Government announced new passport rules today in order to streamline, liberalize and ease the process of issue of passport. Briefing media in New Delhi this evening, Minister of State for External Affairs, Gen V K Singh, said birth certificate is no longer mandatory for getting passport. He said date of birth on documents such as PAN card, driving license, Aadhar, Matriculation Certificate will also suffice. <br/><br/>The online passport application form now requires the applicant to provide the name of only one parent and not both. This would enable single parents to apply for passports for their children. Besides, married applicants would not be required to provide any marriage certificate. <br/><br/>The application form does not require the applicants to provide the name of their spouse in case of separated or divorced persons. An official release said necessary notifications would be soon published in the Official Gazette to give effect to these changes. Instructions are also being issued to the Passport Issuing Authorities in India and abroad on these revised regulations.<br/><br/>Sadhus and Sanyasis can now mention names of their spiritual gurus instead of biological parents under the new passport rules. They have to provide at least one public document such as EPIC, PAN card, and Adhaar Card where the name of the guru has been recorded against the column for parent's name.<br/><br/>The rules also provide a provision for government servants, who are not able to get no objection certificate from their respective ministries and departments. The government servant can now get the passport by submitting a self-declaration that he has given prior Intimation letter to his employer informing that he was applying for an ordinary passport.