Passport Patrika | October - December 2011

October - December 2011

Passport Patrika

External Affairs Minister Shri. S.M. Krishna Dedicates Seven PSKs to the Nation at Tirupati

Editorial Note Indian passports are issued by the Ministry of External Affairs through

Passport Patrika October - December 2011

a network of 37 Passport Offices and the Office of the Chief Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. For Indians living abroad, passport, consular and other miscellaneous services are rendered by Missions/Posts. This network is being expanded considerably under the Passport Seva Project.

Passport Patrika is edited and

Under this transformative e-Governance initiative, 77 Passport Seva Kendras

published by Muktesh Pardeshi,

are being established all over India. During the quarter ending on the 30

Joint Secretary (PSP) & Chief

September, 18 Kendras were already rendering services to the public. The

Passport Officer on behalf of

rollout of the Project is going at a good pace and we are committed to fully

Central Passport Organisation,

accomplish this dream project by early next year.

Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi.

th

This Quarterly newsletter 'Passport Patrika' seeks to create a forum for all Passport Issuing Authorities (PIAs) for sharing of information and ideas for betterment of delivery of public services. Passport Offices bring the Ministry of External Affairs close to the people. In this issue, we have covered a few

Editorial Team: Muktesh Pardeshi Sanjiv Aggarwal

developments which re-affirm our citizen-centric approach. Under the direction of Hon'ble External Affairs Minister, Passport Offices set up special facilities for grant of passports to Haj pilgrims. We organized a Passport Mela at Kakinada, where some 10,000 people turned up to file applications. Passport Offices in Chennai and Visakhapatnam moved to new premises, which offer better facilities for the public. And arrangements were put in place for issuing

Address: CPV Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Patiala House Annexe, Tilak Marg, New Delhi-110001.

Tel: +91-11-23387013 Fax:+91-11-23071370

Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) to the residents of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. With this, we have become fully ICAO-compliant in issuing MRPs to all Indian citizens living either in any part of India or abroad.

The Cover Story focuses on Tamil Nadu, which, after Karnataka, became the second State where PSP has been fully completed. Eight PSKs have been set up in Tamil Nadu to cater to growing demand for passport services.

Website: http://passportindia.gov.in

The last but not the least, the Ministry has offered life long gratis passport services to employees of the Central Passport Organisation, their spouses and children, as applicable. This is one of the many staff welfare and

E-mail:

career enhancement measures that the Ministry has taken and will continue to

passportpatrika@gmail.com

take in the coming months.

Muktesh Pardeshi

CONTENT Editorial Note • Snippets .............................................................................................................................

• -

Passport Offices Rising Demand for Passports Right to Information Act (RTI)

Important Events ..............................................................................................................

• -

Knowledge Sharing ...........................................................................................................

•

11 12

Security Deployment in Passport Seva Project How to submit an Application at Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) PSK Directory

Status Scan ........................................................................................................................

• -

6

Complete Rollout of PSP in Gujarat: Five PSKs Launched Complete Rollout of PSP in Punjab: Four PSKs Launched Passport Seva Kendra Opens in Kolkata Passport Officer's Conference Held at Delhi

• Cover Story - External Affairs Minister Dedicates Seven PSKs to the Nation at Tirupati.....

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4

15

Numbers Speak…

Voice of the People ............................................................................................................ 15 • -

Citizen Feedback Citizens Speak…

Employees Corner ............................................................................................................

• -

Appointments & Retirements Interview: RPO Chennai

• In the Media ...................................................................................................................................

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17

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Indian Express: A Passport to Better Governance Indian Express: EAM Inaugurated the Seven PSKs in the State of Andhra Pradesh The Hindu: More Passport Seva Kendras by March 2012 The Economic Times: State Gets Five New Passport Centres RPO Amritsar organized a School Tour to Generate the Awareness

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SNIPPETS

Passport Offices

178 Indian Missions/Posts issued 10.27 lakh passports. Thus, the Government of India, in total, rendered 73.65 lakh passport services.

