Thanks to MEA for exempting infants from Passport Seva Kendras

1st October, 2017: It was such big relief to learn that the Ministry of External Affairs has finally issued a Office Memorandum dated 28 September, 2017, exempting children below five years and physically disabled persons with no hands from biometric registration to obtain a passport.

I sensed the seriousness of the matter when I applied for a passport for my infant daughter, only a few months old, and was told by my travel agent that she had to appear in person at the passport office. I came to know that, much to the consternation of parents, an infant born in India, as per the extant norms, has to be taken to the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) office in order to comply with the formalities of getting a passport done. I talked to the regional passport officer and was told that as per the rule I had no other option but to comply with it – which meant take my daughter to the PSK.

The very idea of taking my baby to a PSK was immensely worrying. This is a very worrisome experience for those parents who find themselves in a situation where they need a passport for their days-old infant. It is also fraught with consequences as the infants are susceptible to diseases and infections and the risk of contracting it is very high. Since the PSK offices are visited by too many people, maintaining proper sanitized environment conducive for the infants is not always possible.

Quite surprised with this norm in India I spoke to few diplomat friends in India and came to know from them that physical presence of infants were not required for getting a Visas for those countries.

There are millions of Indians working outside India who come back to the country for maternity leave and have to join work asap – they faced this big hassle of taking their days old babies to passport offices as it was necessary for them to get a passport for their newborns. I was very surprised and perturbed by this law and decided to write to the Minister of External Affairs (MEA) Smt Sushma Swaraj. In my letter dated 27th June, 2017, I had requested the minister to take up this matter and work out a mechanism to issue passports for newborns in such a manner so that they are not exposed to any risk. I also wrote in my letter that there is a need to re-evaluate the necessity of fingerprinting newborns and work out viable alternatives.

I went and met Smt Sushma Swaraj in person. I also met many other senior officials to press home the point that there was an urgent need to change the rules since taking young children to PSK raised many issues especially of health and hygiene and also the doctors say that the fingerprints of newborns take at least two to three years to fully take shape. So the entire exercise was quite redundant.

I must thank Mr Hardeep Singh Puri for his personal intervention and full support extended to me on the matter.

The MEA order in response to my letter has been welcomed by many and I thank our Foreign Minister, Smt Sushma Swaraj, for taking prompt action on my letter as she has been doing so on many different issues during her tenure.

Now thousands of parents in India, out to procure a passport for their babies, would heave a euphoric sigh of relief.

ess bee