Passport Patrika | May 2010

MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Passport Patrika May 2010

HIGHLIGHTS:

Curtain Raiser at PSK Bangalore Pg 5

Trial processing of DPC Applications successfully initiated at Bangalore PSK-1

External Communication activities planned

Chandigarh gearing up for Go-Live

External Affairs Minister, Shri S.M. Krishna at PSK Bangalore The Editorial Team Chairman Editor-in Chief

Shri. A.Manickam, JS (CPV) & CPO Dr. T. V. Nagendra Prasad, Director (PV) & Project Director (PSP)

MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

From Project Director’s Desk Dear Colleagues, The months of March and April coincide with the traditional new year in many parts of the country (Vishu, Bihu, Baisakhi, Navroz etc) and brings with it glad tidings. These months have been quite eventful for the Passport Seva Project as well. Thanks to the efforts of one and all connected to Passport Seva Project.

We had three important events during this period. First, we had the conference of all the RPOs/POs at Bangalore wherein all of them were briefed about the Project and the basic design of the PSK. This was followed by a visit of Honâ€&#x;ble EAM Shri.S.M.Krishna, to PSKs in Bangalore for a curtain raiser event. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, the Passport Seva Project went live on trial basis. From March 19 th to March 31st , over 300 passports were printed and dispatched through the new system. Automatic SMS alerts were generated by the system and sent to the applicants. The new Index-PAC system was rigorously tested and results of the new Index PAC system were compared against the results generated with the existing system.

The new system was found to be working satisfactorily.

We believe in treading cautiously. Hence the new system is being tested only on DPC applications. Valuable feedback from our staff on the new system is being constantly gathered and incorporated into the software. We are conscious that we have a long way to go, but with your encouragement and support we are making steady progress.

We would be grossly failing in our duty if we do not place on record the tremendous contribution of the RPO and all officers and staff at Bangalore. The staff besides taking care of the increasing workload of passport seekers, are also operating on the new system. For this they are devoting extra time on weekends and beyond the office hours without allowing the pendency to creep up. This is over and above taking care of the steady stream of visitors from Delhi who have all kinds of onerous project related demands. Hats off, to the RPO and Staff of Bangalore for this inspirational performance. With such an enthusiastic support and participation the pilot is expected to be launched very soon. Once again, I request all RPO/POs to contribute articles/experiences/events or incidents at passport office by email to me so that we can use them to enrich the Passport Patrika.

We wish you and your families a great season ahead.

Dr.T.V.Nagendra Prasad

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MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Contents Project Updates‌The story so far

04

Status of the Projects progress

Events Curtain Raiser at Bangalore

05

RPO Conclave at Bangalore

07

DPC Application Processing at Bangalore

07

Excerpts from statement of External Affairs Minister

08

Efficiency Enhancing Initiative

08

Training Experience

09

Welcome

09

Bidding Farewell

10

Technology Trends

12

National e-Governance Plan

13

Worldwide Information

14

Health Corner

14

Fun Corner

15

Snapshots

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MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Project Updates...The Story so far Major milestones achieved during the journey towards the pilot go-live of the Passport Seva Project

Project Milestones – Pilot

Milestones Achieved Milestones - Work in Progress Milestones to be Achieved

TRAINING Software/Application Training conducted successfully for the Chandigarh Passport Office employees

SECURITY Login User idâ€&#x;s created for all Passport Office employees at pilot locations Digital Signatures created for Bangalore Passport Office employees

COMMUNICATION Print Advertorials created for the citizens to launch the Passport Seva Kendra and the new process Radio Advertisement created for communication to the citizens

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MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Curtain Raiser at Bangalore The Curtain Raiser event took place on 6th March 2010.It was the most awaited day when MEA successfully showcased the Bangalore Passport Seva Kendras and the new Passport Issuance process to the Honâ€&#x;ble External Affairs Minister Shri.

S.M. Krishna along with other senior dignitaries from the MEA including the Additional Secretary (AD & CPV), Shri.