The total revenue generated from all Passport Offices in 2011 was Rs 728.99 crore, compared to the total revenue of Rs. 679.11 crore in 2010

Indian passports are issued by the Ministry of External Affairs through a network of 37 Passport Offices, CPV Division (only Diplomatic and Official passports) and the Office of the Chief Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

This network is being expanded considerably under the Passport Seva Project. Under this transformative e-Governance initiative, 77 Passport Seva Kendras are being established all over India. For Indians living abroad, passport, consular and other miscellaneous services are rendered by 178 Indian Missions/Posts. All Passport Offices are computerized and they issue machinereadable passports as per the guidelines laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organization. Passport applications are being scanned and stored electronically.

Right to Information Act (RTI) A Central Public Information Officer and Assistant Public Information Officers have been appointed in every Passport office to provide information to applicants under the RTI. 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 and also for the CPV Division. A total of 1127 RTI applications and 731 appeals were received and disposed off by the Division during the year 2011.

Rising Demand for Passports Website The website of CPV Division http://passport.gov.in, which was established in 1999, is being updated from time to time to make it more user-friendly. It has detailed information on passports, status enquiry and links to various Passport Offices and also has downloadable forms. Under the PSP, a new online portal http://passportindia.gov.in has been created to offer passport services.

Over the last five decades, there has been considerable expansion in number of services rendered by Passport Offices. The growth in the number of passports issued is enumerated in the table below.

In 2011, the 37 Passport Offices, Headquarters and the Office of the Chief Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands issued 58.69 lakh passports(inclusive of 2840 Diplomatic passports and 28,067 official passports) and rendered 4.68 lakh passports related miscellaneous services.

No. of Passports Issued (in lakhs)

1979-80

1989-90

8.51

15.58

25.80

58.69

83%

66%

127.48%

% increase over the Previous period

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Passport Patrika October-December 2011

1999-2000

Jan-Dec.2011

Centralized Printing of Passports Apart from 140 non-computerized Missions/Posts abroad, Office of Assistant Secretary (Passport), Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Port Blair, was also added in the list (since 19.07.2011) for printing of Machine readable Passports (MRP) at Central Indian Passport Printing System (CIPPS) of the CPV Division, New Delhi.

CIPPS printed 1,05,577 passports during the period 01.01.2011 to 31.12.2011.

Visas (a) Visa Issuance by Missions/Posts abroad The Indian Missions/Posts abroad issue 5 million visas approximately every year. The procedure for grant of visas by Missions/Posts has been further simplified, which includes computerization of the issuance system and outsourcing of visa services, the outsourcing of visa work commenced in 2006. At present the visa work has been outsourced in 63 Missions/Posts abroad.

(b) Visa Issuance by CPV Division The CPV Division issued 7431 visas to foreign diplomatic and official passport holders from 01.01.2011 till 31.12.2011. The CPV Division also issued 15,732 notes verbale for visas for Indian Government officials going to join Indian Missions/Posts on transfer and official engagements. (c) Visa-Waiver Agreements India has visa waiver agreements with 52 countries by which diplomatic/official passport holders are exempted from the requirements of visas. In the year 2011, an agreement with Ukraine on visa free travel for diplomatic passport holders was signed on 25.11.2011.

Consular (a) Launch of Apostille Convention Project 2,78,210 personal and educational documents and 3,83,757 commercial documents were attested by the Ministry in the year 2011. In addition, 1,66,886 documents were apostilled for use abroad in the apostille member countries. The attestation of consular documents is also done

by Indian Missions/Posts for Indian citizens living abroad. st

PSP ROLLOUT STATUS (as on 31 December 2011)

TBD

Bhopal

Mumbai 3

Alappuzha

Bhubhneshwar

Srinagar

Behrampur Cochin Delhi

Ranchi Dehradun Shimla Jammu Raipur

Ernakulam Goa Gorakhpur

Kozhikode 2 Lucknow Mallapuram Mumbai 1 Mumbai 2 Nagpur

Guwahati

Nashik

Jodhpur

Patna

Kannur 1

Pune

Kannur 2

Sikar

Kanpur

Thane

Kottayam Kozhikode 1

Thrissur Varanasi

Bairelly Jaipur

Bangalore 1 Bangalore 2 Hubli Mangalore Chandigarh Ludhiana Ambala Trichy Thanjavur Madurai Tirunelvel City Vizag Coimbatore Delhi 2 Delhi 3 Chennai 1 Chennai 2 Chennai 3 Jalandhar 1

