Passport Patrika | July - December 2013

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013

Passport

Patr ka A bulletin of Passport services in India

-

Year 2013 at a glance Passport Seva Camp at Farrukhabad Reach of mPassport Seva app extended SMS Service launched

Passport Services Growth Path(in lakh)

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Growth n

Innovatio

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Citizen C

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In this Issue

Snippets 04

- Reach of mPassport Seva app extended - Status Tracking of passport applications via SMS - More user friendly Passport Seva Website

Cover Story

5.8 5.7

4.6

4.6

4.1

4.6

4.4

4.0

1.0

3.5 2.1

1.9

2.0

1.7

3.4

# of applications received

Rajasthan

Delhi

West Bengal

Gujarat

Karnataka

Punjab

Uttar Pradesh

Maharashtra

Andhra Pradesh

Kerala

Tamil Nadu

-1.0

1.1

0.9

0.8

0.6

0.6

0.5

0.5

0.3

0.3

1.0

0.9

0.8

0.6

0.5

0.5

0.5

0.3

0.3 Himachal Pradesh

6.1

3.0

Goa

6.4

Chattisgarh

7.8

5.0

Assam

7.8

8.1

Uttarakhand

8.2

8.3

Orissa

9.5

Jharkhand

7.0

8.5

Madhya Pradesh

9.0

9.4

Jammu & Kashmir

- Year 2013 at a Glance

# of Applications processed & services rendered 11.0

Bihar

05

# of services rendered

15

Events - Passport Seva Camp at Farrukhabad - Foreign Secretary visits Herald House PSK, Delhi - Parliamentary Standing Committee visits Passport Seva Kendras

19

Public Notice & Advisory

27

Voice of People

20

Achievements & Recognition

28

Employees Corner

22

Media & Public Outreach

02 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

Editorial Note How many passports are issued globally in a year? Though there are no official figures, some estimates suggest that around 60 million passports (and other travel documents) are issued annually by Governments all over the world. China, the United States and India are currently the top three issuing countries.

Since 2000, the number of Indian passports being issued every year has risen more than threefold. This is indicative of the growing rate of international travel undertaken by Indian people. In 2013, the Ministry of External Affairs issued 8.5 million passports and related travel documents, which amount to about 14% of the global issuance. There is an approximately 15% increase over 2012 in passport services rendered. It is only a matter of short time that India will be achieving the milestone of issuing 10 million (1 crore) passports a year.

The current issue contains plenty of information and data analysis on the Indian passport. For instance, as on 31 December 2013, some 52 million Indian citizens held valid passports. Five States, namely Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, account for 55% of the total applications. And outside India, Saudi Arabia and the UAE top the chart, contributing to more than 40% of overseas issuance. In terms of age profile, 56% of applicants in 2013 were below the age of 30.

Gender-wise, 67% applicants were male. 41% of passport seekers had received education below 10th grade (only 6 illiterates), signifying that large number of applicants were seeking blue collar jobs abroad. 63% of the applicants acquired passports for the first time in their lives.

The second half of the year saw the implementation of many innovative and citizen-centric initiatives such as the online facility for payment of passport fees, a premium SMS service, the extension in the reach of mobile app - mPassport Seva and the introduction of a new concept called Passport Seva Camp which was flagged off by the Hon'ble External Affairs Minister in Farrukhabad in December 2013.

The Passport Patrika is available online. Its content was among the top 5% of the most viewed one on Slideshare, a document sharing site, in 2013.

Muktesh Pardeshi Joint Secretary (PSP) & Chief Passport Officer

Passport Patrika is edited and published by Shri Muktesh Pardeshi, Joint Secretary (PSP) & Chief Passport Officer on behalf of Central Passport Organisation, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi Editorial Team: Muktesh Pardeshi Sanjiv Aggarwal

Address: CPV Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Patiala House Annexe, Tilak Marg, New Delhi-110 001 Tel: +91-11-23387013 Fax:+91-11-23071370

Website: http://passportindia.gov.in E-mail: passportpatrika@gmail.com Creative Team: Shalini Manchanda Vipul Popli Design and Publishing Partner : TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 03

SNIPPETS Reach of mPassport Seva app extended

Status Tracking of passport applications via SMS

In order to keep pace with the current technology, the Passport Seva Project had launched the mPassport Seva mobile app on Android platform, as a pilot, on 21st March 2013. Encouraged by positive public response, PSP team has now launched this app on Windows and Apple iOS platforms as well.

T

he app provides passport-related information on smart phones. This application provides a wide variety of services such as status tracking, locating a Passport Office and other general information.

The application provides information on various steps involved to obtain a passport related service and related phone numbers in case of queries or concerns.

The users are able to search for a Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) or District Passport Cell (DPC) where a passport application can be submitted. This can also be searched based on PIN code. For certain States and Districts, the users can search for Police Stations as well.

From 1

st

Nov 2013, the Ministry of External Affairs with its technology partner Tata Consultancy Services introduced a new and optional value-added SMS service to keep passport applicants updated on the status of their applications.

Under this service, Passport applicants are able to get SMS alerts on their cell phones about the latest updates and pending actions from the time of submission of their applications until the service is rendered.

The SMS services can be availed by paying a one-time enrolment charge of Rs 30, payable in cash at the Passport Seva Kendra.