Ashok Tomar. The day started with the External Affairs Minister (EAM) visiting the Sai Arcade Passport Seva Kendra where he was warmly welcomed the Passport Seva team including the RPO Bangalore, officers and staff.

Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary, Project Director & RPO Bangalore greeting EAM

A quick walkthrough of the PSK was organized by the staff to guide them through the facility and the various operational zones. A huge local and national media contingent closely covered every aspect of the visit. The panel then headed for the PSK Lal Bagh, Bangalore where Shri S.M.Krishna addressed the Media and the RPO Officials articulating the need for the reform concerning the Indian Passport Issuance process which led to the conception of the prestigious Passport Seva Project.

Shri S.M.Krishna at the Token Counter at PSK

He emphasized on the growing profile of India that has led to anticipation of a larger number of passport applications in the near future. While the total number of applicants currently is 57 lakh it is expected to reach at least 75 lakhs by 2011 and that such reforms were essential to provide better services to the citizens.

Citizen Service Executives at the PSK

He added that the structural reforms in the issuance of passports would make the process streamlined, uniform, secure, easy and transparent for citizens, along with applicant friendly offices. He said that PSP is the flagship project of the Ministry and everyone is involved in the project

EAM at the Online Kiosk at PSK

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MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Curtain Raiser at Bangalore Continued...

He mentioned that there would be 77 PSKs across India which will be fully geared up to meet all kinds of requirement in due course of time with the sturdy backup of a Data Centre in Delhi, a Network Operations Centre in Delhi and a Disaster Recovery Center in Chennai.

EAM at the PSK Counter

He confirmed that in Karnataka, there will be 2 PSKs in Bangalore, one each in Hubli and Mangalore which would be connected real time to the central server and would take care of the passport requirements of that particular region. Gulbarga will have a mini PSK which would work exactly as a PSK. Citizens can take appointments by dialing the national call center and avail information on the status of the application. In order to expedite the entire issuance process the Passport Seva Portal would also be linked to the police headquarters.

EAM’s Press Conference

Shri S.M.Krishna declared that the pilot location PSKs would be launched soon as the trial runs have provided the good feedback. After successful run of the pilot centers for 3 months, the rest of the PSKs across the country will be open to public in a span of 8-10 months. This high profile event was successful with the efforts of RPO Bangalore under the leadership of Shri Ravindra and the Media team of TCS.

Eternal Affairs Minister addressing the Media at the Press Conference at PSK

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MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

RPO Conclave at Bangalore Most RPOs from across the country assembled at Lal Bagh PSK, Bangalore to have the first hand exposure to the whole process and the software application. The programme was spearheaded by JSCPV Shri. A Manickam. The main aim was to exhibit the PSK functionalities, layout and its operations to the RPOs and seek their feedback. Project Director, Dr. T.V.Nagendra Prasad along with Mr.Rajan Pillai addressed the RPOs. In their briefing, they spoke about various benefits of the Passport Seva Project along with the role of TCS and the advantages of Public–Private Partnership RPOs from several locations at PSK model. The RPOs were taken through a complete cycle of Application Processing starting from the filling up of the Application form. A new Passport Application Form was provided to each RPO for filling in the details which were then taken through the various stages of the Preprocessing and processing. The entire procedure was demonstrated by first taking the RPOs to the Token Issuance Counter where tokens were issued on First come first serve basis. Queries of passport officers during their walkthrough inside the PSK were clarified. Once the respective tokens were displayed at the LCD monitor, the RPOs were requested to enter the processing zone to their respective counter for application processing.

The applications were processed quickly at the CSE counter and the applicants (RPOs) were then escorted to the waiting lounge near the VO counter. After successful completion of the VO tasks, the RPOs moved towards the GO counter. The RPOs were satisfied to see the PSK, Lal Bagh. They appreciated the modern facility and infrastructure constructed for the citizens. The event concluded on a very positive note.

