MEA had received complaints as to why in passports personal details were printed only in English.

On Friday, Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj announced that the passports'd now be printed in both Hindi & English.

In order to make the process of acquiring passports less cumbersome, minister also announced 10% reduction in the passport fee for the applicants who're under 8 & over 60.

To help people in rural areas who do not have PAN cards, the govt. said ration cards could be submitted while applying for Tatkal passports.

At an event to mark 50 years of the Passport Act, 1967 Swaraj said that "Our Passports should at least be bilingual. Arab countries have passport in Arabic; Germany makes it in German; & Russia makes it in Russian. Why can't we make it in Hindi?"

The Postal Dept. released a commemorative stamp on the occasion. The event was attended by communications minister Manoj Sinha & ministers of state in the foreign ministry V. K. Singh & M. J. Akbar.

Sushma Swaraj said there's a rise in demand for passports for the elderly.

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