Haj Subsidy Scrapped ?
Economics, Religion, Politics- Why all the three elements are important!

Jayashri Ramesh Sundaram
2 min readJan 25, 2018

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To understand and study the recent event of subsidy scrapped for Haj pilgrims by India, it is important to go beyond the debate over whether it is an attack on one or specific religions alone. While the relationship between politics and religion have been examined to a satisfactory extent, it is seldom that we find the study of the relationship between economics and religion.

In this article we attempt to use Tonny Brekke’s Faithonomics, which uses economic theory to provide a new perspective to understanding religion in today’s world. In his book, Tonny shows that religion should be analysed as a market similar to that of goods and services.

Applying faithonomics to the study, in this article we attempt to show why it is best to leave spiritual and cultural facets of religions to interact and compete within the religious market. Here, it may be apt to bring in the theory of religious economy. Theory of religious economy states that the system just as it allows businesses to interact and adjust themselves according the demand and supply, so does it let religions do the same. Discussion of other forms of markets that restrict the free flow of adjustments is outside the scope of the article.

While it may be important to provide security to religious minorities just as there are provisions provided for the underprivileged to prosper. It is crucial to find the element of ideology in the former which is against the idea of pertaining secularism by a secular state.

Hence, to conclude, the ailment of cultural and spiritual aspects of both majority or minority religion of a state would rather be best when left to the establishments themselves.

In the case of India, the policy coming at a time when the government at the Centre is claimed to be religiously inclined to Hinduism, the decision has opened door for disapproval. One of the key criticisms has been the expenditure by India on the four Kumbh Melas held in Haridwar, Allahabad, Nashik and Ujjain.

Article 27 of the Indian constitution states that “No person shall be compelled to pay any taxes, the proceeds of which are specifically appropriated in payment of expenses for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious denomination”.

Although the current policy is in adherence and fits rightly within the framework of Article 27, it is only a skeleton move since other pilgrimages such as the Kumbh Melas and other state government subsidies for yatras such as the one by Madhya Pradesh for pilgrimage visits to St Thomas Church in Kerala.

Keeping in mind the necessity to foresee mass disruptions, government at all levels should be prepared with security forces to react. It is mandatory to understand the distinction. There is a clear duty in the hands of the police and the government to control and regulate crowds. This duty in no way permits the need to provide incentive or any other form of support to religious events to be initiated as in the case of mentioned in the previous paragraphs.

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