When Supreme Court of India ordered for the complete abolition of the subsidy given to the Hajj pilgrims in next 10 years at a gradual phase, it triggered lots of confusions and debates. As more than one lakh pilgrims are going to Hajj every year, Indian government is spending over Rs.600 crore rupees for them.

The first flight to Hajj from India for the year 2012 is to start from Srinagar on 17^th September 2012. Actually this subsidy is not given to the pilgrims directly. When they go to Hajj, the airline carriers have to return back empty after delivering the passengers at Jeddah. Similarly in their return journey they have to go from India empty to bring them back. In this case, they are forced to charge double the amount from the pilgrims. Paying double the amount for a single journey is unusual. So, the Indian government bears the one way fare to help the pilgrims. This is what is actually called as the Hajj subsidy.

Only those pilgrims go through Haj Committee of India get this subsidy. Apart from them, many are going through private tours and travels and they have to pay the whole amount. So they have to pay a huge amount for Hajj. Usually the expenses of Hajj at present are around 2 lakh INR per person. This year, due to the increase in rupee dollar exchange rate, the sufferings are even more. Haj Committee of India collects 8,219 Saudi Riyals from each pilgrim and in the year 2011, the rate of Saudi Riyal was fixed at Rs. 12.19 which has now in 2012 increased to Rs. 14.75. So each pilgrim has to bear the additional amount of Rs. 21,224.96 when compared to 2011.The depreciation of the Indian rupee will also have its say in their expenditures at Mecca and Medina.

In outward view, it will appear that the abolition of Hajj subsidy will only decrease the number of poor pilgrims going to Hajj. But in Islam it is not at all said that poor people should go to Hajj. This duty is not a necessity for those who are not in good health and those who do not have enough wealth. When the pilgrims are ready to pay more than one lakh rupees for Hajj, an additional 10,000 or 15,000 INR is not going to bother them much. Any privilege given by the government should only be based on economic level of people and not based on the community or caste they belong to.

When going on a Hajj with borrowed money is absolutely prohibited in Islam, Muslims should not seek this subsidy allotted to them by the government. Instead the open tendering of air tickets might reduce their burden to some extent. After all, the subsidy for Hajj is nothing but a vote baiting technique of the corrupt politicians of India. This is in practice since the year 1954 and any government withdrawing the policy might suffer a lot in the next election. They will be considered as enemies of the Muslims and will be preached against them during elections. And another party will come forward as defender of Muslims promising to implement the scheme again. This only shows the ignorance of the people.

When people fall a prey to the baits of the politicians, India could never become a supreme power. The politicians want to enslave the people through such subsidies and grants. But literate people should wake up at least now and should come forward not to receive any such vote bank sake helps and should prove themselves to be more pious and enlightened by embarking on this holy voyage without receiving the Hajj subsidy given by Indian government. 

Article Posted By : Sumazla  On September 11, 2012lView All Articles

I am Suhaina Mazhar working on India travel guide features. Writing is my passion, writing is my hobby and writing is my career. I want to write till the last moment of my life.

Article Source :

http://www.veethi.com/articles/should-government-subsidy-for-hajj-continue-in-india-article-1012.htm

Keywords :
Hajj subsidy , Haj subsidy , Hajj 2012 , Haj flight