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Following the notice issued by the Kerala HC to the Centre with regard to its decision to issue orange jacket ‘emigration check required’ passports for those migrants who didn’t qualify their 10th grade and those of low economic status, the Ministry of External affairs decided to rescind the above move.
At a meeting chaired by the External Affairs minister, Smt. Sushma Swaraj, the MEA stated that it had undertaken the above decision following representations made by various parties, both individual and collective, criticising the move. It said that after extensive consultations with various stakeholders, it has decided to not issue different coloured passports to the non-marticulates and to not delete the personal details of such persons contained in the last page of the passport. The decision to not print the last page was taken by the ministry based on the recommendations of a 3 member committee comprising the officials of the ministry of women and child development.
The PIL before the Kerala HC was filed by a lawyer Shamsuddeen Karunagappally and Shajahan who alleged that the issue of orange passports for non-marticulates who earn less than the taxable income is demeaning and discriminatory against the people with low educational and economic status. The petitioners argued that there is no perceivable purpose served by the issuance of such passports except for the marking out of people of vulnerable status for further exploitation thereby violating the person’s fundamental right to privacy and of equality. The Government, on the other hand, had stated its purpose to be the helping of such migrant workers in difficult situations and getting easier access to aid and documents required. The petition said that in fact such passports might subject to more exploitation and present unnecessary details about their educational status to the wider public and not to the emigration officers online.
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