Modi Govt. allowed Muslim women for Haj without any male companion

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      Muslim women of Kerala seems taking full advantage of this decision

Last year, Modi government at the centre changed rules to allow Muslim women above 45 years of age to travel in groups of four for Haj without being accompanied by a male companion, and Muslim women from Kerala seem to have taken advantage of this.

Freshly released government data shows that 86% of Muslim women who will travel from India to Saudi Arabia this year for the Haj pilgrimage without a male companion (mehram) are from Kerala. Of 2,340 Muslim women going to Saudi, 2,011 are from the southern state. More women than men have applied for Haj from Kerala this year. In all, there are more than 11,000 pilgrims from the state —6,959 women (with or without mehram ) and 4,513 men.

Last year saw a similar trend, when 1,124 out of 1,340 women who undertook the pilgrimage without a male companion came from Kerala.

The number of women from Kerala is 2,011, while much larger states like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have very few women travelling without a man — 99 and 39, respectively. There are 37 applicants from Tamil Nadu, 31 from Maharashtra, 27 from Madhya Pradesh, 26 from Rajasthan and 23 from Karnataka. Delhi has 12 applicants, while Bihar has nine, Assam eight, Jharkhand five and Chhattisgarh four.