VM Kumar

Management Consultant; Alumnus of IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad;

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@TheClubJunto The large IT services companies are gatekeepers to several enterprise applications through long term contracts. So I won’t be surprised if Hang Ten ends up partnering with the same service providers it is challenging. Hang Ten may capture much of the value though.

[Nirupama Menon Rao 🇮🇳 @NMenonRao]

The discussion sparked by a recent statement on Passport Seva Divas has generated more heat than light.

The Ministry of External Affairs stated that a passport is a travel document, not a document of citizenship. Legally, that is correct. A passport is issued under the Passports Act, while citizenship is governed by the Citizenship Act, 1955. One law regulates the document; the other regulates the legal status.

But law and public understanding are not always the same.

For most Indians, the passport is the most authoritative document the Republic issues. It bears the name of the Republic of India, carries the holder’s identity, and is accepted around the world because foreign governments trust that India has verified the bearer’s nationality before issuing it. It is therefore entirely understandable that many people asked: if a passport is not proof of citizenship, then what is?

The answer requires some nuance.

A passport does not create citizenship. Nor is it the legal instrument that finally determines citizenship if that status is challenged before a court. Like many democracies, India distinguishes between citizenship law and passport law. In rare cases involving fraud, disputed parentage or illegal acquisition, citizenship may have to be established through the provisions of the Citizenship Act and supporting evidence. That is why a passport is not regarded in law as conclusive proof in every conceivable circumstance.

But that should not be confused with its practical significance.

A passport is issued only after the Government has satisfied itself that the applicant is entitled to one. In everyday life, and in international travel, it is the strongest evidence of Indian nationality that most citizens will ever possess. Nothing said by the MEA changes that. No immigration officer abroad will suddenly regard an Indian passport with suspicion because of a legal clarification made in New Delhi.

The episode does, however, remind us of a larger challenge.

India’s systems of civil registration developed unevenly over many decades. Millions of older Indians were born when birth registration was incomplete. Names were recorded differently across school certificates, land records and electoral rolls. The painful experience of the Assam NRC showed how documentary inconsistencies can create profound hardship when citizenship itself becomes the subject of legal scrutiny.

The lesson, therefore, is not that passports have somehow lost their value. It is that India needs stronger and more comprehensive civil registration, universal birth registration and reliable archival records so that citizenship can never become hostage to missing or inconsistent paperwork.

Sometimes a legally precise statement can create unnecessary public anxiety if it is not accompanied by explanation. A better way of putting it might have been this:

A passport is issued only after the Government has verified that the applicant is an Indian citizen. While citizenship itself is governed by the Citizenship Act, the passport remains the Republic’s most trusted document for international travel and, in ordinary life, the clearest evidence of Indian nationality.

That is both legally accurate and reassuring. The law need not be diluted, but neither should public confidence in one of the Republic’s most important documents.

To distil the argument:

A passport is issued because the Government has satisfied itself that you are an Indian citizen. It is therefore powerful evidence of citizenship in ordinary life and in international travel. But in a legal dispute over citizenship itself, the governing law remains the Citizenship Act, and a passport is not conclusive proof that overrides all other evidence

[Mr Sinha @Mrsinha]

Sorry No. 7 for Rahul Gandhi: He filed an application in the MP HC and apologized to @ChouhanShivraj 's son for dragging his name into the Panama Papers case.

Kartikeya Singh has filed a defamation case against him.

This same man & his slaves use "Maafi Veer" slurs for Savarkar. 😹

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@RMantri @HDFC_Bank Many senior citizens have been lured by scammers to share the OTP. This is additional protection.

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@sidhant Officials or a specific official? What is the source?

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@singersrinivas @itissubhasree A classic, beautifully rendered. 🙏

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@TheIndiaTalkies And Kunal Shah has clarified that Meta won’t have access to the data. We believe him! 😂

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@trramesh @eOrganiser Thanks to your relentless fight, there is clarity now that temple funds belong to the temples and not the govt. 🙏

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@karthikgnath Not enough clarity! He should have emphasised that temple funds don’t belong to the govt but only to the temples, and may be utilised only to improve the temple infrastructure and for Hindu religious purposes ! Not for improving schools in that area.

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@sgurumurthy @Prakash24594460 Why do you think he is not referring to USA and India?

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@indhavaainko No momentum. At this rate, when will this become a political party?

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@Mahesh10816 @vspartha @rajnathsingh Exactly what Annamalai must have thought of you.

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@sreeramjvc @annamalai_k Pradeep Gupta never attacks or sides with any politician. He is unbiased and people know that even when a forecast goes wrong it is only genuine error. People can see through your biases easily. Your integrity as a pollster is now zero.

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@violinpadma @panchamughi Beautifully played, but yes too fast. Do you have a recording at the correct tempo? If so pl share. 🙏

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@sreeramjvc @annamalai_k @WTLFoundation Can understand your desperation to stay relevant after becoming a failed psephologist!

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@trramesh This is an amazing development, thanks to your perseverance and untiring efforts. Must truly appreciate this government’s bold departure from the past, something many of us weren’t sure will happen. I do hope BJP govts in various states have the guts to do the same.

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@sreeramjvc @annamalai_k Looks like your anti Annamalai campaign is on overdrive. But who is taking this failed psephologist seriously? Good luck.

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@PrabuNatarajan4 @annamalai_k As a wellwisher of KA and as one who has signed up for WTL, I can say his podcast was rambling and all over the place. To create an impact and sustaining the interest of his own supporters, he needs to think through what he wants to say, script it and deliver it crisply.

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@MeghUpdates What was his reply?

[VM Kumar @vmku]

@Kyunghoon_Kim_ @Keerthana4VNR Wasn’t the MoU signed earlier in Dec 2025?