- MEA clarified passport is travel document, not citizenship proof.
- Statement sparked social media debate and political reactions.
- 1.47 crore chip-based e-passports issued for enhanced security.
The officials of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday clarified that the passport is a travel document and not a document of citizenship.
The MEA issued a clarification during the 14th Passport Seva Divas. The NEA stated that passports are primarily travel documents that are issued by the Centre to facilitate international travel to citizens. While it does require a person to be an Indian national to hold a passport, possessing it does not, by itself, define citizenship.
"A passport is issued after a lot of due diligence, and it is based on documents from several government agencies," an official said.
The statement has sparked a debate on the social media platform X on what documents constitute proof of citizenship. Earlier debates around the Aadhaar card have also been raised by many as the citizenship identity documents remain a grey area that has not been clearly tackled by the Centre.
Political reactions
The clarification also triggered political reactions. Shiv Sena UBT leader Aditya Thackeray asked pointed questions to the Centre regarding the issue. In a post on X, Thackeray said, "If the MEA believes Passport is not a document of citizenship, 1) What do the police verify before granting a passport? 2) Does our country give passports as travel documents to non Indians as well? 3) Wouldn’t this announcement create doubts in the minds of other countries of whether non Indians get Indian Passports as a travel document? Beyond its very confused foreign policy, how much more absurd can the MEA become?"
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MEA on e-passports
The MEA also shed light on the new chip-based e-passports. The ministry highlighted that measures like biometric data are incorporated to boost global acceptance and reduce the risk of fraud.
The officials added that the ministry is also slated to organise a two-day Human Resource Mobility Forum next week. The event will emphasise legal pathways for migration and facilitate networking between foreign employers and Indian nationals seeking jobs abroad.
So far, 1.47 crore e-passports have been issued since it was rolled out last year as part of a revamp of the Passport Seva Programme, the officials said.
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Currently, all new passports being issued are chip-based. These passports, which have an embedded antenna and a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip containing personal particulars and biometric data.
E-passports accounts for about 10 per cent of the total passports with Indian nationals. "It is more difficult to generate fake passports, and the e-passports offer greater reassurance to immigration authorities abroad and make clearances faster," an official added while highlighting remits of the digital travel document.