Applicants may receive up to nine SMSs as alerts and updates during the process. However, the applicants who choose not to enroll for the SMS assistance will continue to receive the standard communications.

The service also facilitates applicants to send their queries via SMSs at any time to get the current status of their applications.

Citizens

residing overseas who apply for a passport service at Indian Missions/Posts abroad can also utilize this facility for searching address and other relevant information. The Fee Calculator feature of the application enables users to find out the applicable fee based on the service and mode of submission. Users can track the status of their passport applications by providing File Number and Date of Birth. In case the passport has been dispatched, Delivery Status can also be tracked.

Downloads

Rating

www.play.google.com/ store/apps/

227974

4.2

www.windowsphone.com/ en-in/store

165611

4.0

www.apple.com/itunes

84052

3.5

Link

04 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

More User Friendly Passport Seva Website

In order to enhance the usability of passport Seva website, MEA on 6th Sept 2013 launched the new face of the portal. The new portal is very well structured and provides an interactive platform enabling the applicants to find information easily.

COVER STORY

85.17 Lakh Passport services rendered in 2013 States with more than 3 lakh Applications processed

w? o n K u Do Yo

Total No. of Valid Passport Holders

51929132

Year 2013 at a Glance

In recent years, the issuance of passports has emerged as one of the major and visible statutory/public services rendered by the Government of India.

I

ndian passports (together with other travel documents such as Identity Cards for Tibetan refugees, Emergency Certificates for return to India, Police Clearance Certificates and Line of Control Travel Permits in Jammu and Kashmir) are issued by the Ministry of External Affairs through a network of 37 Passport Offices, CPV Division (only Diplomatic and Official passports) and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Administration. This network has been expanded by adding 77 Passport Seva Kendras and functional/upcoming 16 Passport Seva Laghu Kendras as extended arms of Passport Offices. For Indians living abroad, issuance of passport and other related documents is done by 180 Indian Missions/Posts.

Passport Patrika | July – December 2013 05

COVER STORY

Growing Demand for Passports Operational Performance: 15% Growth

During January-December 2013, the Ministry processed an astounding number of approximately 97 lakh passport and related services applications. 37 Passport Offices, Headquarters and the Office of the Chief Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands received 73 lakh passport service related applications including Police Clearance Certificates, against which 71.33 lakh passports and related Channel wise percentage of applications processed documents were issued compared to 62.5 lakh in 2012, thereby registering an increase of approximately 15%. Moreover, 180 Indian Missions/Posts abroad issued 13.83 lakh passports, EC and other passport related miscellaneous services. Thus, the Government of India, in total, rendered 85.17 lakh passport services in a Passport Applications Received (Overseas applications not included) year. This is an all time high and amounts to over threefold increase since 2000.

At this rate, India is likely to be reaching a milestone of issuing one crore passports a year by 2014-15. The total revenue expected to be accrued from all passport services in 2013-14 is Rs 1800 crore (exceeding BE figures of Rs 1600 crore). An amount of Rs. 429.47 was allocated to Central Passport Organization in the financial year 2013-14.

Central Passport Organization

The Central Passport Organization was created in 1959 as a Subordinate Office of the Ministry and is headed by Joint Secretary and Chief Passport Officer, who also acts as Appellate Authority under the Passports Act 1967 and the Head of Department under the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules st 1978. The total strength of the Central Passport Organization Cadre is 2697 as on 31 December 2013.

The Ministry has taken several steps to improve the service conditions of the CPO personnel by restructuring and expanding of the CPO cadre, to ensure that all vacant posts available to them are filled by faster promotion with necessary amendments/downgrading of posts/relaxation in eligibility service in Recruitment Rules. The Ministry has notified a modified Productivity Linked Incentive Scheme (PLIS) st on 21 March 2013, having retrospective effect, to financially incentivise individual performance measured against pre-set norms.

In total, 8 DPCs were held in 2013 for promotion of in total 746 officials.

With a view to recognize outstanding services rendered by CPO employees to citizens and thus contribute to improving governance in the country, Passport Seva Puraskars have been instituted. The Puraskars will be given away to the selected employees and Passport Offices on Passport Seva Divas, th the 24 June of every year.

06 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

COVER STORY

Physical Infrastructure

During the year, Passport Office, Surat shifted to a newly constructed building. Passport Office, Bhopal which was functioning from a shabby building has been shifted to new well furnished space hired in State Government owned building. The construction of new PO building Mumbai is nearing completion. The construction work is in progress at Jalandhar.

Passport Offices Work Under Diverse Weather Conditions

Floods in Surat

Heavy Snowfall in Srinagar

Passport Seva Project: Successful Implementation

The Passport Seva Project is one of the largest successful Mission Mode Projects under the National e-Governance Plan. The programme is being run in Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as the Service Provider. After a successful nation-wide rollout, the scheme is currently in the Operations and Maintenance Phase since June 2012.

77

Passport Seva Kendras with best-in-class amenities have been set up across the country as extended arms of the 37 Regional Passport Offices, thus providing extended reach to passport applicants. A 24 x 7 National Call Center has been set up which provides real-time status and up-todate information in 17 languages using a toll free number (1800-258-1800). The Call Centre receives over 20,000 calls per day. The portal http://passportindia.gov.in also provides up-to-date real time information. The project integrates with the State Police for verification of an applicant's personal particulars, with India Post for postal delivery and with ISP Nashik for supply management of passport booklets. An SMS/email alert is sent to applicant as soon as passport is dispatched. The project also provides real time up-to-date information to 180 Missions and Posts abroad as well as the Immigration authorities.

