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Passport Patrika | January - June 2011

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MADAD

A Bulletin of Passport services in India. Published by Central Passport Organisation, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi.

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VOL 01 | Jan June 2011 Passport Patrika
Editorial Aliti as assi ommolup tibeaque sin ne odistia quatquis none cum dolupta tioneca estrum cor moluptatur? Obis dus, sitint, sa samendi con plant. Ro il il inciusti con pra dis reperspient, quid min ra essim ne deliqui aut mo et labora acepedi omnimendes moluptatur atibeat resenim eumet explitiisque sam nissus peditatur? Pa cuptaspe culparum quate incieni blaborrumqui quiam restotatur aut quia cum qui conesti andestrumqui dolent qui atemque sinimus moditios ea cus am quide commodi squiam doluptatust et a quibusci repratus ant. Imincidus. Ibus, quatis pernatem haribus esti consequod etureste volorem reptat. Vellest orepele caborem rerfernam aut estempore nossecea volene as ut rersperferum esto qui que voluptatur, sandae omnimusamet, offic tem. Custo modions enectio. Sae. Nemque id que volecat re voloremod evel et la nos es non nem solecupis nobis erati con rem rem. Nem eum quatiandae nobisime parciae stecto quis aceperroviti solenim porera dolest od min el is et que aut voluptur ma qui omnis dendit aut volorep erunditam si aut quam evendandae que nonem. Nem excea as ad molorporpore explat inimil is eum dolorae ctibus rest, solor as moluptur anime poreicim sunt, qui tem et re et magnati dit quis di voloribusam, omnim fugitatur modis alissim aioreri oressequo mil int et a dolorepudae que conse il modisitat volut et pererum, andipie ndandel iaecto doluptae rae. Istotat ecerum autaquodipis que nosa explique vellabore por accab im reperrovit que volorem porerae iumqui seque qui ra qui tem laci autendant, eat velessin eumqui officia nitaest, as min et fugia vella quis vendusciis es ut volupid mos magnatemque liquia num aut perro exceaqui vendae prepti dolessi autature consed que voluptiusa volo ex et, nonecab is sitisci ut lam alist et maximaio explam, sum voluptatem vel explacc aboris quo berioneste et landendelita dolor mo inulpar chilitam intis parcipid qui cuptatem quibustia ium fugia coreicium ad magnimp elibus etur? Qui solo consente dolo dolenihit molorep ersped earias atatum et, alibus ratur, sus ni officiliquam as accum dit quam nosant, ut magnimaio modis atur accuptatem. Nem. Nam harum repe dest omnimusam eosam cus aut dolutem rende landis doloribus incte assimin verferatur aspedi utatemq uiassim pernatis aut aut eria voluptatet eium quiduci istrum del modis dolorepero quaturiatume nossunt, que as eum nus architas ut eostibu saperspercil incilla quianihiciat di vollaut ped utessi doluptat eiciis sus, cusanditibus modiciatibus excepti bustiur acculparum ium qui ius nonsequatur? Aruptatur a sequiscienis is magnisc ipsam, nobit aped eveliquibus essit, oditia veleseditam faceaqui de eatinctis magnam qui di quam apis volorum illa que et et ut ulla vendaer natae. Et eribeate consenis nonsero vidusdaepere nonsequidem ere velest lia vel idiat acculparit re iminulliquia quidel et fuga. Niminum acesectur aut moluptis sent ut qui netur maiossim que sum nobisto rruptibere neturibusant abo. Necti as aliaspe rnatias magnatia voloremodi dolupta tectati ationest, ipsapis delloruptis di rehentiur, eossunt enit, quam, tecturios cum, eium, int resedit accus secae dolupta perumquia dolorruntus nis rem suntur? Alitatis volorpo rionseribus et es aut initenis iunt lam quam ut dit aut hilisqu iberia debit pernatem nate vollam et, ipsam qui reprernatia net perem volo et endem id maion nosanim persper itaeper ferupti adipis dolorionse pos unt optatiosa parcipi ssedit fugit vendemossum andaeri aturemquia dolori dit pra con pro cus, quuntotat. Gendis perferepra invelenieni que none netur? Pliberrores Magnim
