Information on whether birth certificates were issued in 1968 could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.

In a 28 August 1995 telephone interview, a staff member of the visa section of the High Commission for the Republic of India in Ottawa stated that a driver's licence, the ration card and a valid Indian passport serve as identity cards in India and are routinely issued to Indian citizens. According to Country Profile: India, which is published by the Refugees, Immigration and Asylum Section (RIAS) of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, "Indians are issued with a ration card, which can also serve as an identity card" (June 1994, 4). Pages 3 and 4 of this publication also provide some information on the procedure to obtain a passport in India. However, according to Country Reports,

under the Passports Act of 1967, the Government may deny a passport to any applicant who "may or is likely to engage outside India in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India." The Government uses this provision to prohibit the foreign travel of some government critics... (1995, 1228).

Please consult Response to Information Request IND21738.E of 29 August 1995, available at Regional Documentation Centres, for copies of application forms for a new passport from an Indian mission, a passport renewal, and an form for "miscellaneous services of all types of passports and travel documents," which were obtained from the Indian High Commission in Ottawa. According to the staff member of the visa section of the Indian High Commission, this letter form is also used by an Indian national wishing to obtain an Indian birth certificate 28 Aug. 1995). The applicant must present the High Commission with his/her Indian passport, even if it has expired, in order to receive a birth certificate using this particular form (ibid.).

The following Responses to Information Requests all provide information on passports: IND18920.E of 9 November 1994, on the minimum age at which one can hold one's own passport; IND16713.E of 1 March 1994, which mentions briefly the procedures to replace a passport; IND16081.E of 20 December 1993 on the procedure to renew a passport at the High Commission for the Republic of India in Ottawa; IND13801.E of 5 April 1993, on the validity period of a passport, and IND9867 of 6 January 1992, on the procedure to obtain a passport in India. All these Responses are available at Regional Documentation Centres.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994. 1995. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

High Commission for the Republic of India, Ottawa. 29 August 1995. Telephone and personal interviews with staff member of the visa section.

Refugees, Immigration and Asylum Section (RIAS), Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia. June 1994. Country Profile: India. Parkes, ACT: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Refugees, Immigration and Asylum Section (RIAS), Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia. June 1994. Country Profile: India. Parkes, ACT: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, pp. 3-4.

Office of Asylum Affairs (OAA), Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, United States. December 1994. India: Comments on Country Conditions and Asylum Claims.

On-line search of media sources.

Oral sources.