NEW DELHI: The special Haj committee on Saturday submitted a draft Haj policy to the Centre and suggested a slew of reforms in the existing policy, which included immediate abolition of the Haj subsidy and allowing women devotees above the age of 45 years to undertake the pilgrimage without any male mehram (close relative). The recommendation holds much significance as presently, Indian women cannot undertake Haj without a male Mehram even if she wants to go with a group of woman. Male Mehram refers to a male a woman cannot marry at anytime in her life (i.e. father, brother or son etc)
Senior officials in the ministry of minority affairs said that if the ministry accepts the commitee’s recommendations, then there will be no Haj subsidy for pilgrims from 2018 onwards and that funds meant for subsidy will be used for educational empowerment and welfare of Muslims.
Sources told the New Indian Express that the Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had discussed the issue of women not being allowed to undertake Haj alone with the Saudi Arabia authorities earlier too. The committee also made this recommendation after a careful anaylsis, sources said, adding the committee found that Saudi Arabia already has a set-up of facilitating such women pilgrims and that women pilgrims of a few countries have been undertaking Haj without going in the company of men.
The recommendation of allowing women to undertake Haj without a male mehram, however, comes with two conditions. Firstly, a woman has to be aged over 45 years and the second condition stipulates women to travel in a group of four or more women. The panel has also proposed to increase the quota for Mehrams from 200 to 500. Another key recommendation made by the expert committee is of abolishing the quota for septuagenarians and fourth timers in the pilgrimage.
After the special commitee report was submitted to the minority affairs ministry, Naqvi said that the new Haj policy will be more people-friendly and transparent. “The 2018 Haj pilgrimage will be in line with the new Haj policy. It is a better policy, looking at the facilities proposed. It will ensure safety and security of pilgrims,” Naqvi said.
The ministry had constituted the five-member panel headed by former minority affairs secretary Afzal Amanullah in January this year in light of a 2012 Supreme Court order asking the Centre to abolish the Haj subsidy gradually by 2022. The proposed Haj Policy 2018-22 also recommends bringing down the number of embarkation points (EPs) from which pilgrims can take flights to Saudi Arabia from 21 to nine. Those nine EPs are Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Cochin. The panel has also proposes constitution of suitable Haj houses at these EPs “to which states and districts will be tagged properly”.
On the much anticipated plan of reviving the sea route for Haj pilgrims, the committee said that consultations should be held with the Saudi government to gauge the market for such travel because ship journeys will be relatively cheaper than flights. The committee has, however, asked the government to be cautious of the Somalian policy and factor in the instability in Yemen and adjacent areas while preparing a sea route for Haj pilgrims. A senior ministry official explained, “EPs will be reduced keeping in mind ship journeys. The committee proposes inviting global expressions of interest from vessel owners having a capacity of 4,000 plus passengers... Even if 10 such trips are made to Saudi Arabia, 40,000 to 50,000 pilgrims can easily be ferried,” the source said.
The committee has also advised the government to plan the Haj air travel properly, considering the pending privatisation of Air Indi as the airline has been the primary carrier of Haj pilgrims to and from Saudi Arabia. “The ministries of minority affairs, civil aviation amd Haj commitee of India have to consider and plan how best to overcome the challenges that would arise in case of such eventuality.”
The proposed policy aims at rationalising distribution of the Haj quota between the Haj Committee of India and private tour operators in the ratio of 70:30 for the next five years.
It also stresses on breaking the cartel of contractors with a transparent bidding process. The draft policy wants the population of Haj pilgrims from the 29 states and 7 Union Territories to be in accordance with their Muslim population and the population of their Haj applicants. India has an annual Haj quota of 1.70 lakh devotees.