Content 4 Snippets - Record performance in 2010 - Did you know - From history - Passport Adalat 5 Important Events - Passport Officers Conference for Southern Region - Estimates Committee of Lok Sabha - EAMs visit to RPO Kochi (Cover Story: From the Desk of the Regional Passport Offices- EAMs visit to RPO Kochi) 8 Knowledge Sharing Appeal Procedure 8 Status Scan - Project Updates - Go Live The Road Ahead 10 Voice of the customer Citizen Feedback 12 Crossings - Chief Passport Officers List - Retirement from the Central Passport Organization - Appointments in the CPV Division - Appointments as RPOs 13 PSP: Frequently Asked questions 15 Jottings - Successful completion of 3rd Party Audit - RPO Mumbai Plays Key Role in Libyan Evacuation - 13th National Conference of All India Passport Employees Association Partners in the PSP -
Snippets Record performance in 2010 Over the last five decades, there has been considerable expansion in both the scope and volume of services rendered by the Passport Offices. The number of passports issued by all the Passport Offices in India in 1979 was a mere 8.51 lakh which has gone up to 52.51 lakh in 2010. Similarly, 2010 witnessed highest number of new passports Issued and miscellaneous services rendered, at 59.27 lakh and are a record ever achieved in a year. Did you know A small State like Kerala with a population of 31 million has four Passport Offices which together issued 7.21 lakh Passports and rendered 1.35 miscellaneous services during 2010. From history The first four Regional Passport Offices at Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai were established in 1955. Passport Adalat All Passport Offices will hold a Passport Adalat on last Friday of every month. Please check with your area Passport Office for more details. 4 Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011)
Important Events Passport Officers Conference for Southern Region A Passport Officers Conference for Southern Region held in Kochi. RPO conference was held on 26-27 December, 2010 in Kochi for the Regional passport Officers of Southern Indi a. 16 passport officers from passport offices in Tamil Nadu (4), Kerela (4), Karnataka (1), Andhra Pradesh (2), Maharashtra (4) and Goa(1) attended this conference. Foreign secretary Ms. Nirupama Rao, Additional Secretary Mr. Basant Gupta, VP and Government ISU head , TCS Mr. Tanmoy Chakrabarty along with senior leadership from MEA and TCS addressed the RPOs and highlighted their role as ambassadors of change in this transition to the new PSP system. The sessions were well received and provided a good forum for addressing any queries the participants had. The RPOs were enthused and eagerly await the arrival of the transformational program in the coming year. Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) 5
Estimates Committee of Lok Sabha The Estimates Committee of the Lok Sabha visited the RPOs in Mumbai and Kochi and presented a report. Study Tour of the Committee on Estimates to Mumbai and Kochi Committee on Estimates of Lok Sabha lead by Shri. Francisco Sardinha undertook an on-the-spot study tour of the RPO Mumbai on 09.02.11 and the RPO Kochi on 10.02.11. The Committee focused on the subject Customer Services in Passport offices. During the on-the-spot study tour, the members of the committee interacted with members of the public as well as the officials of the passport offices along with other officials of Government departments viz. Postal Department, etc. 6 Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) (COVER STORY) EAMs visit to RPO Kochi The EAM visited the RPO Kochi. External Affairs Minister announces PSK launch schedule for Kerala Shri S.M Krishna, Hon. Minister for External Affairs, Govt. of India visited the Regional Passport Office, Kochi on Feb 01, 2011. He was given a very warm and cordial welcome by the officers and staff of the Office as well as the project personnel of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). After a brief interaction with the concerned officials, he addressed a press conference. The Hon. Minister declared that thirteen Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) would be started by July this year in Kerala, in addition to the four passport offices in the State.
