The Centre has made it clear that it would be absolutely essential to furnish Aadhaar Cards for citizens above 18 years of age while applying for fresh passports.

Some changes have also been made in the process of applying for an Indian passport. The BJP-led Centre appears to be keen on making possession of Aadhaar Card
mandatory for everything from getting Centre’s assistance under various welfare schemes to seeking services of agencies run by the Centre & the State Governments.
Even private cell-phone operators demand Aadhaar for providing/continuation of services.

Furnishing copy of Aadhaar at the time of applying for fresh Indian passport has been made mandatory now. However, for applying for passport on ‘Tatkal’ mode, two
more documents – ration card and ID of Govt. employees - have been listed as ‘mandatory’ for submission, as per the recent press release issued by the Centre.

In case the applicant is not a Govt. employee, copies of bank accounts or pan card could be submitted along with passport application. Students under 18 years of age
applying for passport should invariably furnish copies of their school/college ID cards. These changes take effect from yesterday onwards.