Passport Patrika | July - December 2013

Innovation

Citizen Convenience

Extended Reach

Process Transformation

e-Governance

Growth

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013

Passport

Patr kaA 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)

(Pro

ject

ed)

In this Issue

04

05

20

22

27

28

15

19

Events

- Passport Seva Camp at Farrukhabad

- Foreign Secretary visits Herald House PSK, Delhi

- Parliamentary Standing Committee visits Passport Seva Kendras

Public Notice & Advisory

Achievements & Recognition

Media & Public Outreach

Voice of People

Employees Corner

Snippets

- Reach of mPassport Seva app extended

- Status Tracking of passport applications via SMS

- More user friendly Passport Seva Website

Passport Patrika | July – December 201302

Cover Story- Year 2013 at a Glance

9.48.5 8.2 7.8

6.45.8

4.6 4.6 4.13.5

2.1 1.91.1 0.9 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.3 0.3

9.58.3 8.1 7.8

6.1 5.74.6 4.4 4.0

3.42.0 1.7

1.0 0.9 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.3 0.3-1.0

1.0

3.0

5.0

7.0

9.0

11.0

Ker

ala

Tam

il N

adu

Mah

aras

htr

a

An

dh

ra P

rad

esh

Utt

ar P

rad

esh

Pu

nja

b

Gu

jara

t

Kar

nat

aka

Del

hi

Wes

t B

enga

l

Raj

asth

an

Bih

ar

Mad

hya

Pra

des

h

Jam

mu

& K

ash

mir

Ori

ssa

Jhar

khan

d

Ass

am

Utt

arak

han

d

Go

a

Ch

atti

sgar

h

Him

ach

al P

rad

esh

# of Applications processed & services rendered

# of applications received # of services rendered

Address:

CPV Division,

Ministry of External Affairs,

Patiala House Annexe,

Tilak Marg,

New Delhi-110 001

Tel: +91-11-23387013

Fax:+91-11-23071370

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

Website:

http://passportindia.gov.in

E-mail:

[email protected]

Editorial Note

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013 03

Muktesh Pardeshi

Joint Secretary (PSP) & Chief Passport Officer

Creative Team:

Shalini Manchanda

Vipul Popli

Design and Publishing Partner :

TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES

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.

SNIPPETS

Reach of mPassport Seva app extended

In order to keep pace with the current technology,

the Passport Seva Project had launched the mPassport stSeva mobile app on Android platform, as a pilot, on 21

March 2013. Encouraged by positive public response, PSP team has now launched this app on Windows and Apple iOS platforms as well.

The 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.

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 s t a t u s o f t h e i r p a s s p o r t applications by providing File Number and Date of Birth. In case the passport has been dispatched, Delivery Status can also be tracked.

Status Tracking of passport applications via SMS

st From 1 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.

In order to enhance the usability of passport Seva thwebsite, MEA on 6 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.

04 Passport Patrika | July – December 2013

Link Downloads

227974

165611

84052

Rating

4.2

4.0

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

www.windowsphone.com/en-in/store

www.apple.com/itunes 3.5

More User Friendly Passport Seva Website

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.

Indian 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.

Year 2013 at a Glance

Passport Patrika | July – December 2013 05

States with more than 3 lakhApplications processed

Do You Know ?

Do You Know ?

51929132

Total No. of ValidPassport Holders

COVER STORY

85.17 Lakh Passport services rendered in 2013

COVER STORY

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 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 year. This is an all time high a n d a m o u n t s t o o v e r 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.

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

1978. The total strength of the Central Passport Organization Cadre is 2697 as on 31 December 2013. st

The Ministry has taken several steps to improve the service conditions of the CPO personnel by re-

structuring 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)

on 21 March 2013, having retrospective effect, to financially incentivise individual performance st

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

Growing Demand for Passports

Central Passport Organization


Channel wise percentage of applications processed

Operational Performance: 15% Growth

Passport Applications Received (Overseas applications not included)

COVER STORY

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.

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-to-

date 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.