Jalandhar 2 Amritsar Hoshiarpur Nizamabad Tirupati Vijaywada Hyderabad 1 Hyderabad 2 Hyderabad 3 Kolkotta Ghaziabad Ahmedabad 1 Ahmedabad 2 Baroda Surat Trivandrum Trivandrum Kollam Rajkot

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IMPORTANT EVENTS Complete Rollout of PSP in Gujarat: Five PSKs Launched Five Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in Gujarat were launched on 30th December, 2011 by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Dr. Varesh Sinha. The event was organised at Ahmedabad, Vijay Char Rasta PSK. Out of five PSKs in Gujarat, four are running under the jurisdiction of RPO Ahmedabad (2 in Ahmedabad, 1 each in Vadodara and Rajkot) and one under the jurisdiction of RPO Surat.

Citizens of Ahmedabad, Banas Kantha, Sabar Kantha, Patan, Mehasana and Gandhinagar can get their passport applications processed at the two Ahmedabad PSKs. Vadodra PSK serves the applicants from Vadodara, Anand, Kheda, Panch Mahal and Dahod while the applicants from Amreli, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Surendranagar, Porbandar, Katchchh, Junagadh and Diu can submit their applications in Rajkot. Together, these four PSKs can process around 1700 applications per day.

Surat PSK, under jurisdiction of RPO Surat serves applicants from Bharuch, Narmada, Navsari, Surat, Dangs, Valsad & Tapi.

Approximately 450 applications per day can be processed at this PSK.

Lighting of Lamp by DGP Gujarat Police Shri Chitranjan Singh, Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Govt. of Gujarat Dr. Varesh Sinha and RPO Ahmedabad Smt. Anita Shukla during the launch event at PSK-Ahmedabad

Complete Rollout of PSP in Punjab: Four PSKs Launched A Passport Seva Kendra at Amritsar was launched on 24th October, 2011 under the jurisdiction of Amritsar RPO. Amritsar PSK has an operational capacity of around 550 applications per day.

Three Passport Seva Kendras, two in Jalandhar and one in Hoshiarpur were launched on same day under the jurisdiction of Passport Office, Jalandhar.

The three PSKs under RPO Jalandhar have a combined processing capacity of approximately 1000 applications per day.

Joint Secretary & Chief Passport Officer Shri Muktesh Pardeshi speaking at the launch of Amritsar PSK

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Passport Patrika October-December 2011

A PSK at Ludhiana was already operational under jurisdiction of Chandigarh RPO, since August 2010.

With the successful launch of these four PSKs under the Passport Seva Project, there is complete roll out of PSP in Punjab.

Passport Seva Kendra Opens in Kolkata Passport Seva Kendra at Kolkata was launched on 23rd November, 2011 by Joint Secretary & Chief Passport Officer Shri Muktesh Pardeshi. Additional Chief Secretary, Home Deptt, Govt. of West Bengal Dr. G. D. Gautam graced the event. This PSK would serve the citizens from West Bengal, Tripura and Sikkim regions.

Kolkata PSK has a processing capacity of around 1100 applications per day.

RPO Kolkata Dr. R. Sivakumar lighting the lamp during the launch event at Kolkata PSK

Passport Officers' Conference Held at Delhi Ministry of External Affairs, CPV division, organized a Passport Officers Conference in New Delhi on 29-30 November, 2011 at India International Centre. This was attended by 37 Passport officers from all over India, besides representative from Assistant Secretary (Passports), Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

The conference was formally inaugurated by External Affairs Minister by lighting of lamp. EAM in his speech reiterated the fact of Passport offices being the public face of MEA, need to provide services to the public in transparent, prompt and user friendly manner. He emphasized the need to further improve the Public Grievance Redressal Mechanism, faster and easier issuance of passports to Haj pilgrims, reduction in pendency and cooperation of all to make the Passport Seva Project (PSP) a success.

Foreign Secretary, Shri Ranjan Mathai in his speech highlighted steep rise in number of passport applications, steps taken to reduce pendency in passport offices in pursuance of EAM directives, role of public grievance redressal mechanism and welfare measures implemented by Ministry for Passport office staff.

