India's Supreme Court Tuesday ordered the government to scrap a state policy of subsidizing the travel of thousands of Muslims to Saudi Arabia for the annual Haj pilgrimage. “We hold that the policy is best done away with and it should be eliminated over 10 years,” said Justice Altamas Kabir, striking down New Delhi's argument that pilgrims were entitled to the state help once in their lifetime. The court also said that the government's “goodwill delegation” to the Kingdom must not exceed two members. It currently has 30 people. India provides billions of rupees every year to people going on the Haj. Pilgrims applying through the Haj Committee of India and are offered a concessionary fare on the national airline, Air India. Last year the average cost for the round trip was Rs45,000, but a pilgrim had to pay only Rs16,000. The government bears the cost of the two empty trips a chartered Haj flight operates. __