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 07

COVER STORY

Figures speak:

As on 31

st

December 2013, over 1.36 crore passport service related applications have been processed and over 1.22 crore services have been rendered through the new system. Daily footfall across 77 PSKs is 35,000 citizens.

Top

5 States in terms of number of passport applications are: Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, accounting for more than 55% of total applications.

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Be lo

06 declared illiterate

h 41% 1 0t

e essed tion wis Educa lication proc app

5% e2

w

w? o n K u Do Yo percentage of

Improvements in service delivery:

T

Percentage of normal Passports issued in days

n uK o

T

w

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oday, on a pan India basis, 24% of normal passports are issued within 3 days, 60% within 7 days and 82% are issued within 14 days [This excludes the time taken for police verification]. In case of Tatkal passports, 10% are issued on the same day and 64% are issued within 3 days. If we include police verification time in the end-to-end delivery process, 49% of passports were issued within a month.

?

10% Tatkal Passports are issued on the same day.

he number of pubic dealing counters has been increased from the erstwhile 350 to 1610 in the new system and public dealing hours have gone up from 4 hours to 7 hours a day.

08 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

COVER STORY

Police Verification

Police Verification (PV) plays an important role in the timely dispatch of passports. The project team continues to engage closely with the Police Departments across States/UTs. The all India average for the number of days taken to complete the police verification is 49 and about 37% of the PVs get completed within the desired time limit of 21 days. Some States/UTs have consistently maintained low Police Verification processing times. Delhi completed police , , verification in 13 days on an 5,12,581 average, followed by Andhra Pradesh (17 days), Haryana (19 days), Kerala (27 days), and st Chandigarh (27 days). As on 31 December 2013, 399 of the 724 Police Districts were working on the District model.

Interesting Facts - Youngest Applicant - Oldest Applicant - Average Age

2 days 116 years 31 years

Online Payment Facility

To address the concerns raised by citizens with regard to non-availability of appointments, the Ministry introduced Online Payment System in July 2013. There has been a noticeable improvement in availability of appointments since then. There are certain categories of applicants and services for which walk-in facility is available.

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 09

COVER STORY

Measures to Improve Passport Services

Public Grievance Redressal Mechanism

Under

the Passport Seva Project (PSP), the Ministry has put in place a strengthened Grievance Redressal system whereby a National Call Centre with a toll free number (1800-258-1800), operating in 17 languages and on 24X7 basis, has been set up to cater to dissemination of information about various services, handling of grievances and citizen feedback, which at present works on a central system platform. Also a helpdesk has been set up which can be accessed by citizens through the passportindia.gov.in portal and where suggestions and grievances can be sent and also monitor its status online. It presently handles approximately 20, 000 calls per day (out of which 42% are in Hindi and 29% in English).

last 3 years. In 2011, the number was 51,782, out of which 48,091 were redressed. The corresponding figure for 2012 was 46,878 and 42,295. During the period 1.1.2013 to 31.12.2013 (including CPGRAM) 38,489 public grievance petitions were received by the CPV Division, out of which 36,944 have been disposed off.

I

nformation and Facilitation Counters, Public Grievance Cell and Help Desks have been set up in Passport Offices to assist applicants and to attend g r i e v a n c e s / c o m p l a i n t s e x p e d i t i o u s l y. T h e complaint/suggestion boxes are also installed on strategic locations at Passport Offices and Passport Seva Kendras.

Ministry's efforts in improving redressal of public grievances have been appreciated by the nodal agency i.e. the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public rd Grievances. In a letter dated 3 December 2013, Hon'ble MoS for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions has observed:

Passport Seva Call Centre

A Public Grievance Redressal Cell (PGRC) has been established in CPV Division under the supervision of the Joint Secretary (Passport Seva Project) and Chief Passport Officer. In addition, all Passport Offices handle public grievances through the Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAM) website of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, in which 6026 grievances were received during the period 1.1.2013 to 31.12.2013, out of which 5013 cases have been disposed off. The latest position on their applications, along with directions for further action, is posted on this website, which can be easily accessed by the public for its benefit. The number of complaints/grievances have steadily gone down in the 10 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

…On the basis of data generated on the online Centralised Public Grievances Redress and Monitoring System, as on 21.11.2013, your Ministry has been found to have improved significantly in reducing the pendency of public grievances. I congratulate on this and wish to place on record my appreciation for the commendable effort put in by your Ministry in this regard…

Passport Adalats

Passport

Offices held Passport Adalats regularly to redress the grievances of passport applicants. These Adalats have been very useful in disposing of 7000 old and complex cases. Passport Adalats were held on 07.08.2013 at RPO Coimbatore, from 21.08.2013 to 30.10.2013 (11 in number) at RPO Chandigarh, on 28.09.2013 at RPO Jammu, on 09.10.2013 and 23.10.2013 at RPO Bangalore, on 25.10.2013 at RPO Patna and on 23.11.2013 at RPO Lucknow.

