On MahaKumbh & Subsidies..
Dear All: This post was triggered by RealityCheck’s response to Praveen Swami’s remarks on the MahaKumbh. In discussions of Haj subsidy, many of you must have heard arguments along the lines of “..but the government subsidises Kumbh Mela too“. Although demonstrably false, this argument continues to be rehashed – sometimes even by well-known columnists. The latest to join this group is Praveen Swami. Below, excerpts from a brilliantly written counter-piece by RealityCheck on the specious logic of Praveen Swami:
Praveen Swami after a flying recap of the Salman Rushdie affair, lands upon this: “Few Indians understand the extent to which the state underwrites the practice of their faith. The case of the Maha Kumbh Mela, held every 12 years at Haridwar, Allahabad, Ujjain and Nashik, is a case in point. The 2001 Mela in Allahabad, activist John Dayal has noted in a stinging essay, involved state spending of over Rs.1.2 billion — 12,000 taps that supplied 50.4 million litres of drinking water; 450 kilometres of electric lines and 15,000 streetlights; 70,000 toilets; 7,100 sanitation workers, 11 post offices and 3,000 phone lines; 4,000 buses and trains. Source: The Hindu”
…Lets rewind to these numbers , Rs.1.2 billion for 12,000 taps, 50.4 million litres, 450 kilometres of lines and 15,000 streetlights; 70,000. Let me throw in toilets, fire services, ambulances.
What he forgets to mention, very cleverly, is this: The Maha Kumbh is one of the largest human congregations on earth. Over 60 Million people participated in the event he is talking about in 2001. The crowds of the event could be seen from space. The state is merely providing  PUBLIC AMENITIES as its normal call of duty. The alternative would be to let millions including thousands of foreign tourists die in an outbreak of Cholera, riots, or leave behind a mountain of human waste.
The most jarring part of his essay was this line, which prompted me to write this blog. That isn’t counting the rent that ought to have been paid on the 15,000 hectares of land used for the festival ..
Lets see this from a property rights angle. What he is saying is the Hindus who participate in the Kumbh Mela event, which predates all known formats of the Indian state, have no title over the venues. Which are sand banks, ghats, streets, and nearby spaces.  In such a school of thought, the participants have to pay a fee (a tax) to the state from the proceeds of which the state will “rent these ghats†and provide the aforementioned amenities.  From time immemorial, Hindus have treated these lands as their own, not in the sense of ownership rights but being able to continue ancient traditions such as the Maha Kumbh, Chitirai Festival, and countless others.  If you demand to see title papers (most Christian and Muslim properties DO have proper title papers) then Hindus will have no choice but to create them. Territory, and traditions CONSTITUTE the Indian State. They came with the box.
Obviously, this isnt the only weakness in this piece. The state has Hindu temples under its control, so his sudden puppy love for property rights is dead on arrival. Next, even from an economic viewpoint, the Maha Kumbh is a grand tourist spectacle with millions of people from all over the world arriving and staying for weeks. Â The govt will stand to gain by spending on amenities and reaping benefits of orderly tourist activity compared to being burdened with the costs of chaos and disease if it were to listen to Praveen Swami.
Needless to add, the government does not subsidise travel to Kumbh. The amount it spends is on maintaining law and order and to ensure hygiene & basic civic amenities to the tens of millions who congregate for the sacred festival.  A more appropriate comparison to this spending would be the amount the government spends on building and maintaining Haj Houses in various parts of the country – not the Haj subsidy itself. After reading the piece, I decided to dig a little bit more to find the amounts spent on Haj Subsidy. This is what I found.
Last year (2010), the government paid Haj subsidy of Rs 770 crore (i.e. Rs 7.7 billion), in flight tickets and accommodation provided to pilgrims. In 2007, the Haj subsidy paid by the Indian government was 5.95 billion rupees (From “Haj subsidy has Air India fuming” by Shauvik Ghosh, 2008-09-13).
Last year (’07-’08), while 1,10,000 pilgrims availed the subsidy paying only Rs 12,000 each, the amount paid by the government to the carrier was Rs 47,454 per passenger. According to sources, the total cost for Haj operations last year (for 1,10,000 pilgrims) was Rs 727 crore of which the subsidy requirement was Rs 595 crore. This year (’08-’09), in order for the pilgrimage of 1,23,211 pilgrims, the total cost estimated by the government is Rs 847 crore, of which the subsidy requirement will be approximately Rs 700 crore.
