Building on the earlier policy (2018-22), the Haj policy 2023 also created the option for single women in the same age group to also apply as individuals and in keeping with the guidelines enabled the Haj Committee of India to organise them in groups of four or more.
Of the 1.4 lakh pilgrims who will be travelling through the Haj committee of India quota overall there are more than 65,600 women pilgrims. Of the total number of women there are 15,753 women between 60 to 80 years followed by 222 between 81 to 90 years and there are as many as seven women between 91 to 100. According to data accessed by TOI, there are two women who are above 100 and undertaking the pilgrimage.
There are 4,313 women, the largest contingent so far, who will be undertaking Haj in the ‘without mehram’ category. They hail from across 25 states and Union Territories. Kerala (2,807) tops the list followed by UP (222), Tamil Nadu (195), Maharashtra (162), Karnataka (140), Jammu & Kashmir (132), Madhya Pradesh (128), West Bengal (82), Telangana (76) and Gujarat (70). There are three women from Goa and four from Haryana.
Data accessed by TOI shows that in 2018 as many as 1,171 women went for Haj without mehram. This number was 2,230 in 2019. Thereafter for two years Indian pilgrims did not travel for Haj on account of Covid pandemic and restrictions due to the same in Saudi Arabia. In 2022 when Haj resumed, as many as 2,192 applications of women without mehram were approved and 1,796 proceeded for the same.
According to a Kerala State Haj Committee official one of the reasons contributing to the high numbers is that in many cases the male members are NRIs working in the Gulf countries in Kerala so Muslim women are accustomed to travelling abroad and therefore they are confident of undertaking the journey to avail of the ‘without mehram’ category in the absence of their husbands who are abroad. They also attribute it to overall factors like higher literacy rates among Muslim women, many of them working women as enabling factors that create an empowered outlook among women towards being independent, making online applications and travelling by themselves.
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