DPC Application Processing at Bangalore In order to ensure smooth functioning of the Passport Seva system, it was decided to process only DPC applications initially. Trial run in the Passport Seva system for applications received through DPCs was initiated successfully after the curtain raiser event and visit at the PSK by Shri S.M.Krishna, External Affairs Minister. Over 2000 forms received from DPCs were sent to PSK for data entry into the Passport Seva system. The processed digitized applications were sent to the Verifying Officer at Passport Office for verification which were then reviewed by the Granting Officer who took the decision to grant the passport after perusing the Index and PAC check status through the system and the police verification report. It was also demonstrated that the Index/PAC results seen by the Granting Officer were frozen in the system.

The new system has the facility to raise objections on the files with missing documents, incomplete information etc. These objections may be raised by the Verifying Officer/Granting Officer. In all such cases, an objection letter is generated and sent to the citizen stating the reason and the corrective action required to be taken. The Passport Office employees are finding the new system easy to use. They have suggested few improvements to enhance the usability and efficiency of the system. More than 800 passports have been printed and dispatched thus far through the system while the others are at different stages of processing.

Shri Sekhar, Ms Amarjothi, Shri Sreekumar, Shri Nagendra Babu, Shri P.K.Behera, Shri Sreenivasaiah, Shri Hemachandra were found to be „power users‟ of the system during the trial run.

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MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Excerpts from the statement of External Affairs Minister Excerpts from the statement of Shri S.M.Krishna in Lok Sabha during the discussion and voting on “Demands for Grants” for the year 2010-11 “Despite extensive computerization, opening of new passport offices, a need was felt for change in the existing system due to rapidly growing volumes of passport seekers. For instance, between 1999 and 2009, the number of passport seekers more than doubled and this number is expected to grow at an average rate of 10% every year. In order to address this challenge MEA has launched the Passport Seva Project (PSP).

The project envisages the creation of 77 Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) across the country, the creation of call centre operating 24 x 7 in 17 languages, and a centralized nationwide computerized system for issuance of passports.

The project is almost complete with establishment of Data Centre, Disaster Recovery Centre, Central Passport Printing Facility, Network Operations Centre, Passport Seva Kendras at 7 pilot locations (Bengaluru-1, Bengaluru-2, Mangalore, Hubli, Chandigarh, Ambala and Ludhiana).

After 5 cycles of testing of the application software was conducted by the third party Audit Agency (STQC) in Bengaluru, it was found that the software was suitable to go for trial run. On March 19, 2010, the applications received from District Passport Cells were processed in real environment under the PSP software for the first time. Since then, about 1000 passports have been issued under the new system. On April 16, 2010, on trial basis, processing of applications live at PSK-1 in Bengaluru has also begun. After conducting trials in live environment, it is proposed to open all the 7 PSKs for public. After successful pilot phase and its certification the project is scheduled to be rolled out at the remaining 70 PSKs throughout the country.”

Efficiency Enhancing Initiative Passport Officer, Coimbatore Shri.Balamurgan has recently got on line access to the database of ration cards and voter identity cards from the concerned authorities under his jurisdiction. We have been informed that his office has been checking/verifying the data from these databases successfully and using the same for issuance of tatkaal passports.

We appreciate this innovative initiative and compliment the PO, officers and the staff at PO, Coimbatore.

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MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Training Experience of the Trainers The prime objective of Change Management Team has always been to create and maintain a continuous contributing learning environment for CPO employees, police officials and recruits of Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) , CPPF and Call Centre, as they experience the transformation brought about by the Passport Seva Project. With the new Passport Seva system partially operational in Bangalore, the Change Management team from TCS has come a long way in successfully achieving this objective. It has been an enriching experience for the team to interact with different stakeholders.

Understanding the needs of the end users was the foremost task at the teamâ€&#x;s hand. Addressing a diverse group of audience required meticulous planning and coordination. However, it would not have been possible to deliver such a broad based training without the constant support and cooperation of the participants.

Despite their daily workload, they gladly spared time to participate in the training programmes. The enthusiasm and the eagerness to learn the new system was commendable. They were very receptive towards the sessions and gave suggestions that could be incorporated in the PSP Application to make it more simple, user friendly and efficient. Most of them appreciated the efforts put-in by the team. This served as a great reason for us to smile and carry back good memories of the training experience.

