No orange passport, MEA rolls back decision to print new jackets, will continue printing last page
"MEA 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."
In a major rollback, Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday announced that it will not issue orange jacket passports to ECR passport holders as decided earlier. Congress president Rahul Gandhi had opposed orange jackets terming them discriminatory.
In a press statement, the MEA officials said that the decision, taken after recommendations of a three-member committee, was scrapped after the ministry received several individuals and collective representations requesting to reconsider these two decisions.
The government has also decided to continue printing the last page of the passport which has address details of the citizen.
The latest decision was taken in a meeting chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, held on Monday, in the presence of MoS MEA VK Singh, an official statement said.
"A decision was taken by the Ministry of External Affairs on the recommendations of a three-member committee comprising officials of MEA and the Ministry of Women and Child Development, not to print the last page of Passport Booklet. MEA also took the decision to issue a passport with the orange colour jacket to passport holders with ECR status, with a view to help and assist them on a priority basis," it said.
The MEA, however, received several individuals and collective representations requesting to reconsider these two decisions. The decision of the MEA on both these issues was reviewed in the light of these representations, the statement informed.
"After comprehensive discussions with the various stakeholders, the MEA 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 the orange colour jacket to ECR passport holders."