In a bid to cut down government spending on Haj, a ministry of minority affairs committee has recommended reducing embarkation points for Haj pilgrimage from 21 to nine. The policy has been drafted in light of a 2012 Supreme Court order asking the Centre to gradually abolish the Haj subsidy by 2022. "The 2018 Haj pilgrimage will be in line with the new Haj policy. The nine embarkation points recommended include Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Begaluru and Cochin. The committee has also recommended making the bidding process for airlines more competitive, and reducing the cost by better negotiations.

Source: Hindustan Times October 07, 2017 12:06 UTC