Q:

How to apply for an Indian passport without school leaving and birth certificates?

I want to apply for Indian passport for my parents who are more than 50 years old. (Mom born in 1963 and Dad in 1953). As per Document Adviser we had carried below documents.
Education of Mom: less than 5th Std.
Education of Dad: 10th Std
Proof of address:
a. Electricity Bill
b. Adhaar card
c. Election card
d. Bank statement
Proof of birth:
Affidavit sworn before a magistrate or notary stating date and place of birth as per the specimen in Annex 'A' by illiterate or semi-illiterate applicants (less than 5th class).
They don't have school leaving certificate nor birth certificate. How can they get the passport without these documents. Is there any work around?
PS: My parents went to the passport office and the passport team asking for DOB proof other than affidavit i.e either school leaving certificate or birth certificate which they don't have.
Update: The rules have been changed now, One can apply for Indian passport without DOB certificate/Leaving certificate. Since we applied before the new rules we had a tough time in getting passport for my parents.
How we got it?
We were lucky, My grand mom is still alive. She said my mom went to schooling till 1st std  in XYZ school. That proved to be ray of light at end of the tunnel. We went to schools and asked to find my mom's details. luckily after several followups we were able to get the Leaving certificate...It took almost a month to get the LC.
My dad had a leaving certificate of 2nd std, initially we didn't submit that document because it had incorrect DOB and grand father name. Later we had to submit to get the passport applicaiton processed.

A:

Although this is a bit late for you but Ministry of External Affairs has recently issued a notification announcing an amendment to proof of birth and other rules. The official release is here.
From the release (emphasis mine):

It has now been decided that all applicants of passports can submit any 
  one  of  the  following  documents  as  the  proof  of  DOB while  submitting  the passport application:
(i)  Birth  Certificate  (BC)  issued  by  the  Registrar of  Births  &  Deaths  or  the Municipal Corporation or any other prescribed authority whosoever has been empowered under the Registration of Birth & Deaths Act, 1969 to register the birth of a child born in India
(ii) Transfer/School leaving/Matriculation Certificate issued by the school last attended/recognized educational board containing the DOB of the applicant
(iii) PAN Card issued by the Income Tax Department with the DOB of applicant
(iv) Aadhaar Card/E-Aadhaar having the DOB of applicant
(v) Copy of the extract of the service record of the applicant (only in respect of Government  servants)  or  the  Pay  Pension  Order  (in  respect  of  retired Government  Servants), duly  attested/certified  by  the  officer/in-charge of the Administration of the concerned Ministry/Department of the applicant, having his DOB
(vi)  Driving  license  issued  by  the  Transport  Department  of  concerned State Government, having the DOB of applicant
(vii) Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued by the Election Commission of India having the DOB of applicant
(viii) Policy Bond issued by the Public Life Insurance Corporations/Companies having the DOB of the holder of the insurance policy 

In the same press release point 3.(ii) says that Annexure A has been withdrawn. Additionally (though this does not directly affect you) all annexes now can be submitted as self declaration on plain paper (Point 3.(iii)). Please note that ration card is no longer a valid proof of address or identity (I can't find a direct link to this but the passport homepage has this item in the ticker on top of the page.
If you still haven't lodged the application, you can submit any of the above documents (as long as they mention the date of birth of applicant) as proof of date of birth.