COVER STORY

Passport Melas

With the view to address difficulties faced by citizens in obtaining appointments and to meet increased demand for passport services, passport melas were organized from time to time by Passport Offices. 81 Passport Melas were organised from time to time during the weekend/holidays by 27 Passport Offices. In 2013, 32,525 passport applications were processed during Passport Melas.

Details of Passport Melas (July - December 2013) Applications Collected

Awarness Campaign on Emigration and Passport Grievances

On

th

27 July 2013, a special Passport and Emigration campaign was held at PSK Thillainagar.

During the Campaign, Shri D.Jai Shankar, Protector of Emigrants, Chennai briefed the public regarding Emigration Rules.

Applications Collected

Appeals (u/s 11 of the Passports Act)

The appeal against the decisions of PIAs is a statutory right conferred upon the affected person u/s 11 of the Passports Act. During the year, 7 appeal sessions were held in the month of January, April, July, September, October, November and December 2013 covering 267 appeal cases.

Right to Information Act (RTI)

A

Central Public Information Officer and Assistant Public Information Officer have been appointed in every Passport Office to provide information to applicants under the RTI Act. A Central Public Information Officer has also been appointed in the CPV Division. Joint Secretary (PSP) & CPO is the First Appellate Authority in respect of all Passport Offices st and also for the CPV Division. From 1 July 2013, CPV Division has been operating a separate section in the Government of India RTI portal for receiving online RTI applications pertaining to Passport Offices and CPV Division. A total of 4598 online st RTI applications and postal RTI applications were received and disposed off by the Division during the period 1 January to st 31 December 2013(out of this 3298 applications transferred to RPOs for action). During the same period, 884 First Appeals were also received and disposed off.

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 11

COVER STORY

Passport India Portal

An online portal passportindia.gov.in has been created to offer passport services, giving comprehensive and latest information on passport services, appointment procedure, documentation, status enquiry and other related issues, thus enabling anytime-anywhere access. This portal is being updated regularly to make it more users friendly and simpler. The portal is bilingual with information displayed prominently in Hindi as well.

Channel wise percentage of applications processed

Machine Readable Travel Documents

I

n order to obviate the problems of smudging of photographs and data and to improve the overall quality, functionality and security of Indian passports, various measures viz. shifting of data page in passport booklets to page no.

2 and observation page from last page to page no. 35, signature & seal of PIA at inner front cover page-facing page 1, inclusion of secondary “Ghost Image”( letter screen image) of passport holder drawn with his personal data at data page have been implemented with effect from 1st April 2013 ( “2012 series booklets”). All Passport Offices, Headquarters and select Missions/Posts abroad have been provided with machine readable passport printers. During the year, 23 new passport printers were acquired to upgrade personalization infrastructure of Passport Offices. For 150 Missions/Posts abroad and Andaman & Nicobar Islands Administration, Machine Readable Passports (MRP) with ghost image security feature are printed at Central Indian Passport Printing System (CIPPS) of the CPV Division, New Delhi. The CIPPS printed 1, 13,469 passports during the year.

E-Passports

In accordance with ICAO recommendation to incorporate biometric data in the Machine Readable Travel Documents, India has also decided to upgrade its existing passports to electronic category of e-passports. The epassports provide greater protection against fraudulent practices and tampering. These e-passports also prevent issue of multiple passports to a single person, thus, ensuring high level of security in passport issuance. A Task Force has been set up to expedite e-passport project.

12 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

COVER STORY Digitization Project:

The project for “creation of image retrievable database” for the passport, visa, OCI and PIO applications in Indian Missions/Posts was awarded to a panel of 3 vendors in June 2012. In the first phase, the digitization of consular documents commenced in Indian Missions in London, San Francisco, Riyadh, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which is completed except in London. In the second phase, the project would cover another 34 Indian Missions/Posts, out of which work has already commenced in 9 Missions/Posts. As on 31.12.2013, nearly 7 crore pages have been digitized. Once implemented, this project would lead to central repository of data, easy retrievability of files and uniformity in all the Indian Missions/Posts abroad.

Haj pilgrims: Special Drive

As decided by the Haj Committee of India (constituted under Act of Parliament no. 35 of 2002), only valid passport holders can apply for Haj. Therefore, all prospective Haj applicants were advised to get their passport issued before the Haj announcement 2013. Applications for Haj 2013 were received between 6th February 2013 and 30th March 2013 by the Haj Committee of India as per new norms. It is a matter of satisfaction that the issuance of passports to prospective Haj pilgrims has been a very smooth affair this year. Against the allocated Haj quota of 1, 25,000 applications, approximately 3 lakh application forms were received by the Haj Committee by the prescribed deadline.

