Ministry of External affairs is bringing many changes to the travel document.
"As the last page of the passport would not be printed now, the passport holders with ECR (Emigration Check Required) status would be issued a passport with an orange passport jacket and those with non-ECR status would continue to get a blue passport," an MEA statement reads.
The last page includes the father or legal guardian’s name, holder’s mother’s name, the name of the spouse and address.
The decision to bring these changes follows the recommendations of a three-member panel. This panel had officials from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The panel examined various issues pertaining to the passport such as whether the name of the father should not be mentioned in the passport in case of children with a single parent and that of adopted children.
"One of the recommendations of the Committee was that the Ministry of External Affairs should explore the possibility of doing away with the printing of information contained in the Passport Booklet such as names of father/legal guardian, mother, spouse, and address contained in the last page of the passport," the statement reads.
The recommendations were accepted and it was decided that the last page of the passport and other travel documents issued under the Passports Act, 1967, and Passport Rules, 1980 "would no longer be printed", the statement said.
The Indian Security Press (ISP), Nasik, would be designing the new passport booklets.
“Till such time the new passport booklets are designed, manufactured and made available to the ministry by ISP, Nashik, the passports and other travel documents would continue to be printed with the last page,” the MEA said.
Nevertheless, current passports will continue to remain valid until their respective date of expiry.
