JAMMU, Jan 9: India’s yearly Hajj quota has been increased to 1.75 lakh pilgrims per year, according to Joint Secretary Minority Affairs Nirupama Kotru, a Kashmiri Pandit who was a member of the Indian delegation led by Union Minister Smriti Irani to sign the Hajj Agreement 2023. She stated that the Saudi government has decided to increase India’s annual quota of first-time Hajj pilgrims to 1.75 lakh under the terms of the new Agreement 2024. The agreement’s positive aspect, according to her, is that the majority of Hajj pilgrims this year will come from J&K. Additionally, J&K residents will be given priority over anyone on the waiting list who cancels their application or leaves the list.We now trail just Indonesia and Pakistan. Even so, we have asked the Saudi authorities to raise the quota to two lakh every year starting in the following year. MoS Foreign Ministry V Murlidharan and Union Minister Smriti Irani oversaw the arrangement. She noted that since last year’s noteworthy initiative allowed women to perform the Hajj without a “Mehram,” 6,000 applications from women wishing to go the Hajj without a “Mehram” had already been received this year. We predict that the number will rise even further this year compared to last. Additionally, we have made sure that anyone who wants to make this holy pilgrimage has no trouble finding facilities or anything else during our stay, the speaker continued.According to Nirupama, the Union Minister in charge of the facilities for Hajj travellers is herself, and she has had lengthy discussions with Saudi officials about how to better accommodate Indian pilgrims travelling on the Hajj.
