New Delhi, June 23: Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday announced a 10 per cent cut in passport fees for citizens either under the age of eight or over 60.
The foreign office currently charges Rs 2,000 as fees for passports - whether new or for renewal - of 60 pages, and Rs 1,500 for 36-page passports. The beneficiaries of the rule declared by Sushma will need to pay Rs 1,800 for 60-page booklets and Rs 1,350 for the 36-page passports.
"In the recent past the number of senior citizens applying for the passport has increased," Sushma said. "So I announce a rebate of 10 per cent on passport fees for applicants older than 60 years and children below eight years. The rebate will be applicable from tomorrow."
Sushma also announced that India will now allow citizens to seek passports in either English or Hindi, the country's two official languages. At present, passports are issued only in English.
Currently, the passport office needs applicants to submit their PAN card alongside their Aadhar and voter identity cards, with their applications.
But this has at times posed challenges for rural applicants and those in the informal economic sector who do not have PAN cards. Now, Sushma said, applicants can submit a ration card in place of the PAN card with their applications.
Sushma made the announcements at a ceremony to celebrate 50 years of India's Passport Act.
"The year that went by will go down in history as the one in which this ministry took path-breaking steps in its endeavour towards building better passport delivery mechanisms," Sushma said.
"Not only did we simplify the passport rules but we also took giant strides in taking passport services closer to our citizens."
India last year issued 13 million passports - making it the third highest issuing country after the US and China.
Last December, the foreign ministry eased passport rules for separated couples, single parents, adopted or orphaned children - and sadhus and sanyasis.
In cases where a child's parents were separated, both needed to physically appear in some instances before the passport issuing officer - and both needed to authorise the child's application. Now, only one parent needs to authorise the application and appear before the officer during the application process.
India's passport law requires married coupled to declare their spouses - passports issued on the basis of hidden information about the applicant's marriage can be revoked. But once passport holders have their spouses' names on their passports, getting these off - in the event of a separation or divorce - was not easy.
Divorcees can get their former spouse's name removed by showing a divorce decree, but individuals without any other legal document to prove their separation needed to submit a notarised affidavit. Not anymore.
Indian bureaucracy cuts both ways. Married couples couldn't just say they were married while applying - they needed to show their marriage certificate or submit a legal affidavit. Under the new rules, divorcees, separated individuals and married couples will now be taken at their word.
Guardians of orphaned and adopted children till now struggled to prove their legal right to sanction a minor's application for a passport. Now, parents of adopted children no longer need to show an adoption deed, and can simply confirm their parenthood on a plain piece of paper. Guardians of orphaned children need a letter from the orphanage.
Government officials applying for passports need a no-objection certificate from their bosses - a process that in red-tape-mired India, can take days, weeks or months.
Now, government applicants can simply self-endorse themselves while applying for a passport, while their boss's no-objection certificate will be scrutinised later - a process similar to the one followed in the issuance of tatkal passports, where passports can be withdrawn later if found based on dodgy documents.
