Sushma Swaraj said there was a rise in the demand for passportsfor the elderly.
Passports would now be in both Hindi and English, instead of just English, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced today.
In changes aimed at easing the process of getting a passport, the minister also announced 10 per cent reduction in passport fee for applicants who are under eight and over 60 and said ration cards could be submitted while applying for tatkal passports.
Giving the option of submitting submit a ration card would greatly help people in rural areas who do not have a PAN card.
Ms Swaraj said she had received several complaints about personal details being printed in English. "Passports should at least be bilingual. All Arab countries have their passport in Arabic, Germany makes it in German and Russia makes it in Russian. Why can't we make it Hindi?
"Now, we have given an order to Nashik Printing Press that passports should be (printed) in Hindi as well. So you will receive passports in Hindi and English," Ms Swaraj said at an event to mark 50 years of the Passport Act, 1967.
The postal department released a commemorative stamp on the occasion. The event was attended by Communications Minister Manoj Sinha and Ministers of State in the External Affairs Ministry V K Singh and M J Akbar.
Ms Swaraj said there was a rise in the demand for passports for the elderly. "There will be a 10 per cent reduction in passport fee for applicants who are under eight and over 60. And this will be applicable from tomorrow," she announced.
The External Affairs Minister said she had received several complaints about difficulties in getting a passport. After studying passport rules, she realised that some norms were "unnecessary, obsolete or impractical".
She also highlighted the steps taken by her ministry in easing rules for getting the international travel document, especially for orphans, single mothers and divorced women.
While applying for tatkal passports, the minister said, applicants could give a copy of their Aadhar card, PAN card or ration card, voter identification card apart from a self-attested letter that he/she does not have any criminal compliant against him/her.
Police verification, a major part of the passport issuing process, takes time, the minister pointed out.
Ms Swaraj asked other states to emulate Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Gujarat and Goa that complete the police verification process in less than six days.