The Haj subsidy was a subsidy based on religion that was given to Hajj pilgrims by the Government of India in the form of discounted air fare so that a pilgrim can fly to Mecca for Hajj. The program has its origins in British colonial era. In post-colonial era, the Government of India expanded the program in 1959 with the Hajj Act. The subsidy initially applied to Indian Muslim pilgrims traveling for religious reasons to Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Jordan by road and by sea. Expanded Haj subsidy started in 1954, as an idea initiated by the then government, with flights between Mumbai and Jeddah. Additional flight legs were added over the years, and since 1984, all Haj traffic has been shared by Air India and Saudia, the national carriers of India and Saudi Arabia. The monopoly of these airlines had proven the most contentious point of the subsidy, with some claiming that the real beneficiary is Air India as the subsidy is actually a discount on an overpriced air fare. In the past, the Haj board used to call for a bid to fly these Muslims to Mecca; for many years, Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabian government owned airline) has been the lowest bidder. There were also requests by Muslims to withdraw subsidy, including from some Muslim Members of Parliament, since they believed it was unnecessary and provided poor quality service to Hajis. Since 2000, over 1.5 million Muslims have used the subsidy; since 2008, over 120,000 Indian Muslims every year made use of the subsidy. The Haj subsidy includes an airfare subsidy, as well as assistance to Muslim pilgrims for domestic travel to reach specially designed Haj departure airport terminals, meals, medical care and lodging assistance provided by the Government of India. The Indian government has created separate Haj air terminals for Muslim pilgrims for their convenience at major airports. The average airfare subsidy was about per Muslim pilgrim in 2008, while the average non-airfare financial assistance was per pilgrim. The total subsidy provided by the Government of India was US$1,815 per Muslim pilgrim in 2008. In a Central Haj Committee meeting in November 2017, it was decided that Haj subsidy would be completely phased out by 2018 and that the funds would be used for educational programmes, especially for girls in minority communities. On 16 January 2018, the Union minister for minority affairs confirmed that the