New Delhi: In what is being seen as part of the Government’s push for Hindi, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday announced that passports would be bilingual from now onwards i.e. in both English and Hindi. Currently, all details of the citizen in the passport are in English only.
Passport officials told this newspaper, that at the time of filling in the passport application form, an option would be extended to citizens whether they want their passport to be bilingual or not. For those who want it to be so, they can actually punch in the details in the Devnagari script on a keyboard which will be made available so that all details on the passport appear in Hindi as well apart from English.
But for those who do not want it to be bilingual, the details will appear in English only as is done currently. The minister also announced a 10 per cent cut in passport fees for the elderly above 60 years of age and children below eight years of age. Speaking at a function to mark 50 years of the Passport Act, Ms. Swaraj said that if in Germany, details of the passport can be in (the local language) German as well and if in Arabic-speaking countries, the document can be in Arabic as well, the passport in India too can be bilingual.
“Passports should at least be bilingual. All Arab countries have their passport in Arabic, Why can’t we make it Hindi?” she said.