I wonder what does Praveen Swami has to say about this and on this which shows how proceeds from ~ 250,000 temples in Karnataka have been distributed over the past few years.
P.S. In case you are wondering about my stance on “religious subsidies”, it is clear and unambiguous: The government should *not* subsidise any religious/sacred pilgrimage for any denomination. Please do not confuse a subsidy with the amount that the government does need to spend on maintaining order and ensuring civic amenities at such sites or on such occasions (thus having extra immigration counters for departing/arriving Haj pilgrims is a justified expense; as is providing drinking water and toilets for pilgrims at Kumbh)
Related Posts: Of Subsidies and Politics of “Secularismâ€,  Secularism or Politics of Appeasement? and I want a subsidy to visit Bali
The only problem is that your article will not find a place in any of the news paper and only people who follow you will read and understand how Praveen Swami and others are lying about Kumbh Mela subsidies.
Really an eyeopener.
Why dont you send this piece to The Hindu reader’s response? I think the readers ought to know this.
The level of misinformation by the goverment and the media is astounding. One would think that a newspaper called The Hindu would be sympathetic to the Hindu cause. No chance, in fact at times the newspaper is blatantly anti Hindu.
I hope you point out the deliberate fallacy of the argument to Mr Swami
himself.
If I had more time I would agitate for the newspaper to change it’s name. A newspaper that is obviously anti-Hindu should not call itself The Hindu. Why are so many people so blase about what is going on, the lies that are being perpertrated and the way money is being unfairly allocated.
If Praveen Swamy and John Dayal call themselves seularists, it is a travesty.John Dayal is a committed Christian, being associated with many Christian organizations. Praveen Swamy quoting Dayal is among the tricks that the secularists follow to drum up a storm against the Indian,Hindu ethos. It is an invidious propaganda that the Christians are particularly adept at. I daresay John Dayal will never quote in his articles the figures of Haj Subsidy given above by you.Such people are dishonest to the core.They have nothing to do with the truth and don’t believe in Satyam eva Jayate.
@Shyam: Pl do share with friends and family…we don’t have the reach of The Hindu but we can help in spreading awareness…
@Jeet: Thanks.
@Lavanya: I went to the link just now and the article is closed for comments! Here is the email address of Letters to the Editor: letters@thehindu.co.in and below is what I wrote:
@sudhav: The Hindu is probably one of the most biased newspapers against Hindus…Pl add your voice via email to the editor..
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Dear Sir/Madam,
Ref. the article by Sh Praveen Swami published in your newspaper titled, “Salman Rushdie & India’s new theocracy” on 21st Jan ’12, may I point out that the State does not provide any *subsidy* for Kumbh or the MahaKumbh.
The amount it spends is on maintaining law and order and to ensure hygiene & basic civic amenities to the tens of millions who congregate for the sacred festival.
Further it is nowhere comparable to the amount it spends on the Haj subidy – which is in fact a subsidy – as in subsidised air fare and not something to ensure a comfortable journey or pilgrimage.
Furthermore, Sh Swami mentions a certain state government paying salaries to priests but not once does he mention the “elephant in the room” – which is government control over Hindu places of worship *and* diversion of such funds collected for the upkeep of Mosques and Churches https://satyameva-jayate.org/2007/07/29/psuedo-secularism-at-its-best/
Would Sh Swamy comment on the fact that the Government of India allows Muslims and Christians (under Article 30 of the Constitution) to set up government funded faith schools but Hindu schools cannot get any grants from the government?
Would he also care to mention that there exist numerous scholarships and other facilities solely for minorities in educational institutions and that the Prime Minister of India is on record saying that developmental plans specifically meant for Minorities must have first claim on resources?
I realise that comments on the main article are now closed but would be grateful if this is considered for publication.
Thanks.
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
Shantanu
An eye opener!. Thanks
Analogy should’ve been to:
– Expenses and the efforts of the Saudi govt to provide facilities to pilgrims who arrive for Haj vs the subsidy provided by the GOI for Haj travellers from India.