Awards & Recognition:

The Passport Seva Project is recipient of following : · · · · · · · · · ·

Case study TCS-Indian Passport Office: Transforming public sector services through process re-engineering and digitization, Ovum, London (January 2014) Featured as one of the achievements of UPA Government in the compilation '10 years of Progress and Growth (2004-2014)' (January 2014) Finalist (Security in e-Governance), Data Security Council of India Excellence Awards (December 2013) The Economic Times Certificate of Recognition (October 2013) Citation by 'GOVERNANCE Now': 'BIG DATA LEADER' (August 2013) e INDIA Award of Excellence' (July 2013) Mention by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India as one of the 7 best examples of public services delivery (Civil Services Day, 21st April 2013) Promising Innovation Award' -Regional Rounds of Tata Innovista 2012-13 (March 2013) President's address to the Joint Session of Parliament (February 2013) Computer Society of India-Nihilent Technologies e-Governance Award for Excellence (December 2012)

Interesting Facts

Gender wise percentage of applications

Age Group wise percentage of applications

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 13

COVER STORY

Total number of Passport Applications Received and Issued

· · · · ·

No. of Passport services rendered by Passport Offices in India: 71,05,691 Passport and Miscellaneous services by Indian Missions/Post: 13,83,686 MEA, PV-II section (Official and Diplomatic Passports): 25,130 Andaman and Nicobar Islands: 3,008 Grand Total : 85,17,515

14 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

EVENTS Passport Seva Camp at Farrukhabad

On 14

th

December 2013, the first Passport Seva Camp was launched by Shri Salman Khurshid, Hon'ble EAM at Farrukhabad. The camp was operated from one of the UP Government offices wherein temporary CSE and VO counters were set up fully equipped with all peripherals. A total of 160 applications were processed during the two day camp.

Foreign Secretary visits Herald House PSK, Delhi

On

17th Dec 2013, Shrimati Sujatha Singh, Foreign Secretary visited PSK Herald House to have an overview of PSK operations. She was given a detailed walkthrough of the PSK.

While inaugurating the camp, Shri Salman Khurshid spoke about the advancement of technology which is

Shrimati Sujatha Singh, Foreign Secretary with Passport Seva Team at Herald House PSK

Mrs. Sujatha Singh born in July 1954, joined the Indian Foreign Service in July 1976.

She assumed charge as Foreign Secretary on August 1, 2013.

Shri Salman Khurshid, Hon'ble EAM inaugurating Passport Seva Camp at Farrukhabad

now enabling the doorstep service to the passport aspirants. He appreciated MEA – TCS partnership and complimented TCS for enabling the service transition which started with the PSKs and now the camps.

Shrimati Sujatha Singh

Prior to taking over as Foreign Secretary, Mrs. Singh served as Ambassador of India to Germany (2012-2013) and High Commissioner to Australia (2007-2012).

She started her overseas assignments as Second Secretary in the Embassy of India, Bonn (1978-82). Subsequently she was First Secretary, High Commission of India, Accra (1985-89), Counsellor, Embassy of India, Paris (1989-92), Deputy Chief of Mission and Deputy Permanent Representative to ESCAP at Embassy of India, Bangkok (1997-2000) and Consul General, Milan (2000-04).

Mrs. Singh has served over a third of her career at Headquarters. She was Under Secretary looking after Nepal (1982-85), Director, Economic Co-ordination Unit (1992-95), attended the National Defence College at New Delhi (1995) and Joint Secretary at the Foreign Service Institute, New Delhi (1996-97). Subsequently she was Joint Secretary and then Additional Secretary responsible for West Europe and the EU in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi (2004-07).

Shri Salman Khurshid, Hon'ble EAM with Passport Seva Team

Mrs. Singh completed her B.A. Honours in Economics in 1973 from Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi and her M.A. in Economics in 1975 from the Delhi School of Economics.

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 15

EVENTS

Parliamentary Standing Committee visits Passport Seva Kendras

T

he Standing Committee on External Affairs led by Shri Ananth Kumar made visits to PSKs located in Bangalore, Bhopal, Delhi (Herald House & Gurgaon) th th and Ghaziabad during the period 12 to 18 July 2013.

The Committee reviewed the PSK operations in terms of services to the citizens and expressed satisfaction at the progress made in recent years.

Secretary, IT, Govt. of India, visits PSK Ahmedabad

On 19

th

July 2013, Shri J. Satyanarayan, Secretary, IT, Govt. of India, visited PSK Ahmedabad. During his visit, Shri J. Satyanarayan interacted with citizens as well as with the Govt. officials. He was pleased with the feedback received from the applicants.

I

II

Secretary, IT, Govt. of India, at PSK Ahmedabad

III

Committee of Parliament on Official Language visits RPO Ghaziabad and Bangalore

T

he First Sub Committee of Committee of Parliament on Official Language visited Ghaziabad and Bangalore on 16th July & 20th November 2013 respectively.

IV

Parliamentary Standing Committee visits PSK (I) Ghaziabad, (II) Bangalore, (III) Bhopal, (IV) Delhi

Parliamentary Standing Committee on External affairs held discussions with Foreign Secretary

On

17 th December 2013, Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs led by Hon'ble Shri Francisco Sardinha, held discussions with senior officials of CPV Division led by Shrimati Sujatha Singh, Foreign Secretary, on the subject "Passport Seva Project - Targets and Achievements".

16 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

Committee of Parliament on Official Language at RPO Bangalore

EVENTS Press Meet at PSK Lalbagh, Bangalore

On 6

th

August 2013, a team of 17 reporters from National and Vernacular print media visited Lalbagh PSK to get an insight on the Passport Seva Project and its various milestones and achievements. RPO Bangalore addressed the media on various aspects of passport application.

Newspapers Reporters visit PSK Kozhikode

On 22

nd

August 2013, a team of reporters from leading newspapers like Malayalam Mathrubhumi, Malayala Manorama, Deshabhimani and Chandrika visited Kozhikode PSK.