Elaborating further, he stated that these PSKs would be located at Neyyatinkara, Thiruvanthapuram, Kollam, Alapppuzha, Kottayam, Kochi, Aluva, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Vadakara, Kannur and Payyanoor. It was revealed that of the 8.75 Lakh applications received last year, the four passport offices in the State had succeeded in issuing as many as 8.56 Lakh passports till date. Explaining the situation in the country at large, the Minister stated that a record number of 62.13 Lakh passport applications were received across the country in 2010, and that the passport offices had successfully issued 59.27 Lakh new passports during the same period. The Ministry anticipates the numbers to cross one Crore this year. The Minister also pointed out that police verification had been made a must for issuance of a passport and that there would not be any compromise on such security checks. According to him, the Foreign Secretary has communicated this to the Chief Secretaries of all states, in order to ensure better support from the Local Police to the Passport Offices in faster clearance of the pending Police Verification files. Such co-ordination and support are essential, as Police Verification is a time-consuming process involving an onerous responsibility. Shri. Krishna also added that the Ministry of External Affairs has decided to upgrade the infrastructure facilities in all passport offices across the country for speedy issuance of passports. With the demand for passports expected to reach one Crore soon, the government is planning to take up a project to link Passport Seva Portal to district police headquarters so that reports are received expeditiously. In this regard, a data centre and a network operation centre have been opened in Delhi and a disaster recovery centre in Chennai. The complement of officers and personnel welcoming and briefing the Minister, included Mr.B.K.Gupta, Additional Secretary, MEA, Mr.T.Cherian, Under Secretary, Mr. B.Sreekumar, Regional Passport Officer as well as TCS PSK Regional Head, Mr. Lijo Mannaraprayil and Mr. Sharat. Rajan, Manager, Passport Seva Project Team. Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) 7
Knowledge Sharing Appeal Procedure 1. There is a two tier system of appeals under the Passports Act: (i) JS (PSP& CPO) is the Appellate Authority against decisions taken U/s.6 or the 10 by the Passport Authorities (Passport Offices/ Missions/ Posts) and U/s 10A by Pos, and (ii) Additional Secretary (CPV) in the Ministry of External Affairs is the Appellate Authority in respect of passports suspended/ impounded/ revoked decisions taken by the Chief Passport Officer himself. 2. However, there is no appeal if the decision is taken by the Central Government under section 6(2) (i) (when the issue of passport or travel document is rejected to an applicant in the interest of public.). 3. A person, whose passport application is refused U/s 6 or passports is suspended/ impounded/ revoked U/s.10, is first expected to avail the remedy of appeal U/s.11 before approaching the High Court/ the Supreme Court. 4. While conveying the decision to the passport applicant/ holder on denial of passport facilities, the Passport Authority should invariably inform the applicant/ passport holder of their right of appeal to the Chief Passport Officer. 5. The aggrieved applicants have to apply within 30 days from the date of receipt of the order. 6. They have to deposit Rs.25/- towards the appeal fee in Passport Office or Treasury/ Mission. The appeal fee, if paid in Treasury is to be credited in Account No. 065- Other Administrative Services- Other Receipt. Status Scan PROJECT UPDATES: Project Updates The story so far 8 Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011)
Project Statistics* *Number of citizens managed daily 3,500 *No of applications processed under PSP lakhs *No of passports dispatched lakhs *No of apps pending for Police verification (>21 days) 46K *No of calls received at call centre daily - 3000 *No of hits to online portal daily 15000+ *No of eforms uploaded daily 1300+ *The above mentioned statistics are as of 31st December 2010 Go live the road ahead It is our endeavor to reach out to the staff at the RPOs and keep them informed and updated on the project progress. Several critical milestones from a site readiness, staff readiness and support availability perspective need to be accomplished before a PSK can become functional and serve the needs of the citizens. To stay up to date on the progress of the project, keep viewing the poster at your site regularly! The first step in the journey is the approval of the Passport Seva Kendra site by Ministry of External affairs. Once the site is approved, construction of the building begins. This is followed by training of RPO staff. Training of RPO staff includes training on how to use the new application and also training on soft skills. After successfully completing these trainings you will feel confident of using the new system. Since police staff is closely involved in the issue of a passport, they are also trained on the new application. Once trainings are completed, the RPO is equipped with the necessary IT Infrastructure such as computers and networks etc. In the meanwhile, the PSK site construction is completed.MEA and NSIG officials then audit the PSK to ensure that all security and equipment Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) 9
