New passport rules

India is changing, so must its rules. Single-parent friendly passport is a progressive step in consonance with the fast-evolving social ethos where single parent families are not unusual. The Foreign Office’s decision to exclude the parents’ name from the passport will no longer worry children of divorcee/separated parents, orphans and even those born out of wedlock. The online passport application form too would require the name of only one parent. 

The new rules are not born out of a vacuum but stem from a tangible societal need. Rather it is a logical corollary to the earlier Supreme Court ruling which did away with mentioning the father’s name on the birth certificate. As it is, single parents face numerous challenges while bringing up their children. Government regulations must lessen, rather than add to that burden. The recommendation came from a three-member committee which comprised not just Foreign Office mandarins, but also Women and Child Development Ministry officials who are best placed to understand the current day requirements of women and children. Being a single parent, especially a single mother, is not easy. Even though the Delhi High Court had ruled in 2016 that mother’s name is sufficient for issuing a passport, individual examples of harassment in procurement of passport have invariably come to the fore. To insist upon the name of the parent who has forsaken responsibility is certainly irrational, if not bizarre.

There is no data currently available about the percentage of children belonging to single-parent households. Irrespective of the number of such children, social expectations demand new thinking and new rules. The merits of MEA’s other proposals such as orange passport for those requiring ECR (emigration check required) and passport no longer valid as address proof can be debated. However, there is no disputing the upside of liberalising rules that makes documentation less cumbersome and deals with social conundrums in a manner befitting a liberal and modern society. Rules are not just jottings on application forms but a precursor to the much-needed social churning and can pave the way forward.