Passport Patrika October - December 2011 External Affairs Minister Shri. S.M. Krishna Dedicates Seven PSKs to the Nation at Tirupati
Transcript
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 [email protected] 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..... - 4 15 Numbers Speak Voice of the People
............................................................................................................
15 - Citizen Feedback Citizens Speak Employees Corner
............................................................................................................
- Appointments & Retirements Interview: RPO Chennai the Media
...................................................................................................................................
In - 17 19 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 Passport Patrika
October-December 2011 3
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.
1979-80 No. of Passports Issued (in lakhs) 1989-90 8.51 15.58 25.80
58.69 83% 66% 127.48% % increase over the Previous period 4
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 Passport Patrika
October-December 2011 5
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 6 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 7
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. 8 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 Passport
Patrika October-December 2011 9
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 10 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. Passport Patrika October-December
2011 11
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:
[email protected] 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. 12 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 Passport Patrika October-December 2011 13
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 screen
facility installed at select PSKs Touch E-mails received at PSP
Helpdesk Online through the Passport Seva Portal Centre Call
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 15
EMPLOYEES CORNER List of Officers who have since been
retired/VRS/expired/resigned from service w.e.f. October, 2011. 16
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." ? have been quite a job to
transform old systems into new It must 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 ) ?think that there has been an
improvement in citizen service delivery when availing Do you
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."
? how satisfied are you with the changes in the work culture and
citizen experience this Overall, 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 17
In The Media 18 Passport Patrika October-December 2011
RPO Amritsar Organised a Session for School Children Passport
Patrika October-December 2011 19
Printed by: First Impressions 9911223390, 011-2341882 Passport
Seva Kendra, Kolkata