Trivandrum: The changes in Indian passports have become a cause of worry for citizens working abroad.

They are not only concerned about different coloured passports for the educated and undereducated, but striking out family details aimed at ending prejudice against the single woman.

“For us, Indian passport is the only documentary proof because we are not eligible to take Aadhaar, the biometric card,” said KV Shamsudheen, a Sharjah-based investment advisor.

“We needed it to prove our address, names of parents or spouses, as many countries seek these details for getting a work visa.” They now have to get a certificate showing them from a village-level government officer and get it attested by India’s foreign ministry and then by the embassy and finally respective country’s foreign ministry.

“It will be a very cumbersome process for the expatriates,” he said. “To open a bank account outside India, as a part of Know Your Customer (KYC) rules, we have to give our permanent Indian address as well.” Rejecting the foreign ministry’s reasoning, he said if a woman does not want to mention her husband’s name, it was not compulsory even before the reforms.

“The government should not implement its decision to stop giving all those information on the last page of the passport,” he said.

Dr Shashi Tharoor MP, who heads the parliamentary panel on foreign affairs, had last week strongly opposed the differential passports calling it as an absurd and paternalistic move.

The passport holders with “emigration clearance required” or ECR status would have a passport with an orange colour jacket and the non-ECR the existing blue colour jacket.

“It’s ridiculous,” Dr Tharoor, also the chairman of the All India he Professionals’ Congress, had said.

“I have misgivings about ECR itself. But I realise I may be in a minority on this. But the very fact that some of our citizens will have differently coloured passports is not compatible with democracy.” Congress president Rahul Gandhi had also slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the decision saying it showed the “discriminatory mindset” of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).