The working session commenced with appraisal of “Pendency clearance drive” chaired by AS (CPV), who in his brief remarks reiterated the FS and EAM instructions to reduce pendency in Passport offices. He urged the Passport officers to be in close contact and have regular coordination meetings with key police officials to expedite dispatch of Police Verification Reports (PVR), a major reason for pendency. He emphasized on the pendency in objection cases, which need to be minimized after following prescribed guidelines/procedures. He also instructed the Passport Officers to clear the pendency at processing stage as well. Thereafter, each Passport Office gave a brief on clearing pendencies in their offices and steps/ practices followed by them.

External Affairs Minister Shri. S.M. Krishna, Foreign Secretary Shri Ranjan Mathai, Additional Secretary (CPV) Shri B.K. Gupta and Joint Secretary & Chief Passport Officer Shri Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi along with the Passport Officers from across the country at the Regional Passport Officer' Conference held at Delhi

The IInd day of Conference began by update on roll out of Passport Seva Project. Tata Consultancy Services, the Service Provider and Partner, PSP participated in this session. There was video presentation titled” Transformation through the eyes of the citizen”, wherein citizens shared their experiences in Passport Seva Kendra (PSK). AS (CPV) emphasized upon the need to make concerted Passport Patrika October-December 2011

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efforts to have full roll out of PSKs by March 2012 as per EAM directives and instructed TCS and Passport Officers to work out the modalities and complete formalities to achieve this in their areas. This was followed by a workshop on “Leadership and Transition management” by depicting a video film, showing the importance of relationship between management and staff for smooth functioning in any organization. Importance of transition management interventions and leadership coalition was accented during the session.

In the afternoon session, another workshop was organized by General Manager, India Security Press, Nashik(SPMCIL) on “Know your Travel documents” with a film, showing various stages in printing of Indian Passport there. The Passport officers brought to their notice the deficiencies in the booklets including stitches, etc. Passport officers have been instructed to regularly update Ministry and ISP, Nashik on deficiencies in passport booklets. GM also gave a brief on counterfeit/fake passports in circulation.

The last session of the Conference was more in the nature of an interactive session between Passport Officers and CPV officers, in which various aspects viz. service conditions of Passport staff, court cases, reinforcing the Passport offices by engagement of DEOs, steps to clear pendency, need of sending replies to Ministry on priority basis etc. were discussed. JS (CPV) in his concluding remarks appreciated the Passport Officers, for the job done to reduce pendency and also related to functioning of PSKs in their areas. He emphasized the need to expedite the groundwork for establishment of PSKs, where it is yet to be functional. This needs to be undertaken on priority in pursuance of EAM's directives.

This type of conference gives an opportunity for Passport officers to have interactions with CPV officials, briefed on latest policy matters, updating Ministry on pendency and problems faced by them in implementing Ministry directives. At the same time, the conference acts as a forum whereby Passport officers among themselves have fruitful exchange of ideas to further improve the functioning in their offices, leading to delivering passport services to the public effectively and positively. We need to have more of such conferences in future on regular basis and in fact make it an annual 2 day event and on roster basis as far as venue is concerned.

The conference concluded on the note of stressing upon the importance of Passport Seva Project in fast-tracking the passport issuance process. Participants unanimously agreed that through innovative e-technologies, long, serpentine queues in front of the passport offices are going to increasingly become a thing of the past.

Inaugural address by EAM at Passport Officers' Conference 2011 I am pleased to inaugurate the Annual Passport Officers' Conference 2011. This Conference is an important occasion for the Ministry as well as Passport Offices to take stock of the functioning of our Passport Offices in meeting the primary objective of delivering passport services to fellow citizens efficiently.

At the outset, let me reiterate that the Passport Offices are the public face of the Ministry of External Affairs. I attach very high importance to prompt, efficient and courteous manner of delivery of passport services to our fellow citizens.

With India's fast growing economy and our increasing integration with global economy, the number of Indians travelling abroad has shown phenomenal growth in recent years. Apart from business and employment reasons, more and more people are travelling abroad for education, tourism, pilgrimage and social visits. This, in turn, has resulted in a rapid increase in demand for passports and other miscellaneous services.

It is no surprise, therefore, that the number of passport applications has doubled since 2000. I understand a record number of passports numbering over 53 lakh were issued during 2010-11, in addition to rendering more than 6 lakh passport- related services. The demand on the Passport Offices would continue to grow in the months and years to come. This offers not only new opportunities but also enormous challenges.

