Skip to main content

Gujarat passport office "adds" to woes of abandoned children, doesn't know birth certificate isn't mandatory

Does the passport office in Gujarat, widely proclaimed as a “model” state, not know that orphan/abandoned children are exempted from the mandatory requirement of submission of a birth certificate along with passport application form? It would seem so if what happened on Friday is any indication.
A senior activist of Ahmedabad-based non-government organization (NGO), who has adopted a girl child, has told Counterview that she approached the Gujarat passport office for finding out the procedure for getting a passport for her, but was "shocked" to find later that the officials do not know about it.
“Today, I went to passport office and they said they will not proceed without a birth certificate – I was about to file a writ and came across a government notification, about which the passport officials not aware”, the activist said.
“Now I want other parents to know so that they are not harassed”, the activist said, adding, “Those of us who adopt such children struggle hard for getting passports of our kids, for which they insist on birth certificates which is not available – so people end up bribing, finding various means for getting one.”
Saying that all this is clearly “psychologically damaging for the mother as well as the child”, the activist quoted from the Ministry of External Affairs notification, dated May 26, 2015, which says that the birth certificate is no longer necessary if the child is an orphan or has been abandoned, provided she or he is born on or after January 26, 1989.
The notification (click HERE) says that, the ministry in its circular dated February 14, 1989, had decided that all the applicants born or after January 26, 1989, would “mandatorily require to provide a birth certificate issued by the Municipal Authority or the Registrar of Births & Deaths as proof of date of birth along with the passport application form.”
The May 2015 notification says, “In the recent past, a number of references have been received from various orphanages/childcare homes and legal experts highlighting the plight of those orphan/abandoned children born on or after January 26, 1989, who could not get the passport facilities in the absence of mandatory birth certificate in support of their date of birth proof.”
“Such children are unable to obtain the birth certificates as the names of biological parents are not known to them and the precise date of birth cannot be ascertained”, the notification says, adding, “Various representations have been received in the Ministry for relaxing the statutory condition of production of birth certificate for passport in respect of such orphan/abandoned children.”
On considering such requests/representations, the notification says, “It has been decided that the Passport Issuing Authorities (PIAs) while processing the case of orphan/abandoned children born on or after January 26, 1989”, may consider providing any of the optional certificates along with their passport application.
These include:
  • Copy of the birth certificate, or
  • Date of birth recorded in the matriculation certificate issued by duly recognized/affiliated educational institution along with the bonafide certificate duly sworn by the Head of the orphanage/childcare home (in case of minor) or by applicant himself (in case of major) before the First Class Judicial Magistrate/Executive Magistrate categorically stating his/her date of birth/place of birth; or 
  • Declaratory Court order issued by the court of competent jurisdiction recording the date of birth/place of birth of such an applicant in the order.
Insisting that “all PIAs In India and abroad are requested to comply with the above instructions”, the notification has been signed by India’s Chief Passport Officer.

Comments

TRENDING

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.  

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members.  As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.

Guha plans book to counter Dalit, Marxist, and right-wing critics of Gandhi, recalls Modi’s 'pernicious lie' on Patel

Let me first confess: writing about an event three weeks after it has taken place is no good, especially for a newsperson. However, ever since I attended the public lecture by well-known historian Ramachandra Guha on May 18, organised by Sarthak Prakashan for the release of the Gujarati edition of his book monumental book "India After Gandhi", frankly, I kept wondering if he had said anything newsworthy apart from what had already appeared in the media ever since the book's first edition came out in 2007. Call it my inertia or whatever.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.