A good end to subsidies

In a landmark judgment, Supreme Court judges Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai directed the government to first reduce, and then abolish in 10 years, the subsidy being handed out to Haj pilgrims. The ruling also pointed out that the `650 crore spent annually on this could be more purposefully utilised in pro-active measures like education for the social development of the minority community.
The ruling aims to do away with a practice that is a remnant of post-Partition thinking according to which placatory gestures had to be made to the Muslims remaining in India, who, incidentally, outnumber those living in Pakistan. Enlightened Muslims are convinced that accepting such a subsidy to perform a pilgrimage to the religion’s most revered sites is not in conformity with the edicts of Islam.
The argument that the funds were helping more to pep up Air India’s operations even as any number of government nominees got on as freeloaders every year is pertinent when it comes to supporting the need to abolish the practice. Curiously, opposition to the subsidy has been voiced more by Hindu elements seeking similar subsidies for pilgrimages to places like Kailash Mansarovar, which, clearly, is an argument for argument’s sake.
Fortunately, the subsidy has not provoked Christians to ask for concessions to go to Bethlehem or the Vatican, nor have Buddhists asked for handouts to go to Sarnath. No one performing a pilgrimage for religious purposes would like to compromise his or her principles.
To help the disadvantaged, particularly those from minority communities, find ways to shine in the mainstream is a noble aim. Let us do it by looking at ways towards national development which, in turn, lead to education and employment opportunities.

Post new comment

<form action="/comment/reply/151364" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="post" id="comment-form"> <div><div class="form-item" id="edit-name-wrapper"> <label for="edit-name">Your name: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="60" name="name" id="edit-name" size="30" value="Reader" class="form-text required" /> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-mail-wrapper"> <label for="edit-mail">E-Mail Address: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="64" name="mail" id="edit-mail" size="30" value="" class="form-text required" /> <div class="description">The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.</div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-comment-wrapper"> <label for="edit-comment">Comment: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <textarea cols="60" rows="15" name="comment" id="edit-comment" class="form-textarea resizable required"></textarea> </div> <fieldset class=" collapsible collapsed"><legend>Input format</legend><div class="form-item" id="edit-format-1-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-1"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-1" name="format" value="1" class="form-radio" /> Filtered HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Allowed HTML tags: &lt;a&gt; &lt;em&gt; &lt;strong&gt; &lt;cite&gt; &lt;code&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;dl&gt; &lt;dt&gt; &lt;dd&gt;</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-format-2-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-2"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-2" name="format" value="2" checked="checked" class="form-radio" /> Full HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> </fieldset> <input type="hidden" name="form_build_id" id="form-5878f841e30ff37d91a0844e3e5fc992" value="form-5878f841e30ff37d91a0844e3e5fc992" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_id" id="edit-comment-form" value="comment_form" /> <fieldset class="captcha"><legend>CAPTCHA</legend><div class="description">This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.</div><input type="hidden" name="captcha_sid" id="edit-captcha-sid" value="92684626" /> <input type="hidden" name="captcha_response" id="edit-captcha-response" value="NLPCaptcha" /> <div class="form-item"> <div id="nlpcaptcha_ajax_api_container"><script type="text/javascript"> var NLPOptions = {key:'c4823cf77a2526b0fba265e2af75c1b5'};</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://call.nlpcaptcha.in/js/captcha.js" ></script></div> </div> </fieldset> <span class="btn-left"><span class="btn-right"><input type="submit" name="op" id="edit-submit" value="Save" class="form-submit" /></span></span> </div></form>

No Articles Found

No Articles Found

No Articles Found

I want to begin with a little story that was told to me by a leading executive at Aptech. He was exercising in a gym with a lot of younger people.

Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen didn’t make the cut. Neither did Shaji Karun’s Piravi, which bagged 31 international awards.