Passport fees slashed for those under 8 years, above 60

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced a 10 per cent reduction in fee for passport applicants under 8 years of age and over 60 years at an event held on the completion of 50 years of the Passport Act, 1967 on Friday. The Minister also announced that passports would now be bilingual, that is in both Hindi and English languages. Alongside the Minister for Communication Manoj Sinha, Swaraj also unveiled a commemorative postage stamp on the occasion.

"We have brought improvement in passport rules, services and focused on doorstep delivery," Swaraj said.

In order to extend passport services to our citizens on a larger scale and to ensure wider area coverage, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Department of Posts (DOP) have agreed to utilise head post offices in the country as Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) for delivering passport-related services to the citizens of our country, Sinha said.

The Minister was chairing the Passport Seva Diwas & Passport Officers' Conference at Press Information Bureau Auditorium on completion of 250 years by the Survey of India (SOI) in New Delhi.