These factors may result in a hike in the total Haj cost this year,” Kaiser said.
At this point, it is difficult to predict the final cost to each pilgrim for Haj 2018, he added.
“It will be unfair to expect the same costs for everything in Saudi Arabia after a threefold rise in electricity prices and doubling of petrol prices. Secondly, the Saudis are cussed bargainers and we have to really haggle hard with them for every riyal.
“Nevertheless, we are trying our best and bargaining hard with them to ensure that the cost does not go up drastically,” Kaiser said.
Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday announced the abolition of Haj subsidy from this year.
Kaiser said that the HCI “knew it was coming and were sort of mentally prepared for it”.
“In any case, the withdrawal of subsidy will not affect the airfares from major cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru — but fares from smaller embarkation points such as Srinagar, Gaya may go up. But people from these states may now embark from any other place from where fares are low, such as Mumbai, Delhi or Ahmedabad,” he added.
However, in the coming years, the Haj cost is expected to come down as the Indian government is already working in the direction of reviving the sea route to Jeddah.
Naqvi said that the government has already taken active steps in this direction and once it is implemented, the fares would come down drastically.
Giving the genesis of the Haj subsidy, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that it started in the 1980s (when Azad was a member of HCI) when the ships which were used to ferry the Haj pilgrims started ageing.
“The government was not disposed to spend money to buy new ships due to budget constraints. So, it was decided to fly the pilgrims to Jeddah. But the airfares were four times higher than the ship’s fare. So the government decided to cover some of the cost through a subsidy,” Azad said.
The sea route was discontinued in 1995.
(Mohd Asim Khan can be contacted at mohd.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Lucknow : The decision of the union government to scrap Haj subsidy and divert it to welfare of Muslim women and education of girls has evoked a mixed response from Muslim leaders and clerics in Uttar Pradesh.
While most of them have welcomed the move as “long awaited”, some say that the Narendra Modi government should not take decisions that seem to single out one community. They have also demanded that in comparison to subsidy a global tender for air tickets was a better option.
Maulana Sayyed Abbas Naqvi of the Shia Chand Committee is not too happy with the decision of the Modi government to scrap the subsidy and opined that Haj subsidy was something that sent a good message internationally but now it will paint Indian government as being hostile to the Muslim community.
Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali of the Aishbagh Eidgah told IANS on Wednesday that the Muslim community was earning a bad name for the Haj subsidy it was getting and hence many of the Muslim organisations had for long been demanding that it be done away with.
“There should be an open process of tenders for air tickets, I am sure most airlines will agree to scaling down their fares.”
Fazle Mannan Rahmani of the Teele Waali mosque, however, said that Haj was a matter related to religion and the government was better advised not to have revoked the subsidy.
“It is sad and strange both that a government which was talking of sabka saath-sabka vikas, was targeting one community one way or the other to please the majority community” he said.
President of the All-India Sunni Board Maulana Mohammad Mushtaq Naqvi says the move will not effect the Haj pilgrims as the subsidy was basically to benefit Air India, the national carrier.
Now that the government has cancelled the subsidy, he said, it should honestly float a global tender for air tickets.
Shia cleric Maulana Habeeb Haider said that they will wait and watch closely on how the Rs 700 crore funds spent as Haj subsidy would be diverted to welfare of Muslim girls and women. Shia Waqf Board chairman Syed Waseem Rizvi, however, welcomed the move.
UP Health Minister state government spokesman Siddhartha Nath Singh told IANS that the government has welcomed the move and believes this would “really empower the women and girls of the minority community”.
—IANS