Press Meet at PSK Patna

On

4th September 2013, a successful media walk-through was organized at PSK Patna.

RPO Patna addressed the media about the functioning of PSK operations.

Police Meet held at Thanjavur

Visit of faculty members of State Administrative Training Institutes at PSK

On

th

18 September 2013, a group of 25 faculty members of State Administrative Training Institutes visited PSK Herald House as a part of “Training of Trainers in Servottam Public Service Delivery� and were given a walk through. The group showed keen interest in various aspects of project delivery and appreciated the way the project has been implemented and complimented on the high standards of the service delivery.

Delegation of DoT visits PSK Herald House

On 01

st

October 2013, a delegation consisting of 25 members from the DoT visited PSK Herald House to get an overview of the Project. The delegation was given a walkthrough of the PSK Operations.

CCTV control room inaugurated at Hyderabad

On

th

24 July 2013, Shri Muktesh Pardeshi JS(PSP) and CPO inaugurated CCTV control room at Hyderabad PSK. In order to have smooth & controlled processes, the CCTV monitoring systems are connected to RPO control room.

On 21

st

Nov 2013, a meeting was held r e g a r d i n g t h e modification in the police verification process at Thanjavur. The meeting was attended by Shri G.Dharmaraj, IPS, Superintendent of Police, Thanjavur and other senior police officials.

PIA's PVR Conference at Goa

On

28th September 2013, PIA PVR Conference was held at Fidalgo Hotel in Goa to review Police Verification issues.

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 17

EVENTS Passport: International Developments

With the increasing demand of the passport not only in India but also globally, initiatives have been taken across the globe to improve the processes and provide the best passport services to the citizens in a more convenient and efficient way. With the upcoming of the Passport Seva Kendras in India, a new face has been provided to the passport services. It can be seen that the Governments in the other countries are also taking initiatives to provide the best services.

Launch of Online Booking Taiwan: The Ministry of Foreign

France gives itself a year for

Government decides to issue

Online Passport payments

passport for 10 years

th

Affairs of Taiwan launched a

France: On 18 Dec 2013, the

Pakistan: Through a notification

website on 24th Dec 2013, which

French government announced

on 9th Dec 2013, the Federal

allow the passport applicants to

that a year from now citizens will

government has decided to

book an appointment before

be able to pay online when they

extend duration of the national

visiting BOCA's (Bureau of

request for fresh passport or for

passport to ten years instead of 5

Consular Affairs)

the renewal of the existing one.

years, applicable now.

Improving Passport Services for Canadians In order to provide the better passport services, the responsibility for passport s e r v i c e s m ove d f ro m t h e Department of Foreign Affairs & International Trade to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

Currently it takes approximately 4-6 weeks to process an application.

New Passport costs €7 to make you'll have to pay €80 Ireland: 1stOct 2013, the price of the passport will not come down eve n t h o u g h t h e co st o f producing them will fall by half.

The new passport – which has images depicting Irish culture & landmark will come into official use.

Online Passport process on the cards th

Nepal: On 25 Dec 2013, through a communication it was notified that people will no longer require paperwork to get passport if the government's plan to receive applications online materializes.

Journey from Muzaffarpur to USA MANY THANKS FOR HELP RENDERED IN GETTING SHORT VALIDITY PASSPORT TO RENJEET SAHNI AT RPO PATNA: PASSPORT NO: L-2402392 Dt: 2/7/2013 Dear Muktesh ji, Kindly recall you help in enabling Ranjeet Sahni, a boy belonging to the downtrodden classes from Muzaffarpur, to get a short validity passport. Your help was invaluable and helped a poor boy to realize a dream visit to USA at Microsoft expense.

This boy is so poor that he could not find a single gazetted officer to sign his verification certificate, and could not provide address proof etc. as required in our rules. You had gone by the sprint of the rules and not the letter and helped him get a short validity passport.

Your help could become a case study for the Passport Patrika. I am also marking this mail to my batch mate, Shri O.P Mishra, Director, DANICS, who too went out of the way to provide a verification letter to a disadvantage fellow bihari youth after doing his due diligence.

Ranjeet Sahni is a beneficiary of Microsoft’s community program which we run in Bihar through the Aga Khan Foundation9till date Microsoft has trained close to 4.6 lakhs youth in India). Ranjeet was trained on Microsoft software and then went on to set up a mobile repair shop in his village. This helped him sustain himself and his family and also become a role model for others.

Attached are a few photographs and details of the event held in Atlanta in mid July, 2013. I would be grateful, if this mail could be forwarded to RPO Patna, who provided the youth ready access, gave him a patient hearing and escalated the matter to you with his recommendations.

18 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

Public Notice & Advisory Machine-readable passports

Discontinuation of India-Bangladesh Passport(IBP)

1. he International Civil Aviation Organization th (ICAO) has set a deadline of the 24 November 2015 for globally phasing out all non-Machine Readable Passports th (MRPs). From 25 November 2015 onwards, foreign Governments may deny visa or entry to any person travelling with a non-MRP passport.

1 he India-Bangladesh Passport (IBP) was introduced as a special travel document in August, 1972 to facilitate travel between India and Bangladesh only.