– Efforts incurred by various Govts around the world to provide for and control crowds who come to their respective countries for various religious festivities vs respective countries paying for the trips of their citizens
Thanks Deepak…
Good point, Jay! – Does anyone have any idea of the numbers mentioned in Jay’s comment (#8)? Thanks
This clearly means that while government spent Rs 73,526 for Haj yatra of each Indian Muslim(in 2008) selected by Haj committee, that Muslim individual on Haj on his own had to spend only Rs 16,000!!
http://deshgujarat.com/2011/10/24/you-spend-rs-16000-while-govt-spends-rs-73000-for-your-haj/
Other interesting sources:
a)http://factsanddetails.com/world.php?itemid=1443&catid=55&subcatid=358
The Rs 1.2 Billion spent by the govt for providing sanitation and other facilities spread over 60 million pilgrims at the Maha Kumbh comes to just Rs 20 per head.Will Praveen Swamy have any sense of shame after doing this calculation ?
Shantanu – very informative piece. It is appalling to see what he categorizes as “subsidies” for the Kumbh Mela! I couldn’t help my disbelief..
Thanks Jay for the links/.. I will have a look..
Kishan: Good point. Although I doubt anyone will respond.
Divya: Thanks…Pl share and spread the word.
Thanks
Shantanu,
I think this analysis is not up to your usual high standards.
We are in agreement that there should be no state subsidies for any religious activities. And that control of all religious institutions should revert to their respective local religious organisations – the govt has no business meddling in the control of temples or redistributing their incomes.
However, at the same time, I have to agree with Praveen Swami that provision of public amenities at a private religious event for free IS a subsidy from the respective state government.
This is without going into the issue of titles and whether rent should be charged: it is possible to argue that the bathing ghats, and the nearby grounds are “commons” that can be used by all people for free, even if the actual title subsists with the state.
Whether 60 million attend the Kumbh or only 6,000 is not material to the discussion. By that logic, 60 million people of India can together ascribe other “private services” to themselves for free without paying for them. The state is entitled to charge for amenities, and not doing so amounts to a subsidiy.
This is a question that has been well settled for things like political rallies and cricket matches and other, smaller religious gatherings by the courts – that even if some one claims that say, a political rally is for the public good or public interest, since it has been organised by a private party, the private organisation has to pay for the grounds, amenities, security, etc. One only has to look at the recent MMRDA grounds vs Anna Hazare issue to see this clear ruling.
The Kumbh Mela is no different – it is a private gathering. Amenities have to be paid for by the attendees.
Cheers
Patriot
Patriot: I disagree with the premise that Kumbh is a “private religious event”. It is a public non-exclusive event (unlike the Haj on which non-Muslims cannot go).
Governments all over the world provide facilities and amenities at such events – e.g. at the Carnival in Brazil and parades/ winter festivals in various parts of Europe/ US.
Anyone is welcome at Kumbh – it is not just for Hindus.
I maintain that what the government provides (without going into the details) is public service – hence calling it a subsidy is misleading.
Please bear in mind that the Kumbh is an ancient, socio-cultural event that has gone on for centuries.
It is not organised by a group or a party or a company, hence cannot be called a private gathering. Thanks
Dear Shantanu,
We must agree to disagree then on the fundamental aspect of Kumbh Mela then, but I would add the following.
A “public event” can be organised by a private party – just like a cricket match is a public event organised by the private body, BCCI, to use an analogy. The private party at the Kumbh Mela are the millions of Hindu individuals, acting jointly or through groups, to whom the Kumbh Mela is a great, sacred ritual. But, practice of religion is your private choice. It is not the choice of the state or the “greater public”, in this case. And, whether it is a recent practice or one that has been practised for hundreds of years is again NOT material to the discussion.
Finally, any provision of public service, which is not paid for by the consumers of that service, is a subsidy taken from the taxpayers. That is the definition. Otherwise, we could call selling Kerosene at Rs8/litre as a public service – why do we call it a subsidy to the poor?
As a classical liberal, you should think a bit more about the points that I am trying to make (poorly, no doubt).
Cheers
Patriot: I guess we have to “agree to disagree”. My final comment on this:
There is NO private party that organises the Kumbh Mela. There is no private party that invites millions of people to congregate in one place. Neither are the millions who come the same people.
The basic amenities that government provides is akin to basic toilet facilities at the venue for mass immersion of ShriGanesh icons after Chaturdashi…or the basic facilities that city governments provide at the venue for London and New York marathons.
The government is not providing free (or subsidised) food or free accommodation to the millions who come to Kumbh (unlike the Haj) .
In fact, it is earning by way of tax from the numerous products and services that get consumed during the weeks of the Mela.
The Kerosene analogy is misleading – it is not a basic public amenity – neither is the Haj subsidy.
Patriot, your assumed name is Patriot but your argument seems colonial like the salt tax.