The PSP training provided an opportunity to plan and deliver training in different domains like basic computer skills, soft skills and PSP application. The hands-on involvement with the participants added to the learning of the training team and encouraged them to reach the level of perfection. All the training feedback has shown a high satisfaction level among the participants.

Welcome - Retired CPO Officials who joined TCS

Shri Dhirendranath Das joined CPO in the year 1977 at RPO Delhi. Throughout his carrier he had been posted at various RPOs. He has served as the head of PACC, Berhampore and retired from RPO Kolkata in June 2008. He joined TCS for the Passport Seva Project in December 2009.

Shri Ramanand Sarkar joined Deputy High Commission of India, Dhaka in March 1964, after which he joined RPO Delhi in August 1968. Throughout his carrier he has served in various capacities at various RPOs. He retired as APO from RPO Delhi in November 2004 and joined TCS for the Passport Seva Project in December 2009.

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MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Bidding Farewell List of CPO Officers who bid adieu to CPO (April ‘09– March ‘10) All good things must come to an end. We bid farewell to the under mentioned CPO staff who dedicated the most valuable years of their lives to the Central Passport Organization. We would remain ever grateful for their contribution.

S.No. 1.

Name Shri M L Rawat,

Post Supdt.

Date of Retirement Station 31.03.2009 Lucknow

2.

Shri G D Joshi

Asstt.

31.03.2009

Delhi

3.

Shri Harjinder Singh

Peon

02.04.2009

Jalandhar

(Resigned) 4.

Smt. Asha Bhatnagar

Supdt.

30.04.2009

Ghaziabad Cochin Delhi

5.

Smt. N J Mary

Supdt.

(VRS) 30.04.2009

6.

Smt. Kamlesh Madan

Supdt.

01.05.2009 (VRS)

7.

Shri S R Karnik

APO

31.05.2009

Ahmedabad

8.

Shri D T Limbachiya

APO

31.05.2009

Ahmedabad

9.

Smt Susan K Gibson

Asstt.

31.05.2009

Hyderabad

10.

Smt. Kalawati Devi

UDC

31.05.2009

Lucknow

11.

Shri Ch Lakshminarayana

APO

30.05.2009

Hyderabad

12.

Shri Mohinder Singh

UDC

30.06.2009

Chandigarh

13.

Smt Janaki Rajappan

Supdt.

31.07.2009

Trichy

14.

Shri P K Debnath

R.Sorter

31.07.2009

Kolkata

15.

Smt. N Lavanya Kumar

Asstt.

31.07.2009

Chennai

(VRS) 16.

Smt. N Kasthuri

Asstt.

31.07.2009

Chennai

(VRS) 17.

Smt. N P Geetha

Asstt.

31.07.2009

Chennai

(VRS) 18.

Shri V G Raghavan

LDC

28.08.2009

Trichy

(Resigned) 19.

Shri Samir Kumar

LDC

7/2009

Bangalore

(Resigned) 20.

Smt R P Jather

DPO

31.08.2009

Mumbai

21.

Shri R Chakraborty

Asstt.

31.08.2009

22.

Shri Umesh Kumar

LDC

30.06.2009

Kolkata (E/I, Yangoon) Srinagar

23.

Shri Sunil Manohar Barik

LDC

(Resigned) 11.9.2009

Vishakapatnam

24.

Smt. M R Dey

Daftry

30.09.2009

Kolkata

25.

Shri D Viswanadha Raju

Peon

30.09.2009

Hyderabad

26.

Shri Roop Chand Raiger

UDC

01.10.2009

Jaipur

27.

Shri S Y More

Supdt.

(Resigned)

(Expired) 31.08.2009 (VRS)

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Bangalore

MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Bidding Farewell List of CPO Officers who bid adieu to CPO (April ‘09– March ‘10) S.No.

Name

Post

Date of Retirement

Station

28.

Smt. Ealiamma Julius

Supdt.

31.10.2009

Cochin

29.

Shri P V S Subba Rao

Supdt.

30.09.2009

Hyderabad

30.