I acknowledge the positive contributions made by Passport Officers in rendering timely Passport services, in spite of steep increase in demand and constraints with regard to infrastructure, equipment and personnel.

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Passport Patrika October-December 2011

As a rapidly growing and modernizing nation, we are duty bound to provide services to our public that are completely transparent, prompt, user-friendly and, above all, in conformity with the best international standards and practices.

We have to strive to re-affirm our citizen-centric role by adopting measures which will facilitate greater convenience and comfort to public at large.

I wish to stress that there are still large number of complaints received by emails as well as through letters. Be it harassment of people visiting passport offices by either officials or by the agents, be it discourteous behavior at the public interface in the passport offices, or be it difficulties in accessing information or in meeting with responsible officials. These problems should be information or in meeting with responsible officials. These problems should be addressed promptly.

Here, we need to constantly improve on the public grievance redressal mechanisms that have been put in place. Priority should be accorded to increase accountability within the system so that grievances/complaints are indeed attended to. You must also ensure accessibility to citizens in your offices in a systematic manner by way of designating an 'Open Day' for addressing the complaints received from the public. It is important that these services are widely disseminated for citizens to take maximum advantage.

We must continue to facilitate faster and easier issuance of passports to Haj pilgrims as carried out this year. Next year as well, you should take measures for opening separate counters for the Haj pilgrims; holding special Passport Adalats; and liaisoning with police authorities to obtain police reports on priority basis.

The Passport Adalats, held once a month all over India, are disposing off long pending cases.

These Passport Adalats should be mandatory for all Passport Officers their calendar to eliminate all pending old cases.

I understand that there is lot of pendency in passport delivery services largely due to pending police verifications. Please coordinate with the respective Commissioners of Police in your jurisdiction regularly so that the police verifications can be expedited. I also like that this pendency be eliminated, at least in those cases where police verifications have been received, by the end of the year.

To meet the ever increasing demand for passports, we embarked on an e-Governance initiative the Passport Seva Project. This is a flagship Project of our Ministry. I am happy to note that 30 out of 77 Passport Seva Kendras have become operational. I would like to see the operationalisation of remaining PSKs by March next year.

As part of the organisational reforms, the Central Passport Organisation cadre has been restructured and expanded. As part of the staff welfare and career enhancement measures of CPO employees, the Ministry has fast tracked promotions and also instituted Productivity Linked Incentive Scheme. I am happy to note that the employees of the Central Passport Organisation and their families are offered gratis passport services. We also need to urgently address the genuine grievances of the CPO employees.

Dear Colleagues, The Passport Seva Project is a venture in the overall national interest. You are the most important stakeholder in the Project and your active involvement would be critical for the success of the execution of the Project.

I am confident that with your utmost support, this transformational initiative would be a great success and become a model for other citizen-centric services in the country.

I hope that the deliberations of the Conference would be constructive and result in practical and forward looking suggestions for improving the overall management of the Central Passport Organisation.

I wish the Conference all success. Thank You. Name ? (to be provided) New Delhi November 29, 2011

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COVER STORY External Affairs Minister Dedicates Seven PSKs to the Nation at Tirupati rd

Yet another chapter was added to the Passport Seva Project on 23 December, 2011, when a total of seven Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) were dedicated to the nation on a single day by Hon'ble Minister of External Affairs Shri. S.M. Krishna, in an event organized at Mahati Auditorium, Tirupati. The seven PSKs include one PSK each in Tirupati, Nizamabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam and three PSKs in Hyderabad.

Many senior dignitaries including MPs, MLAs from Andhra Pradesh and Ministers from State government, apart from Ministry officials graced the occasion.

Hon'ble External Affairs Minister visited the PSK at Tirupati, where the inauguration ceremony commenced with ribbon cutting by EAM, followed by lamp lighting by the dignitaries. The dignitaries took a tour of the PSK and were briefed about the entire process – from token issuance-to- capture of applicant details, photograph and biometrics-to-verification and granting of the application by passport officials.

