New Delhi: This past week the Ministry of External Affairs decided to introduce some radical new changes in its passport policy. The last page of the passport which usually has a person’s familial details as well as address details will be done away with.
Single/divorced mothers had complained about how they were being harassed by officials when it came to applying for passports for their children. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs had also recommended doing away with this provision.
In as much as that, this is a welcome and progressive step that moves the needle on gender justice.
But here’s where the bad news starts. The MEA also decided that those Indians who need Emigration Check while leaving India will now be issued orange coloured passports while those who don’t require Emigration Check will continue to be issued the regular blue passport.
The passport rules stipulate that anyone who has passed high school and who does not have a criminal record is entitled to get an ECNR (Emigration Check Not Required) imprint on his or her passport.
Now, anyone who has not passed high school will not only have to get their Emigration Check cleared but will also be distinguished by the colour of their passport.
Most ECR passport holders are poor migrant labour who predominantly go to countries in the Gulf. These people often work in the most toiling conditions to be able to send a few dinars and riyals back home.
India is the largest supplier of migrant labour to the world. There are more than 60 lakh migrant Indian labour in the Middle East. UAE alone accounts for close to 30 lakh migrant labour.
India is also the largest recipient of remittances. Migrant Indian labour sent close to 70 billion USD in the last year alone.
The state of Kerala alone gets more than Rs 1 lakh crore in remittances from migrant Malayali labour. No wonder there has been outrage in Kerala over this double coloured passport move.
Shashi Tharoor, Thiruvanathapuram MP and the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, has lashed out at this move. “I think this is an absurd move. It is ridiculous. I have misgivings about ECR itself. But I realise I may be in a minority on this. But the very fact that some of our citizens will have differently coloured passports is not compatible with democracy. It is frankly a paternalistic move”
And Tharoor is not the only one. Former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy laments “the moment someone with an orange passport lands in a foreign country, then he or she will be treated differently. I hope government realises the folly of this move and withdraws it.”
No other country in the world has different colour passports for classes of its own citizens. Hope MEA realises its folly and withdraws this move.
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