Availing beneficial facilities for pilgrims, India and Saudi Arabia sign bilateral pact for Haj 2019

Jeddah, December 14: India and Saudi Arabia have shared a strong cultural, historical, economic and political bond for years. With Saudi Arabia playing an active and effective role to ensure safety and better facilities to Indian Haj pilgrims, the relations between the two countries have deepened. Strengthening the bond to a deeper extend, India and Saudi Arabia have signed a bilateral annual Haj 2019 agreement.

As a part to strengthen the bilateral diplomatic relations, the agreement was signed by the Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Haj and Umrah Minister of Saudi Arabia, Dr. Mohammad Saleh bin Taher Benten.

 

The many ‘firsts’ for women in Haj:

· Haj 2019 will witness large number of Muslim women, as around more than 2100 women have applied without ‘Mehram’ (male companion)

· Creating history, the Modi government had lifted the ban on women going to Haj without Mehram in 2017, which resulted into about 1300 Indian Muslim women went on Haj 2018 without any male companion.

· To assist these women Haj pilgrims, for the first time, more than 100 women Haj Coordinators and Haj Assistants had been deployed in 2018.

· After Independence, for the first time, a record number of Muslims from India performed Haj 2018 and that too without any subsidy.

· The Indian Government has requested the Saudi Arabia Government to increase India’s annual Haj quota for Haj 2019 also.

Minister Naqvi informed that the Haj Committee of India has received more than 2 lakh 47 thousand applications yet for Haj 2019, which includes around 47% of women.

 

Thanking the Saudi Arabia government, Union Minister Naqvi said that Saudi Arabia with their guidance and active support made the Haj 2018 a major success. Adding further he complimented the Saudi government and the related agencies for their immense support and coordination for ensuring safety and better facilities, medical facilities for the pilgrims during Haj 2019.

 

Highlighting the benefits of online and digital application, Naqvi said that by making the Haj process completely online and digital has helped to make the entire Haj process transparent and pro-pilgrims. This time, preparations for Haj 2019 started 3 months before schedule to make the process more comfortable for the pilgrims.