The group then headed for Mahati Auditorium for the main function, where unveiling of plaques took place. The Hon'ble External Affairs Minister expressed his delight to inaugurate the seven PSKs in Andhra Pradesh. He re-affirmed the citizen-centric role of Passport Offices through adopting measures which facilitate speedier service, greater convenience and comfort to the public at large. In Andhra Pradesh, the demand for passport services has been growing rapidly in the recent years at a much higher rate than that at the national level. Shri Krishna highlighted that the Passport Seva Project launched by the Ministry of External Affairs is a flagship initiative of the Central Government under the National eGovernance Plan to improve delivery of public services and overall governance. He stressed that this project incorporates the best of global practices in the passport issuance system including the establishment of PSKs. He also extended his sincere appreciation to Tata Consultancy Services, the service provider and partner, PSP, for its earnest efforts in speedy implementation of the project. Towards the end of the speech he acknowledged the whole-hearted support received from the Government of Andhra Pradesh and its people in the timely execution of this transformative initiative.

External Affairs Minister Shri. S.M. Krishna speaking at the inauguration of Andhra Pradesh Passport Seva Kendras at Tirupati

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Passport Patrika October-December 2011

KNOWLEDGE SHARING Security Deployment in Passport Seva Project Security deployment in Passport Seva Project would act as a benchmark for many Mission Mode Applications being deployed under National e-Governance Plan: As the Passport Seva project is being rolled out across the country, we are also witnessing the robust security deployment protecting various layers of the Passport Seva System including Data and Information.

A lot of internet malicious traffic has been observed including DoS (denial of service) attack, virus threat etc. but we have been successful in averting these threats by taking proactive measures to shield the applicant's Data in the system. Some of the unique and noticeable efforts that have gone in strengthening the security system of the Passport Seva Project (PSP) are: 1. Centralised Access - The users of the Passport Seva System have been given authorised role based access to the PSP Application, secured with Digital Signature Certificate (DSC). The beauty of such access is that no one has power to meddle with the data locally and also the task being performed by any user is audited and tracked. It is always advisable to have centralised access for large scale Mission Mode Applications that provide better control mechanism to be adhered centrally. Some of them are: Level 1: Key Security Considerations at the User End: a. User authentication performed using Biometric mechanism b. Role based access to the Passport Services, Business Transactions and Data c. DSC used for submission of applications and signing the documents Level 2: Key Security Considerations at the Network/ Transport layer: a. Network Link Encryption (IPSEC) b. Encrypted HTTP session using SSL (HTTPS) Level 3: Key Security Considerations at the Application & Database layer: a. Dual key access for the system administrators b. Secure storage of user credentials c. Intrusion Prevention System to detect/prevent unauthorized activities/sessions d. Server-to-server communication encryption e. Secured/ encrypted storage of data/ data elements in the Database & DB Backups f. Comprehensive logging & audit trail of sessions and transactions 2.

Separate Access Route - Passport Seva System has different access routes to the Passport Seva Application. Closed User Group users connected through intranet have been given secure access through a separate portal. Other stakeholders like police, post and citizens have been given access through front office portal routed through Passport Seva Gateway as they are internet based. Police officials have been given access based on DSCs as they would upload police verification report in the system.

3. Active Load Balance Data Centres/Disaster Recovery Centres - Passport Seva Data Centres, first of its kind in a Government set-up have been in operation since last twenty two months in an active mode.

Both the Data Centres are live and load is distributed among them. Citizens however, have been given single window access through www.passportindia.gov.in. Uniqueness of these data centres comes handy in case of failure of one of them. Each data centre is capable of handling full load of the other data centre i.e. catering to entire load of the Passport Seva System in disaster scenario.

4. State-of-the-art NOC (Network operation centre) - Passport Seva System also witnesses a state-ofthe-art Network Operation Centre, with well defined trouble-shooting desk such as L1, L2 and L3 support personnel posted as 24X7 operation & management which is different from other government NOC, as it is controlled by strategic control team deployed by Ministry with clear and distinct role.