Shri Sanjay Kumar

UDC

(VRS) 30.11.2009

Kolkata

(Resigned) 31.

Shri Rakesh Kumar Singh

LDC

25.11.2009

Lucknow

(Expired) 32.

Shri R A Dhone

DPO

30.11.2009

Bhopal

33.

Shri M Rajappan

Supdt.

30.11.2009

Cochin

34.

Shri A B Jadhav

R. Sorter 11.2009

Pune

(Expired) 35.

Smt. M.Viswani Devi

Daftry

10.2009

Hyderabad

(Expired) 36.

Shri B Toppo

Supdt.

31.12.2009

Jalandhar

37.

Shri Kali Charan

Daftry

16.01.2010

Bareilly

(Expired) 38.

Shri Bimal Roy Duggal

Supdt.

22.01.2010

Chandigarh

(Expired) 39.

Shri A Nagender

Supdt.

27.01.2010

Hyderabad

(Expired) 40.

Shri C G Mahale

Asstt.

29.01.2010

Thane

(Expired) 41.

Shri Babu Ram Arya

DPO

31.01.2010

Lucknow

42.

Shri Shailendra Prasad

UDC

2009

Jaipur

(Resigned) 43.

Shri D B Sardeshpande

Supdt.

31.12.2009

Surat

(VRS) 44.

Shri A Sheraffudin

Asstt.

28.02.2010

Trivandrum

(VRS) 45.

Shri T J Sebastian

Supdt.

06.03.2010

Cochin

(Expired) 46.

Smt. V P Chandrakantha

Asstt.

01.02.2010

Chennai

(VRS) 47.

Smt.B Padminidevi Amma

Peon

28.02.2010

Trivandrum

48.

Shri Y V Puranik

APO

31.03.2010

Ahmedabad

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MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Technology Trends – Passport Seva System Understanding the Sovereign and Ownership issues of Passport Seva System and its protection mechanism being deployed In the last issue of PASSPORT PATRIKA, we brought out the use of DIGITAL CERTIFICATE and the way users securely get into the Passport Seva System. Protecting the sovereignty and ownership of all critical assets including Data and Information has been given utmost importance in the project.

The Passport Seva System is designed to ensure that Service Provider personnel and outside users get no access to the BACK-END system and can only access the front end of the PSP Application. The nonsovereign functions such as collection of Application form, Data capturing, Fingerprint Capturing, Photograph capturing, Document scanning etc. are the various functions to which access to the Service Provider personnel has been provided. Even to perform the non-sovereign functions, the Service Provider personnel need to have DIGITAL CERTIFICATES and the tasks performed by any individual can be tracked down and are auditable.

Coming back to the Architectural Design of the Passport Seva System, it has got various physical and logical separations. All these separations are successfully deployed in the DATA CENTERS located in Delhi & Chennai. To have an independent testing and certification of the entire PSP system, a Government Agency (3rd Party Auditor) under Ministry of Communications & IT has been engaged, who will not only certify the PSP system but will also be involved in periodic Audits during the project operations over the years to follow. The Data Centres are divided into various zones and are restricted based upon who is accessing what.

Major zones in the Data Centres are Internet Zone, Front-Office Zone, Back-End Zones, Management Zones, Preproduction Zone, Training Zone and Production Zone. In each zone, the task performed is closely monitored with automated audit & reporting tools deployed in the PSP system. The audit trails of each critical tasks being performed in the PSP Application System as well as PSP system as a whole, is preserved tampered proof. The logs & audit trails are hardened, stored in CAS (Content Addressable Storage) and are policy based. Even the administrator of the CAS has no rights to delete these audit trails.

Every critical task performed by various administrators of the PSP system is carried out with dual-key mechanism and is controlled by MEA personnel deployed as part of the Technology team.

The entire PSP system has been designed, developed and deployed in the best possible manner with maximum security measures, both at system and at process level.

