TN Budget: Haj Subsidy Raised to Rs 35,000 for First-Time Pilgrims
The government will continue to provide educational scholarships to minority students. Under the leadership of Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, the government will never compromise on the protection and welfare of minorities
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Finance Minister N Marie Wilson on Wednesday announced that the Haj subsidy for first-time pilgrims will be increased to Rs 35,000 from Rs 25,000. In his budgetary address (Revised Estimates 2026-27), Wilson described the TVK-led regime as a "secular, social justice government," and asserted that Tamil Nadu stands as a pioneering state in protecting the rights of minorities.
The government will continue to provide educational scholarships to minority students. Under the leadership of Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, the government will never compromise on the protection and welfare of minorities.
In the Revised Budget Estimates, an amount of Rs1,700 crore has been allocated for the Welfare of Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes, and Minorities Department.
"The subsidy of Rs 25,000 provided by the Tamil Nadu State Hajj Committee to first-time Hajj pilgrims will be increased to Rs 35,000," Wilson announced.
Further, additional Christian and Muslim Women Aid Societies will be formed with an allocation of Rs1.05 crore. He said Rs 34 crore will be allocated in the Revised Budget Estimates to improve the infrastructure of burial grounds and 'Kabarsthans' (burial sites for Muslims).
In a veiled swipe at the DMK, the minister said: "Our chief minister is someone who has adopted Thanthai Periyar (EV Ramasamy) as his ideological leader. Our leader is not someone who deceives people in the name of social justice; rather he is someone who has embraced it from the bottom of his heart. "
"That is why our government, under his leadership, remains firmly committed to upholding social justice in Tamil Nadu, and is undertaking every possible effort to safeguard Tamil Nadu's 69 per cent reservation."
To ensure that students of the Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and De-notified Communities can pursue school and higher education without hindrance, funds have been allocated in the Revised Budget Estimates; Rs 372 crore for pre-matric and post-matric educational scholarships, Rs77 crore towards the tuition fees of students pursuing medicine and dentistry under the 7.5 per cent reservation, and Rs 13.41 crore as incentive to girl students to prevent dropout from education."