Floods in Surat Heavy Snowfall in Srinagar

07

Physical Infrastructure

Passport Seva Project: Successful Implementation


Passport Offices Work Under Diverse Weather Conditions

COVER STORY

Figures speak:

As on 31 December 2013, over 1.36 crore st

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.

08

Improvements in service delivery:

Today, 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.

The 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.


Do You Know?Do You Know? %52 etaudar

GBelow

10th 4

1%Education wise percentage of

application processed06

declaredilliterate

Percentage of normal Passports issued in days

Kuo

n

Y

o

w

oD

?10% Tatkal Passports areissued on the same day.

COVER STORY

09

Police Verification

Police Verification (PV) plays an

important role in the timely dispatch

of passports. The project team

continues to engage closely with the

Po l i c e D e p a r t m e n t s a c r o s s

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

average, followed by Andhra

Pradesh (17 days), Haryana (19

days), Kerala (27 days), and

Chandigarh (27 days). As on 31 December 2013, 399 of the 724 Police Districts were working on the st

District model.

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.


Interesting Facts- Youngest Applicant 2 days- Oldest Applicant 116 years- Average Age 31 years

,5,12,581

,

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 publ ic for i ts benef i t . The number of

complaints/grievances have steadily gone down in the

COVER STORY

Measures to Improve Passport Services

Passport Seva Call Centre

10

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.

Information 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 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.


…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…

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).

COVER STORY

11

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.

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

and also for the CPV Division. From 1 July 2013, CPV Division has been operating a separate section in the Government of st

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.


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.

Awarness Campaign on Emigration and Passport

Grievances

th On 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.

Details of Passport Melas (July - December 2013)

ApplicationsCollected

ApplicationsCollected

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.

Machine Readable Travel Documents

In 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 sthave been implemented with effect from 1 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 e-

passports 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.


Channel wise percentage of applications processed

13

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 th thHaj announcement 2013. Applications for Haj 2013 were received between 6 February 2013 and 30 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 st the 7 best examples of public services delivery (Civil Services Day, 21 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 FactsInteresting Facts

Gender wise percentage of applications Age Group wise percentage of applications

COVER STORY

14

· 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

Total number of Passport Applications Received and Issued


Foreign Secretary visits Herald House PSK, Delhi

th On 17 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.

EVENTS

Passport Seva Camp at Farrukhabad

th On 14 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.

While inaugurating the camp, Shri Salman Khurshid

spoke about the advancement of technology which is

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, Foreign Secretarywith 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.

Prior to taking over as Foreign Secretary, Mrs. Singh served as Ambassador of India to Germany (2012-2013) and H igh Commiss ioner 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).

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.

Shrimati Sujatha Singh

15Passport Patrika | July - December 2013

Shri Salman Khurshid, Hon'ble EAMwith Passport Seva Team

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

EVENTS

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

Committee of Parliament on Official Language at RPO Bangalore

Parliamentary Standing Committee visits

Passport Seva Kendras

The 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.

Parliamentary Standing Committee on External

affairs held discussions with Foreign Secretary

On 17 December 2013, Parliamentary th

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".

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


Committee of Parliament on Official Language visits

RPO Ghaziabad and Bangalore

The First Sub Committee of Committee of

Parliament on Official Language visited Ghaziabad and th thBangalore on 16 July & 20 November 2013 respectively.

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

th On 19 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

III

IV

Visit of faculty members of State Administrative

Training Institutes at PSK

th On 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

st On 01 October

2013, a delegation

c o n s i s t i n g o f 2 5

members from the DoT

visited PSK Herald

H o u s e t o g e t a n

o v e r v i e w o f t h e

Project. The delegation was given a walkthrough of the

PSK Operations.

CCTV control room inaugurated at Hyderabad

t h On 2 4 J u l y

2013, Shri Muktesh

Pardeshi JS(PSP) and

CPO inaugurated CCTV

c o n t r o l r o o m a t

Hyderabad PSK. In

order to have smooth

& controlled processes, the CCTV monitoring systems

are connected to RPO control room.

PIA's PVR Conference at Goa

thOn 28 September

2 0 1 3 , P I A P V R

Conference was held

at Fidalgo Hotel in Goa

t o r e v i e w P o l i c e

Verification issues.