Golok Kumar Simli Principal Consultant - Technology princontech@mea.gov.in

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MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

National e-Governance Plan The Government of India is keen to deploy India‟s globally acknowledged expertise in Information Technology for the welfare of its citizens. Government has to ensure efficient citizen service delivery in the face of challenges like increase in population, rising service delivery expectations, difficulty in the existing system to quickly increase the staff required or dynamically redeploy staff, rapidly mobilizing and deploying monetary resources etc. In order to meet these challenges, the Government of India launched the ambitious National e-Governance Plan also called NeGP. NeGP aims at spreading e-Governance down to the ground level and cover the entire gamut of Government services. NeGP projects are classified as Mission Mode Projects (MMPs). MMPs fall in three categories namely Central MMPs, State MMPs and Integrated MMPs. “NeGP seeks to lay the foundation and provide the impetus for long-term growth of e-Governance within the country. The plan seeks to create the right governance and institutional mechanisms, set up the core infrastructure and policies and implement a number of Mission Mode Projects at the center, state and integrated service levels to create a citizen-centric and business-centric environment for governance”.

Passport Seva Project is part of the list of Central Mission Mode Projects under NeGP. Various central MMPs like for instance Unique ID Project, Income Tax etc are already underway. Given below the Government blueprint for e- Governance in the country. The outer ring represents State MMPs, the central ring represents central MMPs and the innermost ring represents integrated MMPs.

S.Chandrasekhar, Principal Consultant Programme Management 13

MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Worldwide Information: Interesting Facts Interpol’s database of stolen or missing passports contains details of 14 million documents In 2006 Marilyn Monroe’s 1954 passport sold for US$115,000 Citizens of countries that have signed up to the Schengen accord no longer have to show their passports when they’re flying to another member country In 2007, a backlog in passport processing led to the US temporarily lifting the rule that Americans had to carry passports to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda Nicaragua’s passports boast 89 separate security features An Australian man who changed his name to John Piss was refused a passport by officials due to his offensive surname

Health Corner Follow these ten simple tips to avoid the problem of tired eyes, dark circles and headaches

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MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Fun Corner PUZZLE 1 A man is stranded on an island covered in forest.

One day, when the wind is blowing from the west, lightning strikes the west end of the island and sets fire to the forest. The fire is very violent, burning everything in its path, and without intervention the fire will burn the whole island, killing the man in the process.

There are cliffs around the island, so he cannot jump off.

How can the man survive the fire? (There are no buckets or any other means to put out the fire) PUZZLE 2 Cannibals ambush a safari in the jungle and capture three men. The cannibals give the men a single chance to escape uneaten.

The captives are lined up in order of height, and are tied to stakes. The man in the rear can see the backs of his two friends, the man in the middle can see the back the man in front, and the man in front cannot see anyone. The cannibals show the men five hats. Three of the hats are black and two of the hats are white.

Blindfolds are then placed over each man's eyes and a hat is placed on each man's head. The two hats left over are hidden. The blindfolds are then removed and it is said to the men that if one of them can guess what color hat he is wearing they can all leave unharmed.

The man in the rear who can see both of his friends' hats but not his own says, "I don't know". The middle man who can see the hat of the man in front, but not his own says, "I don't know". The front man who cannot see ANYBODY'S hat says "I know!"

How did he know the color of his hat and what color was it?

Turn to Page 16 for Solution 15

MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Snapshots

Media contingent covering the Curtain Raiser event

JS & EAM with the RPO Bangalore officials

RPO Bangalore official welcoming the EAM at PSK

EAM interacting with the PSK staff

SOLUTION TO THE PUZZLE PUZZLE 1:The man picks up a piece of wood and lights it from the fire on the west end of the island.

He then quickly carries it near the east end of the island and starts a new fire. The wind will cause that fire to burn out the eastern end and he can then shelter in the burnt area.

PUZZLE 2:The man in front knew he was wearing a black hat because he knew the first man did not see two white hats and he knew that the second man did not see one white hat because if he saw a white hat, the second man would have known that his hat was black from hearing the first man's statement. @

Stay Connected Send your contributions and feedback to us to improvise your own Passport Patrika.

Comments, Queries and suggestions are welcome.

Write to us at dirpsp@mea.gov.in

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