MEA reverses orange passport policy plan

To stymie any protest by the Opposition to stall the ongoing Budget Session of Parliament, the External Affairs Ministry on Tuesday reversed its decision on the issuance of an orange-coloured passport to labourers, and also on the printing of the last page with personal details.

After Congress president Rahul Gandhi called the decision discriminatory that smells of apartheid, Opposition parties were bracing to raise the issue in Parliament. To that end, the MEA said in a statement, 'Have 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,' the MEA said in a statement.

The decisions had actually been taken at the recommendations of a three-member committee comprising officials of MEA and the Ministry of Women and Child Development.