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5. Security standards and certifications - Passport Seva System has followed various international standards of security and process under the supervision of third party audit agency, STQC, an autonomous body of Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, GoI. Some of the critical standards followed are as under: ISO 27001 - Information Security ISO 17799 - Operational Integrity and Security Management ISO 20000 - Service Management ISO 9001 - Operations of Passport Seva Kendra ITIL/ITSM - IT Infrastructure Management W3C specifications - Portal Development Interoperability - Web Services, Open Standards IEEE/ISO specifications - Project Documentation Digital Signature (DSC) - RSA standards Information Access/transfer protocols - SOAP, HTTP/HTTPS BioAPI 2.0 (ISO/IEC 19784-1:2005) - Biometric Framework 6. PRIDE (Passport Related Information Data Exchange) - In contrast to the legacy system, PSP system is working on a centralised database i.e. PRIDE. All the legacy data have been successfully migrated into PRIDE including data from Missions/Posts. Passport Issuance Authorities (PIAs)/Granting Officers (GOs) taking a granting decision on the Passport Application and for Passport related services (across all RPOs/POs/Missions/Posts) are ensuring duplicity and other background verification of the Passport Seekers before taking granting decisions.

"My own experience confirms that PSP system has been designed, developed and deployed in best possible manner with utmost security measures, both at system and process level. Many mission mode applications would like to replicate such a highly secure deployment strategically controlled by the Ministry." - Golok Kumar Simili For queries regarding this article, please write to: Golok Kumar Simili, Principal Consultant, Passport Seva Project Ministry of External Affairs Email: princontech@mea.gov.in How to Submit an Application at Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) Under the new system defined by the Ministry, the process for availing passport services has been simplified. Online appointment is mandatory to walk into PSK for further processing. Walk-in Service is provided at the discretion of RPO/PSK in-charge for emergency/medical cases.

Steps for form submission at Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) Step 1: Log on to the website www.passportindia.gov.in Step 2: Create a user id and assign password. A User id helps to maintain the security of a passport applicant, enabling him to apply for passport services, take an appointment as well as check the status of his application.

Step 3: Fill and submit the application form online or download the e-form, fill and upload the same with the user-id created above. With a single user id, a user can upload maximum three application forms. However there is no restriction on the number of user ids a person can create Step 4: Note the Application Reference Number (ARN), schedule an appointment and take a printout of the appointment slip.

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Passport Patrika October-December 2011

Step 5: Visit the designated Passport Seva Kendra at the scheduled date and time, along with all original documents and photocopies as required. Applicant's presence is mandatory.

At the Passport Seva Kendra Step 6: Collect a token from the Token Issuance Counter after showing the appointment slip. Enter through the turnstile and wait for turn in the waiting area till your token number is displayed on the display board.

Step 7: Stage 1, Processing by Citizen Service Executive (CSE) - Submit the token, and self-attested (signed by the applicant) photocopies of the supporting documents to the at the designated service counter. Complete activities at the counter which include submission of correct applicant details, capture of photograph and biometrics as well as fee payment.

Await your turn at the Stage 2 counter.

Step 8: Stage 2 Processing by Verification Officer (VO) – Submit all original documents to the verification officer. On successful verification, you will be directed to visit the stage 3 counter.

Step 9: Stage 3 Processing by Granting Officer (GO) – The granting officer takes a decision on granting of the passport – with pre/post/no police verification, with ECR/ECNR, for an appropriate validity period.

Step 10: Collect the print-out of the final status of your application (acknowledgement letter) at the exit gate.

After successful application form submission, with final status as "Granted", the passport would go in for printing immediately in case of Post/No police verification. In case the application has been granted on pre police verification basis, the passport goes into printing after a clear police report is received.

The applicant can at all time track the status of the application from the website or by calling the call center at 1800-258-1800.

PSK Directory

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STATUS SCAN Numbers Speak…

• Number of PSKs operational as on 31.12.2011: 30 • Number of applications processed in PSP between May 2010 to Dec 2011: 12,33,130 • Number of passports printed between May 2010 to Dec 2011: 10,19,579 • Number of languages supported at the Call Centre: 7 • Average number of citizens serviced daily: Over 8,000 • Average number of calls received at the Passport Seva Call Center daily: Over 10,000 • Average number of hits to the passportindia.gov.in portal daily: Over 42,000 • Citizen Satisfaction Index at PSK: 99.70%

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE Citizen Feedback In the Passport Seva Project, various channels used for feedback collection are as follows: • Feedback forms filled at PSKs • Touch screen facility installed at select PSKs • E-mails received at PSP Helpdesk • Online through the Passport Seva Portal • Call Centre Collection of feedback is done on the following four parameters: • Cleanliness and ambience • Courtesy • Efficiency / service delivery • Overall Experience This section presents citizen satisfaction gathered over the last quarter (October - December 2012)

PSK-wise Overall Citizen Satisfaction Index

Overall PSK Feedback Analysis

99.70 % Citizens rated PSK Services as "Excellent", "Very Good" or "Good" 14

Passport Patrika October-December 2011

Citizens Speak…

VIP Feedback: Mr. K Sellamuthu, IAS ,Commisioner of Horticulture and Plantation Crops, Tamil Nadu, visited PSK-Navin's Presidium, Chennai on 28th October'11 and has rated PSK Services "Very Good" on all the parameters.

