Poverty and the Haj Subsidy

Look around in India and it is not difficult to see the shades of economic prosperity. The picture you see is only a few blocks away from my house in Bandra (considered one of the more uptown locations in Mumbai). In a country where it is estimated that only 1 of every 100 rupees that is spent on development actually percolates down to the needy there is much merit in being prudent with developmental expenditure.

Yet ours has been a country famous for its vote bank politics (and hence expenditure). Be it the freebees that have become the hallmark of Tamil Nadu politics or the Haj Subsidy that has been the center of debate in this country for years.

A petition was filed in the Supreme Court regarding the legality of the subsidy being afforded by the government to Haj Pilgrims. The petitioner is questioning the constitutional validity of the Haj Committee Act, 1959.

To quote article 27 of the Indian constitution, which this act seems to contradict

“Freedom as to payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion.- No person shall be compelled to pay any taxes, the proceeds of which are specifically appropriated in payment of expenses for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious denomination.”

In a country that still has poverty of starvation deaths is it necessary to be paying out over 250 crores to one community.


Liz Mathew had written an interesting article on this

While Muslim intellectuals fiercely oppose Haj pilgrimage, the government argues that it is only assisting poor Muslims to fulfill their dream of a Haj pilgrimage and upholding the country's secular credentials.

"For those who are going for Haj, it's a life time dream. The government is giving only travel subsidy to those who cannot meet the expenses - its not cash in hand," Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed, who is in charge of Haj affairs, told IANS.

"The presence of Indian Muslims is felt in big way in an international congregation. Now the world realises that India is home to the second largest Muslim population. It upholds our secular credentials," Ahamed added.

But academicians like Firoz Bakht Ahamed rubbished the argument.

"This is an argument that supports the compartmentalisation of people into religious groups. India is not going to enhance its status by sending more Haj pilgrims," said Feroz Ahamed, a grand nephew of freedom fighter Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
"Going for Haj is a desire and it should be done keeping in view the economical status also. The government is not helping Muslims by providing subsidy when the community lags behind in all social indicators. It is just vote bank-politics.
"Instead, there should be a concrete plan to uplift the community, especially in girls' education," he said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government last week decided to pay the round trip fare to 10,000 more Haj pilgrims every year, taking the total number entitled to the subsidy to 110,000.

The government has spent nearly Rs.1.80 billion on the last Haj and the increase in the number could push this expenditure by at least 10 percent.

Muslim intellectuals point out that even Saudi Arabia, home of Mecca, believes that any subsidy for the Haj goes against the spirit of the Shariat, the Islamic law.
They say Haj is a religious duty only for those who can afford it and that the pilgrimage may not be 'accepted by god' if money spent on transport to reach the holy sites and on food is not the pilgrim's own.

Pakistan discontinued Haj subsidies to pilgrims as well as goodwill delegations after a 1997 court ruling that any expenditure defrayed by the government was contrary to the Shariat.

Syed Shahabuddin, former diplomat and a community leader, also opposed the idea. "I am against subsidy," Shahabuddin told IANS.

"I have told successive prime ministers that this Haj subsidy is there because of their political need, it has never been our demand," he said.


Hopefully the courts will once again step in to favor good reason!