standards are met. On successful completion of the audit, trial runs begin at the PSK. Once the staff is comfortable in using the new system and the operations run smoothly during the trial runs, the site reaches the final milestone of Go-Live! A Countdown Poster depicting this journey has been specially designed to keep you updated on the progress at your RPO. The Index box on the poster, lists these major milestones to be achieved before Go-Live at each PSK. As each milestone is achieved, the flying passport will move on the poster. Project updates from other RPOs will appear on the left hand side, in the space provided. This space will also give updates on the achievements of the Passport Seva Project. Voice Of customer citizen feedback All the 7 Pilot PSKs continue to deliver exemplary service to the citizens in a convenient and transparent manner. With the Wave 1 of expansion on the cards, it is essential that the best practices followed across are replicated to ensure continuity of citizen delights across all upcoming PSKs also. Proper feedback management plays an important part not only in tracking and monitoring of services but also in suggesting improvements to take the citizen satisfaction to the next level. Over a period of time, our experience in Project execution has enabled us to appreciate the importance of well executed feedback management to capture timely, accurate and relevant information. Across all the PSKs, a well designed and robust feedback mechanism has been put in place and a comprehensive methodology of collation and analysis has been devised to indicate and properly reflect the trends in citizen satisfaction. Various channels used for feedback collection are as follows 10 Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) n P hysical feedback forms at PSKs n ouch screen facility installed at PSKs (Currently installed T South PSKs only) in n -Mails received at PSP Helpdesk E n nline through the Passport Seva Portal O n all Centre C Collection of feedback is done on the following four Parameters n n n n C leanliness and ambience C ourtesy E fficiency / service delivery O verall Experience This document intends to present an overview of the trends in citizen satisfaction gathered over a period of 3 months (January- March2011)
Feedback at Passport Seva Kendras n Seven pilot PSKs that are fully operational are: PSK RPO Region Bangalore Lal Bagh Bangalore RPO South Bangalore Sai Arcade Bangalore RPO South Hubli Bangalore RPO South Mangalore Bangalore RPO South Chandigarh Chandigarh RPO North Ambala Chandigarh RPO North Ludhiana Chandigarh RPO North Feedback from more than 30000 applicants collected through various channels in the month of Jan, Feb and Mar2011. n Services delivered by all the seven Pilot PSKs have been highly appreciated by the applicants. n Citizen Satisfaction level overall for all PSKs has been consistently above 98% at all the times in the month of Jan, Feb and Mar2011. n Parameters Cleanliness & Ambience and Courtesy have been rated high by the applicants at Hubli, Mangalore, Ludhiana and Ambala PSKs. n Parameters Efficiency/Service delivery and Overall Experience have been rated very well by the citizens for all the PSKs. Overall Citizen Feedback n verage A of 99.17 % Citizen Satisfaction level overall for all PSKs. Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) 11
Crossings Chief Passport Officers List S. Name No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 12 Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) Period March 1954 July 1955 August 1957 December 1959 November 1962 August 1964 April 1967 August 1970 September 1973 July 1975 I. J. Broughton K. D. Bhasin Ranbir Singh P. S. Kotada Sangani Muni Lal V. A. Kidwai A. K. Nag A. R. Sethi S. J. S. Chhatwal M. Kutty C. V. Ranganathan L. N. Rangarajan K. D. Sharma H. C. S. Dhody M. K. Mangalmurti P. S. Sahai Y. M. Tiwari Shashank O. P. Gupta R. B. Mardhekar Smt. L. K. Ponappa T. C. A. Rangachari B. K. Mitra K. C. Singh Francis Vaz S. R. Tayal Banbit A. Roy Dr. A. K. Amrohi R. R. Dash R. Swaminathan A. Manickam Muktesh Pardeshi August 1976 March 1977 March 1977 July 1978 July 1978 July 1980 July 1980 January 1981 January 1981 September 1981 September 1981 August 1984 August 1984 March 1986 March 1986 April 1991 April 1991 July 1992 July 1992 August 1992 August 1992 July 1994 July 1994 June 1995 June 1995 June 1996 June 1996 April 1998 April 1998 January 1999 January 1999 September 2002 September 2002 February 2003 February 2003 July 2005 July 2005 May 2007 May 2007 March 2009 March 2009 October 2010 October 2010- till date