Comment- “Smooth Transaction with customers is commendable.”

Mr. S Gopalakrishnan, Executive Co-Chairman Infosys, visited PSK Bangalore Sai Arcade th PSK on 16 November'11 and has rated PSK Services "Excellent" on all parameters.

Comment- “The whole process was handled very professionally and with courtesy. Thanks.” th

Mr. G Panduranga Rao, Jt. Transport Commissioner, visited Hyderabad-2 PSK on 13 December'11 and has rated "Excellent" on Physical look, Amenities & Convenience parameters and "Very Good" on all other parameters Comment- “Services are good here. Response towards the applicants is good, guiding the applicants is good.”

Other Feedback: “Everything is well organised. I am happy with new system. Staff is humble and co-operative.”

– Ms. Navdeep Kaur, Jalandhar-1 PSK “Great customer service, I found very good environment at PSK. I hope it is maintained in the long run also.”

– Mr. Chandrashekhar R, Madurai PSK Scope for Improvement: “Please provide extra facilities for children below 10 years and also please give priority to elderly persons and people who are ill. Rest all is fine.”

– Mr. P G Naveen Kumar, Hubli PSK “Procedure for police verification should be clear and transparent, the old website is still working, two address proves are required but site mentions that only one is required.”

– Mr. Surinder Singh Bhai, Delhi-1 PSK “The website needs to be updated with the correct documents, as of now the website does not provide a complete list of documents required.”

– Mr. Sitaram Subhramanyam G, Hyderabad-1 PSK “Tatkaal appointments should be slotted in a fixed time of the day.”

– Mr. B. R. Sharma, Ludhiana PSK

Passport Patrika October-December 2011

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EMPLOYEES CORNER List of Officers who have since been retired/VRS/expired/resigned from service w.e.f. October, 2011.

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Passport Patrika October-December 2011

Interview: Regional Passport Officer, Chennai ?

Please share your experience with this commendable initiative -The Passport Seva Project.

" Passport Seva Project is an important e-governance initiative taken by the Ministry to transform the passport delivery system into the paperless mode with introduction of online police verification system. Since the entire process is system-driven it is a great reduction in time in backend. PSKs provided comfortable atmosphere for the public to submit the application and complete the entire process till granting." ?

It must have been quite a job to transform old systems into new

ones, how did you go about bringing in this change? " The success to the changes is simply brought by the Officers and staff due to their positive attitude to acceptance and early adaption to change." ?

Share with us some of the achievements and learnings, since

Chennai RPO has gone operational with 3 PSKs in Sept 2011. " It is premature to talk about the achievements since we are in the stage of inception. However, the issuance of passport is faster and atmosphere for the public at PSKs is comfortable."

Regional Passport Officer, Chennai Shri Senthil Pandian ( IAS )

?

Do you think that there has been an improvement in citizen service delivery when availing

passport services? " Yes, of course. After the process of verification & granting the passport delivery is quicker when compared to legacy system. It is because of the fact that the entire process is system triggered." ?

Please share your thoughts about the online appointment system & online police enquiry

system. " Online Police verification is commendable due to which time taken to issue passport is reduced to almost half. In the new software, there is a provision to feed & store the data and manage appointment at particular time due to which common man struggles to get appointment. Public feels that the application form may be simplified and appointment process can be streamlined." ?

Overall, how satisfied are you with the changes in the work culture and citizen experience this

initiative has brought in?

"Officers and staff adapted to the new system much earlier than expected. Citizens by and large they are happy except for filling application form and getting appointment."

Passport Patrika October-December 2011

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In The Media

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Passport Patrika October-December 2011

RPO Amritsar Organised a Session for School Children

Passport Patrika October-December 2011

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Passport Seva Kendra, Kolkata