Press Meet at PSK Lalbagh, Bangalore

th On 6 August 2013,

a team of 17 reporters

f r o m N a t i o n a l a n d

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

nd On 22 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

th On 4 September

2013, a successful media

w a l k - t h r o u g h w a s

organized at PSK Patna.

RPO Patna addressed the

m e d i a a b o u t t h e

f u n c t i o n i n g o f P S K

operations.

Police Meet held at Thanjavur

st On 21 Nov 2013, a

m e e t i n g w a s h e l d

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 . D h a r m a r a j , I P S ,

Superintendent of Police, Thanjavur and other senior

police officials.

EVENTS


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.

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: 2/7/2013Dear 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.

Launch of Online Booking

Taiwan: The Ministry of Foreign

Affairs of Taiwan launched a thwebsite on 24 Dec 2013, which

allow the passport applicants to

book an appointment before

visiting BOCA's (Bureau of

Consular Affairs)

France gives itself a year for

Online Passport paymentsthFrance: On 18 Dec 2013, the

French government announced

that a year from now citizens will

be able to pay online when they

request for fresh passport or for

the renewal of the existing one.

Government decides to issue

passport for 10 years

Pakistan: Through a notification th on 9 Dec 2013, the Federal

government has decided to

extend duration of the national

passport to ten years instead of 5

years, applicable now.

Improving Passport Services for Canadians

In order to provide the better p a s s p o r t s e r v i c e s , t h e responsibility for passport serv ices moved from the 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 €80stIreland: 1 Oct 2013, the price of

the passport will not come down

even though the cost of

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

cardsth

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.

Public Notice & Advisory

1. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has set a deadline of the 24 November 2015 for

th

globally phasing out all non-Machine Readable Passports (MRPs). From 25 November 2015 onwards, foreign

th

Governments may deny visa or entry to any person travelling with a non-MRP passport.

2. All 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.

2. Pursuant to the signing of the Revised Travel

Arrangements between India and Bangladesh signed on

28 January 2013, it has been decided by the Ministry of th

External Affairs to discontinue issuance of India-

Bangladesh Passport (IBP) w.e.f. 15 November 2013. In th

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:

· IBPs already issued will remain valid till expiry of their

duration.

· No new applications for IBP will be accepted by any

concerned State Government after 15 November 2013. th

All applications received on or before 15 November th

2013 should be processed and IBPs issued expeditiously.

No India-Bangladesh Passport should be issued after 30 th

November, 2013.

3. All concerned State Governments have been informed accordingly. More details on how to apply for a r e g u l a r p a s s p o r t i s a v a i l a b l e o n www.passportindia.gov.in

India-Bangladesh Passport (IBP)

Discontinuation of India-Bangladesh Passport(IBP)

3. Indian citizens residing in India and abroad and holding handwritten passports as well as 20-year passports with validity beyond the 24 November 2015, th

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.

4. For 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.

1. The 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.

thSource: www.mea.gov.in, 9 December 2013 thSource: www.mea.gov.in, 8 November 2013

Machine-readable passports


http://www.passportindia.gov.in

http://www.passportindia.gov.in


MEA Felicitated as 'BIG DATA LEADERS'

th On 13 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

th On 11 Dec 2013, the Passport Seva

Project was recognized by Data Council of India for providing security in e-governance during

ththeir 8 Annual Information Security Summit in New Delhi.

MEA recognized by Economic Times

th On 24 Oct 2013, the Passport Seva Project

was awarded the certificate of recognition for innovation and implementation of e-Governance.



Milestone Achieved

The 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 9 th

successive year, were announced at a function rdheld at Hyderabad on 23 July 2013. The award

was presented by Hon'ble Minister of Information Technology, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Shri Ponnalla Lakshmaiah.

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:

- The 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

- The “Certificate of Achievement” for Pocket CIO and Regional

Enterprise Security Award conducted by IT Next 9.9 Media House on 20 - 21

September 2013.

