Update: Tata Sons has clarified that Mr Ratan Tata does not hold a diplomatic passport. See comments section.
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Is he an Indian diplomat?
“After all, you have given Ratan Tata a diplomatic passport. He always travels with the red passport,” the American continued.
[…]
The American told him that he had once travelled first class with the industrialist, he had seen Tata’s diplomatic passport and when they both alighted at New York, Tata went to the special immigration enclosure for diplomatic passport-holders .
When S.M. Krishna became external affairs minister in May 2009, one of his earliest discretionary decisions was to issue a diplomatic passport to Tata, recognising his emergence as a global investor and industrialist who has to travel extensively worldwide, some of those trips on behalf of the government or representing his country. [KP Nayar]
And that is not the only shocking thing there. There’s also the revelation that the Maharashtra government allowed an American government group to fly out without security check!
The Indian state is India’s biggest embarrassment.
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 
“The Indian state is India’s biggest embarrassment”
Oh ! and I thought it was our biggest strength.
one lives and learns.
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Do we know who else are given diplomatic passport, even when they do not belong to that category?
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Two questions.
1.Doesn’t Kafila find anything good about the Indian state? ever?
2.Who finance Kafila?
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Answer to Q 1. There are 22 people on kafila and innumerable guest posters, with a range of views on everything.
Speaking for myself, the answer is – almost never. But if I did, I would write about it. So, I assume, would the others.
If you want to read ‘good’ things about the Indian state though, here’s a hint – kafila may not be the place for it.
Answer to Q 2. kafila has absolutely no funding, at all. No advertisements, no financial backers. All of us earn a living in all sorts of ordinary everyday ways, and do kafila work in our spare time. The reason is selfish – we fear that our daily indignation at the way things are, if allowed to fester inside, could lead to strokes and other medical emergencies.
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One D K Sanyal, an income-tax officer of questionable antecedents, acompanied Jyoti Basu when he was chief minister of West Bengal with a diplomatic passport. He was close to Manish Gupta, then chief secretary, who harassed officers of I-T department associated with DKS’s assets and income. A very senior IRS officer conducted a probe, running to 3000 pages indicting DKS who had a house in London. So why pick up Ratan Tata alone?]
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You need to study about what a Diplomatic Passport means. It’s a misnomer. It’s not just for diplomats.
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It’s not a misnomer – however, there are 3 types of Indian Passport:
Regular passport (Deep Blue/Black cover) – Issued for ordinary travel, such as vacations and business trips (36 or 60 pages)
Diplomatic passport (Maroon cover) – Issued to Indian diplomats, top ranking government officials and diplomatic couriers.
Official passport (White cover) – Issued to individuals representing the Indian government on official business
First of all, it is interesting how this whole article is based on hearsay – does anybody have any proof whatsoever that Ratan Tata has a ‘Diplomatic’ passport? Has this story any backup from anybody else? Has anybody else seen Tata go through the ‘Diplomatic Channel’ ? Has Tata been asked for a quote?
Lastly – if you had actually traveled outside your secure little village, maybe you would see that sometimes, during peak hours, even people with ‘regular’ passports travel trough the diplomatic line in order to balance capacity.
Even if Tata showed a blue passport, people, on this site especially would disbelieve it just like the republicans believe Obama wasn’t born in USA despite the production of a birth certificate.
It is likely Ratan Tata has a ‘White’ Passport, and it is equally likely that he does lots of work for the Indian government on ‘Official’ business considering the 100+ year-old link Tata has with the Indian/British Indian state.
But let’s not let facts get in the way of besmirching names and twisting facts to fit ideologies. ‘Run from Big Media’ is the title of this websites, but shoddy posts like these sound like the gossip trash one finds on the Times of India.
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I am confused hasn’t Ratan Tata been the Co-Chair of the Indo-Us Ceo Forum since 2009?
This as I was aware, is public knowledge and a direct cooperative between the 2 governments. Just google, Tata and David Cote to co-chair the Indo-Us Forum.
This seems perfectly acceptable as it was a selection from your Prime Minster who would
accompany him and represent your country.
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It is heartening to know that Ratan Tata has been given special privilege. He deserve it. Lets be proud of him for his contributions in Indian industries. At least he is much better than actual diplomats who are a clan of corrupt babus of India
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Dear Sir,
We draw your attention to the report, “Why does Ratan Tata have a diplomatic passport”, published on your website Kafila.org by Shivam Vij. The information that Mr. Ratan N. Tata has a diplomatic passport is incorrect and mischievous. We clarify that Mr. Tata does not have a diplomatic passport. His passport is a normal one, just as any other Indian citizen. Neither does he receive any special facilities on arrival in the United States or in any other country. We request you to bring this to the attention of your readers so that they know that Mr. Tata is an ordinary citizen of India, just like any one of us.
Kind regards,
Yours sincerely
Debasis Ray
Chief of Group Corporate Affairs & media
Tata Sons
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Dear SK Chokshi / Debasis Ray,
Many thanks for your clarification. I want to point out that the assertion in my post above, of Mr Ratan Tata having a diplomatic passport, is not mine but that of KP Nayar in the Telegraph newspaper published from Kolkata. If it is true that Mr Tata does not have a diplomatic passport but an ordinary one, it is indeed mischievous to disseminate a falsehood about him. One can only trust what a newspaper publishes. I am glad your clarification is available above for all to see. I have also edited the post above to point towards it.
best
Shivam Vij
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Why should Kafila find anything good about Indian state – it need not and informed critiques are much needed so that the state also knows where it has gone wrong.Critics even if they sound like cynics are necessary for state and society.
But there is no need to repeat articles like the one appeared in The Telegraph in Kafila, as it consists of statements that are guesses and hear says. Even if Ratan Tata has such a passport there is nothing wrong it if GOI issues one to persons like him who often represent India’s private sector and promote India’s interest. Now I know that the main reason for Kafila’s existence is to avoid illness and medical emergencies, at least in the case of 22 individuals :).
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