Over the years, the Central Government delegated powers to State Governments of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura & West Bengal to issue IBPs.

T

. T

A

2. ll handwritten passports with pasted photos earlier issued by Government of India are considered non-MRP passports. All 20-year validity passports will also fall in this category. The Government started issuing MRP passports since 2001. All new Indian passports are ICAO-compliant MRP passports.

India-Bangladesh Passport (IBP)

P

I

3. ndian citizens residing in India and abroad and holding handwritten passports as well as 20-year passports with validity beyond the 24th November 2015, should, therefore, apply for re-issue of passports and obtain MRP passports well before the deadline in order to avoid any inconvenience in obtaining foreign visa or immigration problem.

F

4. or more details related to passport services, Passport website (www.passportindia.gov.in) or the National Call Centre (toll free number 1800-258-1800) may be accessed.

Source: www.mea.gov.in, 9th December 2013

2. ursuant to the signing of the Revised Travel Arrangements between India and Bangladesh signed on 28th January 2013, it has been decided by the Ministry of External Affairs to discontinue issuance of IndiaBangladesh Passport (IBP) w.e.f. 15th November 2013. In order to implement the Revised Travel Arrangements between India & Bangladesh and to phase out the issuance of India-Bangladesh Passport, the following course of action has been approved by the Government of India for implementation: 路 IBPs already issued will remain valid till expiry of their duration. 路 No new applications for IBP will be accepted by any th concerned State Government after 15 November 2013.

All applications received on or before 15th November 2013 should be processed and IBPs issued expeditiously.

No India-Bangladesh Passport should be issued after 30th November, 2013.

A

3. ll concerned State Governments have been informed accordingly. More details on how to apply for a regular passport is available on www.passportindia.gov.in Source: www.mea.gov.in, 8th November 2013

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 19

Achievements & Recognition MEA Felicitated as 'BIG DATA LEADERS'

On 13

th

August 2013, MEA was felicitated as one of the few organizations, being the early movers in Big Data. Passport Seva Project was recognized as “Big Data Leaders” by Indian's premier Government sector magazine “Governance Now” for processing, issuing and maintaining records of over 5 crore Indian Passport holders and creating IT infrastructure for processing over one crore applications in last 15 months.

MEA recognized by Data Council of India

On

11th Dec 2013, the Passport Seva Project was recognized by Data Council of India for providing security in e-governance during their 8th Annual Information Security Summit in New Delhi.

MEA recognized by Economic Times

On 24

th

Oct 2013, the Passport Seva Project was awarded the certificate of recognition for innovation and implementation of e-Governance.

20 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

Achievements & Recognition Passport Seva Project wins eIndia Governance Award

T

he Passport Seva Project was conferred with 'eIndia Governance Award 2013' in the Government to Citizens (G2C) category at the eIndia Awards 2013. The Awards, held for the 9th successive year, were announced at a function held at Hyderabad on 23rd July 2013. The award was presented by Hon'ble Minister of Information Technology, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Shri Ponnalla Lakshmaiah.

Photo: Hon'ble Minister of IT, Government of Andhra Pradesh presenting eIndia Governance Award

Principal Consultant & Head-Technology, PSP felicitated with “The innovative Hero” & “Regional Enterprise Security Award”

Shri

Golok Kumar Simli, Principal Consultant & Head-Technology, Passport Seva, has been awarded:

T

he felicitation and honor certificate for being chosen as one of the top 30 entries

by The Innovative Workgroup for the book titled “The Innovative Heroes” published by DynamicCIO.com

T

he “Certificate of Achievement” for Pocket CIO and Regional Enterprise Security Award conducted by IT Next 9.9 Media House on 20 - 21 September 2013.

Milestone Achieved Passport Patrika recognized as Top 5% viewed collateral by SlideShare

P

assport Patrika has been among the top 5% viewed collateral on SlideShare. Within a span of 4 months, the Patrikas have been viewed 21000 times and have been downloaded 445 times creating huge awareness across document sharing sites.

1 Crore passport issued through Passport Seva Project

On 20

th

th

August 2013, Passport Seva Project achieved another mark by issuing the 1,00,00,000 passport from RPO, Ghaziabad, exactly after 2 months of achieving 1 Crore application processed mark.

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 21

Media & Public Outreach Reprinted Courtesy: egov, September 2013

22 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

Media & Public Outreach

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 23

Media & Public Outreach

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Sources: 1. Times of India, Ludhiana, 13th Nov 2013 3. Times News Network, Hyderabad, 10th Oct 2013 5. Deccan Herald, Bangalore, 06th Nov 2013 7. The Times of India, Mumbai, 11th Oct 2013

24 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

2. Hindustan Times, Chandigarh, 10th Oct 2013 4. The Hindu, Hyderabad, 08th Nov 2013 6. Dainik Bhaskar, Chandigarh, 19th Oct 2013

Media & Public Outreach

7

1

3

4

5

6

2

Sources: 1.

3.

5.

7.

Dainik Bhaskar, Chandigarh, 07th Nov 2013 Mathrubhumi, Kannur, 26th Nov 2013 Jansandesh, Lucknow, 07th Dec 2013 Times of India, New Delhi, 30th Jul 2013

2. I-next, Bareilly, 22nd Nov 2013 4. Nutan Saurashtra, Rajkot, 28th Nov 2013 6. Lokmat, Mumbai, 08th Dec 2013

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 25

Media & Public Outreach

Passport Seva Project – Winds of Change

A cover story on how Passport Seva Project has created a change in service delivery of Indian Passport was published in @TCS, an internal magazine.