Passport Seva Project wins

eIndia Governance Award

Passport Patrika recognized as Top 5% viewed collateral by SlideShare

Passport 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

th On 20 August 2013, Passport Seva Project achieved another mark by issuing the 1,00,00,000 th

passport from RPO, Ghaziabad, exactly after 2 months of achieving 1 Crore application processed mark.

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



Reprinted Courtesy: egov, September 2013





Sources:th th1. Times of India, Ludhiana, 13 Nov 2013 2. Hindustan Times, Chandigarh, 10 Oct 2013

th th3. Times News Network, Hyderabad, 10 Oct 2013 4. The Hindu, Hyderabad, 08 Nov 2013th th5. Deccan Herald, Bangalore, 06 Nov 2013 6. Dainik Bhaskar, Chandigarh, 19 Oct 2013

th7. The Times of India, Mumbai, 11 Oct 2013

1

3

2

4

7

5

6


1

3

4

5

6

7

2


Sources:th nd1. Dainik Bhaskar, Chandigarh, 07 Nov 2013 2. I-next, Bareilly, 22 Nov 2013

th th3. Mathrubhumi, Kannur, 26 Nov 2013 4. Nutan Saurashtra, Rajkot, 28 Nov 2013th th5. Jansandesh, Lucknow, 07 Dec 2013 6. Lokmat, Mumbai, 08 Dec 2013

th7. Times of India, New Delhi, 30 Jul 2013



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.


Citizen Feedback

In the Passport Seva Project, various channels

used for feedback collection are as follows:a) Feedback forms filled at PSKsb) Touch screen facility installed at select PSKsc) E-mails received at PSP Helpdeskd) Online through the Passport Seva Portale) Call Centre

Collection of feedback is done on the following four parameters:

a) Cleanliness and ambienceb) Courtesyc) Efficiency / service deliveryd) Overall Experience

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

Citizen Speak(July 2013 - December 2013)

VIP Feedback• Very good and excellent service, better then international standards. Keep it up

rd Mr. Keshub Mahindra, Former Chairman, Mahindra Group, PSK Mumbai, 23 July 2013

• The personnel deployed here are very helpful and prompt in giving any sort of assistance for quick delivery of servicesth

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.

th Partha Sarathi Pal, PSK Ranchi, 24 Dec 2013

Citizen's Comments - Scope for Improvement • Special clearance may be provided for Sr. Citizens if possible

thM Prasada Rao , PSK Hyderabad, 16 Dec 2013

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

Narinder Singh Chadwa, PSK Shimla, 3 July 2013

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

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Cleanliness and

Ambience

Courtesy Efficiency Overall

ExperienceExcellent Good Poor


Voice of People

PSK-wise Overall Citizen Satisfaction Index

Employees Corner


Employees Corner


Employees Corner

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

He was appointed AS(CPV) during early 2013.

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 14 & 15 September, 2013.th th

Vigilance Awareness Weekth 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


High Level Appointments

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.

Generosity @ Passport Organization

The 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.

Employees Corner


Moments of Fun, Festivities and Camaraderie

State-wise Passport Servicesin 2013

Ministry of External Affairs

Government of India

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

In partnership with

Gujrat (4,63,154)

Karnataka (4,36,999)

Madhya Pradesh(1,02,740)

Orissa (81,406)

Tamil Nadu (8,34,391)

Uttarakhand(48,016)

Haryana &Delhi (4,08,588)

Goa (48,368)

Assam, Arunachal PradeshNagaland,Mizoram, Manipur &Meghalaya (51,816)

Andhra Pradesh(7,75,698)

Rajasthan (2,02,331)

Punjab (5,71,430)(including Chandigarh)

Jammu & Kashmir (86,671)

West Bengal,Tripura & Sikkim (3,37,232)

Uttar Pradesh (6,08,653)

Maharashtra(8,08,965)

Bihar (1,69,451)

Jharkhand(60,448)

Himachal Pradesh (28,270)

Kerala (9,50,611)

Chattisgarh (30,453)

Andam

an &

Nico

bar Isla

nds (3

,008)

Passport Patrika | July - December 2013

Government & Nonprofit

vigilance

revised travel

shrimati sujatha

national call

nicobar islands

principal

public outreach

tata consultancy