Haj quota: Modi govt gets more inclusive

The Central government's decision to do away with the quota in Haj pilgrim is yet another blow to the VIP culture that has plagued our system for decades.

In keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resolve to erase the much prevalent VIP culture in the country, the Centre has decided to end the discretionary Haj quota for pilgrims under which a special quota was allotted to those in the top constitutional posts. A new policy has been formulated and will be announced soon.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always spoken against VIP culture. He himself is against it. Even the age-old practice of riding 'lal batti wala gadi' or vehicles with 'red beacons' has been done away with," Union Minister for Minority Affairs Smriti Irani said on Wednesday.

The previous policy, set for the duration between 2018 and 2022, allowed around 500 people to go to Haj through seats allotted to the President, Vice-Presidnt, Prime Minister, Minority Affairs Minister and the Haj Committee.

Here is a closer look at what this 'discretionary' Haj quota meant and all about the Haj pilgrimage.

All about Haj quota that is no more

Every year, the Indian government and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sign a Haj agreement in which the number of Haj seats allocated to India is incorporated. These seats are then further distributed by the Ministry of Minority Affairs and the Haj Committee of India.

As per the 2018-22 policy document, nearly 70 percent of the country's total seats were taken by Haj Committee of India while the rest were given to private operators. The private operators charged hefty fees for the pilgrimage and are obviously out of reach for most of the pilgrims. So, of the total quota for Indians, 30 percent remained with the ones who could pay.

Now, let us look at the major 70 percent that remained with the Haj Committee of India. Out of the total seats taken by the panel, 500 were given under the discretionary quota that the Centre has now decided to erase. According to the policy document, the remaining seats with the panel were to be distributed across all the States and Union territories proportionate to their Muslim population. In case the number of applicants were more than the seats available and which was often the case, a draw of lots is conducted.

Under the quota that gave 500 seats, 200 stayed with the Haj Committee while the remaining 300 went to people holding important public offices. Out of these 300 seats, 100 were for President, 75 for Prime Minister, 75 for Vice-President and 50 were for the Minister of Minority Affairs.

With the government doing away with this VIP quota, all these seats are back in the general pool.

A bad religious practice: SC in 2011

In 2011, the Supreme Court had taken note of the difficulties faced by the pilgrims going to Mecca every year and had said on Haj quota, "May be it has a political use but it is a bad religious practice. It is not really a Haj." Next year, the apex court reduced the government's discretionary quota seats for Haj pilgrims to 300 from the 5,050 seats, proposed by it.

A Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai limited the number of seats to be allocated under the discretionary quota by the President to 100, Vice-President to 75, Prime Minister to 75 and the External Affairs Minister to 50. It also directed the government to phase out Haj subsidy within a period of 10 years, saying the sum can be more profitably used for social and educational development of the Muslim community.

2023 for Haj pilgrims in India

While the scraping of the VIP quota is a huge relief for the Muslim community that struggles to find a seat for Haj every year, there is more good news for Indians this year. In a significant move, Saudi Arabia increased the Haj quota for India for the current year where a total of 1,75,025 Indian Haj pilgrims will be able to perform Haj, according to a recent report. This number is reportedly the highest in history.

The highest quota for India was in 2019 when 1.4 lakh pilgrims had gone on the holy pilgrimage. In the following year, the number was reduced to 1.25 lakh. However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, Haj was cancelled that year. Last year, Saudi Arabia welcomed 79,237 Indian pilgrims for Haj. During the Congress-led UPA rule, the highest quota was 1,26,018 in 2010.