The govt must have spent may be crores of rupees during Anna Hazare and Ramdev agitations, in Bandobast, including the “invaluable” time of not only the four senior ministers but even the central ministry and Sonia Gandhi. By your logic all the lakhs of demonstrators attending these agitations should be charged a rent for coming to Delhi and spending their time (no value put for the time of aam aadmi) in these agitations.This is not to make a comparison between agitations and matters of faith. But only trying to understand where democracy ends and colonialism begins.
@ Kishan
My argument is neither about democracy or colonialism.
While I believe Shantanu and I understand where we are drawing the line in determining whether something needs to be paid for directly or is subsumed, and hence assumed to be paid for, in the general tax pool that everyone pays (whether direct or indirect), I think you missed the point of my argument completely.
@ Shantanu
There is an “official” organiser for the Kumbh Mela, is there not? I didn’t realise it was akin to a flash mob?!
And, taking bad examples from New York and London does not really help – why should we follow bad policies? The amenities for the Mumbai Marathon, OTOH, is fully paid for by the sponsors of the event, including the police “bandobust” (you may be aware of the recent dispute between the organisers and Mumbai police about a previous unpaid bill, which threatened to stop the last Marathon) and is not a burden on either the Mumbai Municipal Corporation or the State of Maharashtra.
When we have a perfectly good LIBERAL example in India of how such events should be organised and run, why go to “socialist” New York or London? Heh!
Cheers
Patriot
We have Jerusalem trips now being funded by govt.
But if one has to go to Amarnath, one has to spend atleast 10000 rs per person. The Doli guys fleece like anything. My parents had to spend around 1 lakh on their amarnath trip for taking flights in vaishno and amarnath. They dont need to subsidize but in our own country, we are threatened with cutting short the number of days of the trip. And who created this whole problem of kashmir- Nehru. Our guys do not have any sense of history.
It is so easy to win in India and hence 1000+ yrs, we have been ruled by others. Just divide and rule. create rift. The two minority religions will never vote for any other party. Strangely, events keep repeating to enforce that holds true. Well, hence 770 crores shouldnt surprise us. Govt controls hindu temples and fleeces money out of it but churches are free to do what they want. Only in India it can happen like this. Who said we are in a democracy? We cannot even raise our voices except in these discussion boards. if one does so publicly, miraculously his dead body is found in the gutter next day. Does anyone even know how many RTI activists are killed.
Sanjeev and Shantanu are right that we should either do something or shut up. Since i cannot do anything, i will shut up now.
Indian govt. is secular only for so hindus will not get nay help from our so called secular govt.
That is our own fault because we only elect these fools
Thanks to Ashok-ji for alerting me to this article Haj subsidy is a fact and must go eventually, from which an excerpt below in which Syed Shahabudding makes almost the same point as I made at #15 above. The article was written by Syed Shahabuddin in 2002!:
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Secondly, Haj subsidy is not at all comparable to the cost of bandobast made in India by the Central/State Governments or local administration at the time of fairs like the Kumbh Mela or pilgrimages like the Amarnath Yatra or, for that matter, the annual Urs of Muslim saints like Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Gharibnawaz at Ajmer. Bandobast is comparable to the massive arrangements made by the Government of Saudi Arabia for the Haj for all pilgrims and the supportive arrangements made by the Government of India like the opening of a permanent Haj Office in the Consulate General of India, Jeddah, the deputation of the Haj Mission during the Haj to expand the Haj Office, the posting of a Medical Mission with the opening of several Haj dispensaries in Mecca and Medina, free distribution of medicines, provision of ambulance services and limited hospitalization facilities; deputation of Khuddamul Hujjaj by the various State Haj Committees and of its own members by the Haj Committee, not to mention the costly, wasteful and purposeless exercise of sending an Official Haj Goodwill Mission.
The bandobast includes also the facilities provided by the State and Central Haj Committee for collecting and training pilgrims, arranging internal transportation, monitoring their arrival at and departure from various collecting and exit points in India.
For the record, my fb post on 14th June 2013 on a recent decision by Rajasthan government to facilitate free pligrimage for senior citizens:
When will the Indian voter understand that there is NO such thing as a free lunch?
And definitely never from the government.
The Rajasthan government is simply taking money it could have used to build better roads, supply more power, put more policemen on duty , more judges in courts etc and using it to pay the Railways for your “free” pilgrimage..
Is this really so hard to understand?