No orange passports, BJP government decides to continue with White, Red, Blue

Narendra Modi-led NDA government has scrapped its plan to issue orange coloured passports to those who have not passed their Class 10 examination, confirmed foreign ministry on Tuesday.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, “After comprehensive discussions with various stakeholders, the Ministry has decided to continue with the current practice.”

The official statement released by the foreign ministry further said, “We will continue with the current practice of printing the last page of passport, which is also used as address valid proof.”

Foreign ministry further said that they will not issue a separate passport with an orange jacket to Emigration Clearance Required (ECR) passport holders.

Indian Government currently are issues passports in three colours. White coloured passports are issued to government officers, passports with red jacket are issued to diplomats and rest other citizens get blue cover passports.

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The NDA government last month had announced  to issue new passports with orange jackets. The government then had said that the development was being taken to protect vulnerable labourers from exploitation abroad.