Apart from this allowance every year the Haj pilgrimage is entirely funded by the central government and I feel even that is not fair because there are other religious people in India who would ask for similar favors- anything to do with religion should be kept away from public funds...

I also do not understand why any kind of allowance is needed to be given for Haj yatra or for the Imams. Maybe this practice was started initially because the Muslim community was minority decades ago after independence and these allowances were given as a part of assurance of their safety and wellbeing in India. But now as things stand today, They are no more a minority community, in fact some Hindu sects are now in minority, and many of the Muslims are now well educated and earning good. So why is this allowance still continued?

Do you know in Kerala, Muslims are the most financially sound community (and Hindus just opposite ;) :silly: )...particularly Thrissur-Ernakulam belt. Most of them are NRIs.
Before coming to Thrissur town, my hubby was branch manager of Eriyaad ....coastal place of Kodungallur. He says, not even a single Muslim family is present in that coastal belt who doesn't have at least 1 crore money as liquid cash at home or bank. Most of the families have assets above 300 crore or 500 crore and even above 2000 crore rupees.
Now also he works in a Muslim nominated place Kecheri. Our head will spin hearing the assets of Muslim community.
As far as I know, In Kerala, Hindus are the weak community...both financially and spiritually. :woohoo: . Total population of Hindus have reduced below 48% in the past few decades

Ya, Government need to have a second thought before allotting public funds for such religious purposes

Apart from this allowance every year the Haj pilgrimage is entirely funded by the central government and I feel even that is not fair because there are other religious people in India who would ask for similar favors- anything to do with religion should be kept away from public funds...

I would like to share that subsidy on Haz does not make much difference because the amount provided goes back to government as they have to travel by Air India only and the fair is far too much compared to other airlines but this is keeping Air India alive and the only benefit government is taking advantage of votes Besides they are further limiting the amount of subsidy from this year itself..

Apart from this allowance every year the Haj pilgrimage is entirely funded by the central government and I feel even that is not fair because there are other religious people in India who would ask for similar favors- anything to do with religion should be kept away from public funds...

I would like to share that subsidy on Haz does not make much difference because the amount provided goes back to government as they have to travel by Air India only and the fair is far too much compared to other airlines but this is keeping Air India alive and the only benefit government is taking advantage of votes Besides they are further limiting the amount of subsidy from this year itself..