new delhi the government has come out with a new haj policy 2023 that seeks to make the pilgrimage more inclusive for women senior citizens and persons with disabilities in a significant step building on the earlier policy 201822 which in a first made room for women above 45 years to travel in groups of four or more without a male companion mehram the new policy creates the option for single women in the same age group to apply as individuals and the haj committee of india will organise them in groups in keeping with the guidelinesthe 2023 policy reiterates that ladies above 45 years of age who wish to go for haj but do not have a male mehram and their school of thought maslak permits are allowed to travel in groups of 4 or more ladies while this is a continuation of the earlier the new policy moves a step forward saying that subject to the terms of kingdom of saudi arabia single ladies may also apply and the haj committee of india may form a grouping with the ladies who applied under the categoryin a tweet the ministry of minority affairs stated that new landmark haj policy will bring financial relief to pilgrims application forms are now free for the first time haj package costs have been reduced by approximately rs50000 the government is yet to open the applications for haj this year where india has been given a quota of around 175 lakh pilgrimsthe ministry further stated in its tweet that under the new policy a wide choice of embarkation points and special arrangements are made for ladies infants persons with disabilities and elderly there will be 25 embarkation points for haj2023 this a marked increase and will help connect people in distant areas like agartala is a new embarkation point in the listthe new policy also states that the entire government discretionary quota stands cancelled from haj 2023 onwards and will be merged into the general pool for the benefit of the common citizens meanwhile from this year instead of the 7030 ratio out of the total quota allocated to the government of india as per the agreement with saudi arabia 80 will be allocated to the hcol and the remaining 20 will be allocated to private haj group operatorsaccording to sources the haj package costs have been reduced by approximately rs 50000 as the money that was deposited with the haj committee for foreign exchange and items such as umbrellas bags and bed sheets would not be charged and these things can be arranged by the pilgrims themselvesin a significant assertion the policy states that persons with benchmark disability disabilities who cannot travel alone as certified by the medical authorities applying for haj must be accompanied by an ablebodied person who should be a blood relation assistance in all such cases will be provided by the indian haj mission on a need basisin view of the hardships faced by the single 70 plus