Haj Committee of India

Haj Committee of India (also known as Central Haj Committee (CHC)[1]) is a statutory body of the Indian government which organises Islamic pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia.[2] It was established under Haj Committee Act in 2002.[3] The committee acts as a nodal agency for state haj committees and has 23 members, of which six are elected by state haj committees, four are ex-official, three are MPs, seven are nominated by the central government and the rest come from the state which sends largest number of pilgrims.[4] India was provided with 1,36,200 pilgrims quota in 2016, out of which, 1,00,200 travels were said to be arranged by the haj committee. The committee distributes the allotted quota state-wise based on Muslim population density according to 2011 census.[5]

The tradition of arranging religious pilgrimages by the Haj committee is traced back to 1927. The committee organised pilgrimages through sea-route and was headed by the Police Commissioner of Bombay D. Healy. The first meeting of the committee was held on 14 April 1927.[6] Prior to 2002 Haj Committee Act, the first attempt to grant legal recognition to the committee was made by the British which passed Port Haj Committees Act in 1932 and later in 1959, when Haj Committee Act was passed by Jawahar Lal Nehru headed Government.[7]

Nizam's Rubath Accommodation

The Nizam of Hyderabad had bought a big house for Hajj pilgrims from homeland to stay for free during their visit to Mecca for free. The government of Telangana performs a draw contest to choose the lucky winners who get to stay in the Rubath(Free accommodation).[8][9][10] Originally there were 42 buildings, but only a couple are left after the expansion of the grand mosque of Mecca.

See also

References
  1. "Functions of Haj Committee of India". www.hajcommittee.gov.in. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  2. "Haj panel in row over 'arranging' qurbani". The Times of India. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  3. "Delhi High Court upholds election of Kidwai as Haj Committee Chairperson". Hindustan Times. 25 August 2010. Archived from the original on 12 September 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  4. "No member from Maharashtra in Central Haj Committee". The Times of India. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  5. "India gets quota of 136,020 pilgrims for Haj". Hindustan Times. 11 March 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  6. "Congress leader Ahmed Patel appointments in Haj committee". Vishwa Gujarat. 29 July 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  7. "Meaning of secularism". The Hindu. 30 January 2001. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-09-01. Retrieved 2018-08-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "20 Pilgrims Selected from Nizam Royal Family". hrubath.org.
  10. "Rubat facility for Haj pilgrims from Telangana State". webindia123. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
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