No more Haj subsidy for Indian Muslims from this year

Muscat: The Indian government has announced that there will be no Haj subsidy for its Muslim citizens from this year.
The announcement was made by Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in the capital New Delhi on Tuesday.
Naqvi said that despite a record 1.75 lakh Muslims undertaking the pilgrimage this year, the subsidy will not be continued. He added that the government would continue to empower religious minorities with welfare programmes.
The Haj subsidy is given to Muslim Haj pilgrims by the government in form of discounted fares for flights to and from Saudi Arabia, on the national carrier Air India.
It also includes assistance to Muslim pilgrims for domestic travel to reach specially designed Haj departure airport terminals, medical cares, lodging assistance and meal. The subsidy programme has its origins in British colonial era.
Naqvi also disclosed that the Saudi Arabian government had in principle agreed to allowed the Haj journey from India by ships and officials of the two countries will sit together to finalise the finer details.
A constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had, during Congress rule in 2012, directed that the Haj subsidy be done away with.
(With inputs from PTI)