Orange passport will not be issued, announces Ministry of External Affairs

With the motive of reversing two passport-related changes, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has decided to not discontinue printing the last page of passport, and also not to issue orange passport to Indian nationals needing emigration clearance certificates.

The decision with regards to the printing of the last page of the passport was reversed because a passport usually serves as an important address proof for Indian nationals. The Modi government had announced the orange passports after MEA and the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) had decided that those requiring emigration clearance certificates would be issued orange passports. The emigration check is required for those passport holders who don’t have education beyond the tenth standard. But then, it faced a lot of criticism as a discriminatory move for some Indians.

Just as our article on the types of passports every traveller in India should know of indicates, Indian passports are currently printed in three colours, blue, white and red.

Commenting on the reversing decisions of the passport change, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "After comprehensive discussions with the various stakeholders, the Foreign Ministry has decided to continue with the current practice of printing of the last page of the passport and not to issue a separate passport with orange colour jacket to ECR passport holders".

This move occurred as a response to a PIL that was filed in Kerala High Court, in which the petitioner had challenged the government’s decision on issuing orange passports as that would segregate a part of the Indian population.

Read more: Orange passport row: Kerala HC sends notice to Central Govt