26 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

Voice of People Citizen Feedback

In the Passport Seva Project, various channels used for feedback collection are as follows: a) Feedback forms filled at PSKs b) Touch screen facility installed at select PSKs c) E-mails received at PSP Helpdesk d) Online through the Passport Seva Portal e) Call Centre PSK-wise Overall Citizen Satisfaction Index

Collection of feedback is done on the following four parameters: a) b) c) d)

Cleanliness and ambience Courtesy Efficiency / service delivery Overall Experience

This section presents citizen satisfaction gathered over 22.5 Lac+ citizens during July 2013 – December 2013.

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Cleanliness and Ambience

Courtesy

Excellent

Efficiency

Good

Poor

Overall Experience

Average of 99.78 % Citizen Satisfaction level overall for all PSKs.

Citizen Speak (July 2013 - December 2013) VIP Feedback • Very good and excellent service, better then international standards. Keep it up Mr. Keshub Mahindra, Former Chairman, Mahindra Group, PSK Mumbai, 23rdJuly 2013 •

The personnel deployed here are very helpful and prompt in giving any sort of assistance for quick delivery of services th Mr. Apurba Ratan Chakraborty, Secretary, Finance Department, Govt. of WB, PSK Kolkata, 29 July 2013

Citizen's Comments - Appreciative/Positive • Excellent service. This office definitely improves the overall image of govt. office. Very well co-ordinated and role model to other govt. offices. st Sandhya Kasturirangan, PSK Chennai, 1 July 2013 •

I went to PSK for reissue of my passport and can't resist myself to express my satisfaction. The efficient working environment, staff behavior and the online system deserve high appreciation. I am feeling proud to be an Indian that has a Passport Office of International Standards. You have setup a model for other Government Departments.

Partha Sarathi Pal, PSK Ranchi, 24th Dec 2013

Citizen's Comments - Scope for Improvement • Special clearance may be provided for Sr. Citizens if possible M Prasada Rao , PSK Hyderabad, 16th Dec 2013 •

Capacity for sitting is a bit low, rest everything is Perfect rd

Narinder Singh Chadwa, PSK Shimla, 3 July 2013

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 27

Employees Corner

28 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

Employees Corner

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 29

Employees Corner High Level Appointments

Shri A.R. Ghanashyam, has been appointed as the High Commissioner of India to Nigeria.

He was appointed AS(CPV) during early 2013.

Shrimati Mukta Dutta Tomar, who was Consul General in Chicago until recently, has been appointed as the Joint Secretary in CPV Division. She has held diplomatic assignments in Indian Embassies in Madrid, Kathmandu, Paris, and Yangon. She has also served at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations at New York. She has also headed the Investment & Technology Promotion & Economic Division in the Ministry.

Employee Enrichment Program To increase the efficiency & productivity of manpower, a two day Managerial Effectiveness Program was conducted for TCS Employees of North India locations at PSK Herald House on 14th & 15th September, 2013.

Vigilance Awareness Week th nd During 28 October to 2 November 2013, Vigilance Awareness Week was observed in all Passport Offfices. The theme for Vigilance Awareness Week in the current year was 'Promoting Good Governance- Positive Contribution of Vigilance'.

RPOs attended International Training program Shri K Balamurugan, RPO, Tiruchirappalli and Shri Rajender Gupta, RPO Jammu attended the e-Governance Champion Programme conducted by National Institute of Smart Government, Hyderabad.

A Poet Passport Officer Shrimati Padma Mahanti, RPO Bhubaneswar has penned a wonderful story in poetry "Mist and Musings".

Mist and Musings by Shrimati Padma Mahanti, RPO Bhubaneswar

Generosity @ Passport Organization

T

he Passport Office employees came forward and joined their hands together to help the victims of natural disaster in Uttrakhand which happened in June 2013. A sum of Rs 12,21,124/- was donated to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.

30 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

Employees Corner Moments of Fun, Festivities and Camaraderie

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 31

State-wise Passport Services in 2013

Jammu & Kashmir (86,671)

Himachal Pradesh (28,270) Punjab (5,71,430) (including Chandigarh) Uttarakhand (48,016)

Haryana & Delhi (4,08,588) Rajasthan (2,02,331) Uttar Pradesh (6,08,653) Assam, Arunachal Pradesh Nagaland,Mizoram, Manipur & Meghalaya (51,816)

Bihar (1,69,451)

Gujrat (4,63,154) Jharkhand(60,448) West Bengal, Tripura & Sikkim (3,37,232)

Madhya Pradesh(1,02,740)

Chattisgarh (30,453)

Orissa (81,406)

Maharashtra(8,08,965)

Andhra Pradesh (7,75,698)

Goa (48,368)

Karnataka (4,36,999)

& Nic Andaman

Tamil Nadu (8,34,391)

08)

nds (3,0

obar Isla

Kerala (9,50,611)

Ministry of External Affairs Government of India

In partnership with

www.passportindia.gov.in Toll free 24x7 Call Centre:1800-258-1800