Overview
- The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways published a draft notification in the Gazette on October 21 and has opened a 30‑day window for public objections before any rules take effect.
- The draft raises the online safe‑driving tutorial pass mark from 60% to 75%, requires the tutorial to run at least 30 minutes, and lengthens the time allowed to complete it to 15 days.
- Proposed licence design changes include separate colour‑coded Form 7 PVC cards for Indian and foreign nationals with nationality printed on the card and a QR‑code zone replacing the current machine‑readable zone.
- The draft expands licence data fields to include blood group, mobile and emergency contact numbers, medical details and organ‑donor status, and it tightens acceptable proofs by dropping affidavits sworn before magistrates/notaries and life‑insurance policies.
- Administrative moves would streamline services through a consolidated form and Sarathi integration, allow fee waivers for select services via Aadhaar authentication, set 15‑day decisions and 30‑day deemed approvals, and automatically delete surrendered vehicle classes within seven days.