Fact Check: Haj subsidy doesn’t exceed Chandrayaan-3 budget; subsidy scrapped 5 years ago

Hyderabad: Fake claims on social media about Chandrayaan-3 are on the rise. Several users have claimed that the government’s annual budget for the Haj pilgrimage subsidy is Rs 685 crores, whereas the budget for Chandrayaan-3 was Rs 615 crores. They also claimed that Hindus are not being helped or given any subsidy for their religious pilgrimages.

A Facebook user making the comparison wrote, “Chandrayaan-3 budget is Rs 615 crores. The annual budget for the Haj subsidy is Rs 685 crores. Hindus are never given a subsidy for Amarnath, Kedarnath, Vaishno Devi or any religious pilgrimage. Then what is the point of giving a subsidy on Haj? Why is this government kind? Why are millions of rupees that should be used for the country’s development being wasted? The government needs to think about this.” (Translated from Hindi)

Several other Facebook users have also made the same claim.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the Haj subsidy was scrapped in 2018.

We ran a relevant keyword search and came across reports from NDTV and The Hindu from January 2018, which said that the Central government announced the scrapping of subsidies provided to Muslim pilgrims for Haj. It is also mentioned in both reports that the decision was taken in line with a 2012 order issued by the Supreme Court.

Both reports quoted then Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi as saying, “It is part of the Modi government’s efforts to empower minorities with dignity and without appeasement.”

We also ran an advanced keyword search to find the official figure of the Haj subsidy before it was scrapped. It led us to a document on the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s website, which had a list of annual subsidy amounts for Haj pilgrims from 1994 to 2017.

We noticed that the subsidy varied every year. In 2017, before the scraping, the amount was Rs 200 crore BE (budget estimate). Only in 2011, it was Rs 685 crore, as alleged in the viral post.

Financial aid for pilgrimages of other religions

We ran a keyword search and came across a report published on January 18, 2018, by the Indian Express, about Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and others providing financial assistance to Hindu pilgrims.

It also mentioned that the Tamil Nadu government since 2012, provides a subsidy to Christians travelling to Jerusalem. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state governments also provide financial assistance to Christians travelling to Jerusalem.

Financial aid to Kailash Mansarovar yatris

Madhya Pradesh state government, via Mukhyamantri Tirth Darshan Yojana, pays 50 per cent of the cost incurred (up to Rs 30,000) for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra’s pilgrims. In 2019, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government announced financial assistance of one lakh rupees for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. In June this year, the Bhupendra Patel-led Gujarat government increased the financial assistance to pilgrims taking the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra from Rs 23,000 to Rs 50,000. The Haryana government also provides assistance of Rs 50,000 for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and Rs 6,000 and Rs 10,000 for the Gurudarshan and Sindhu Darshan Yatra, respectively.

Budget of Chandrayaan-3

The Indian Express reported on July 15 that according to ISRO, the Chandrayaan-3 was built on a budget of around Rs 615 crore. It quoted ISRO chairman K Sivan in a January 2020 report that the mission's lander rover and propulsion module would cost around Rs 250 crore, while the launch service would cost another Rs 365 crore.

Hence, we conclude that the claim about the Chandrayaan-3 budget is valid. However, the claim about the government spending more money on the Haj subsidy, which was cancelled in 2018, is false. The claim about Hindus and other religious groups not being provided financial assistance for pilgrimages is also false.