Retirement from the Central Passport Organization List of the Retiring officers from the Central Passport Organization (2011 2012) Name Category Post held Date of birth Date of Station Retierment from Shri S Y Chavan Gen DPO 24.03.1951 31.03.2011 Thane Shri Marshal Kujur ST DPO 08.03.1951 31.03.2011 Lucknow Shri I M Sabharwai GEN APO 07.03.1951 31.03.2011 Chandigarh Shri Dhanjibhai R Gamit ST LDC 02.04.1951 30.04.2011 Ahmedabad Smt V B Kamble SC DPO 25.04.1951 30.04.2011 Nagpur Smt N A Saraswathy Gen APO 26.04.1951 30.04.2011 Cochin Shri C G Rajan Gen APO 10.04.1951 30.04.2011 Cochin Shri K S D Thameem Gen DPO 11.04.1951 30.04.2011 Chennai Shri M A Nalinakshan Gen Asstt. 11.05.1951 31.05.2011 Bangalore Shri S B Hire Gen DPO 15.05.1951 31.05.2011 Mumbai Shri P Narayanan Gen APO 02.05.1951 31.05.2011 Cochin Shri M K Satam Gen APO 01.06.1951 31.05.2011 Mumbai Smt Lalitha Chacko Gen APO 01.06.1951 31.05.2011 Cochin Appointments in the CPV Division a. Mr. A.K. Sobti took charge as Director (PSP) in April 2011 b. Mr. R.K. Singh took charge as Director (CPV) in May 2011 Appointments as RPOs a. Mr. C. Santhil Pandian took charge as RPO, Chennai in April 2011 b. Mr. Rajesh Sharma took charge as RPO, Shimla in May 2011 Passport seva project: frequently asked questions (faqs) Why there was a need of Passport Seva Project in place of the existing system? This initiative is to be driven by the following Vision statement of the Passport Seva Project (PSP): To deliver all Passport-related services to the citizens in a timely, transparent, more accessible, reliable manner & in a comfortable environment through streamlined processes and committed, trained & motivated workforce What are the desired outcomes of the PSP? The followings are the desired outcomes for the various stakeholders of the PSP. For Citizens: a. Delivery of all Passport-related services within defined service levels b. Closer access points for services c. Ease of availability of all Passport-related information online d. Portfolio of online services with certainty and speed and with a real-time status tracking and enquiry facility e. Availability of good public facilities at the Passport Facilitation Centres f. Anywhere service g. Multiple service delivery channels Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) 13
h. Ease of payment of fees for the services received i. An effective Grievance Redressal Mechanism j. Transparency in availing the services For Employees: a. Uniform and well-defined work procedures b. Rationalized work norms and clear accountability for performance c. Incentives for higher productivity d. Recognition to efficient employees e. Trainings for requisite skill enhancement f. High growth opportunity in areas of value-added services, on account of outsourcing of non-core activities g. Better work environment For Ministry of External Affairs(MEA): a. Improved service delivery to citizens b. Standardized practices and procedures across all Passport offices c. Centralized decision support system to monitor and evaluate the performance of all Passport offices across India d. Capability to handle increased demand e. Better utilization of Government resources in areas of value-added services, on account of outsourcing of non- core activities Is PSP a privatisation drive? No. The Passport Seva Project is undertaken by the Ministry of External affairs and the ownership lies fully and solely with the Ministry. All the sovereign assets including data and information is owned by the Ministry both de-jure and defacto. How is Application Security concerns addressed in PSP when the software has been developed by the private Service Provider? When it comes to Software development, major clients worldwide including Government clients, Banks etc, the Software development is entrusted to specialist software companies which the client select through open bidding process. In case of PSP too, the software development has been taken up by M/s TCS Limited, the SP of the Passport Seva Project selected through open bidding process. However, when it comes to the security concern of the software Codes being written by SP, standards procedures has been followed in PSP, as being followed worldwide. 14 Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) What are Passportv Seva Kendras (PSK)? PSKs are the front-end delivery channels to be located across the country as part of the Passport Seva Project. 77 PSKs will be built under the Passport Seva Project. 7 PSKs out of 77 has already been functioning from past 6-8 months as part of the pilot project and has been verified and okayed by the Third Party Audit Agency. Who owns the PSKs and who is heading it? PSK is owned by the Ministry and is headed by Assistant Passport Officer from the CPO Cadre. How will Passport Offices(PO)/Regional Passport Offices function(RPO)? The POs/RPOs will continue to function as usual like printing of passport, lamination, Quality Check, Dispatch etc. Also, the escalated/complex cases from PSKs are dealt in the Passport Office. Under each POs/RPOs there may be one or more than one PSKs. Passport Officer/Regional Passport Officer will be the overall administrative head of the PSKs associated with the concerned Passport Office. Will the Passport Seva Project lead to downsizing of CPO Cadre? No. In fact, after launch of the pilot project in Bangalore and Chandigarh, it has been observed that the demand of the passport seekers have increased one and half times (1.5 times). This will result into requirement of more man-power resources from the Ministry side. Will it hamper career prospects of Central Passport Office(CPO) personnel? No. Ministry is constantly reviewing the promotion and other policies that will lead to better career growth of the CPO personnel. What are the advantages which PSP offers to employees? Following are the noticeable advantages employees can experience in light of the Passport Seva Project: i. World Class Passport Seva Kendras with better amenities and comfortable working environment. ii. Cluttered and time consuming tasks have been outsourced to the SP and employees have to deal with only filtered application coming from front-end delivery channel. iii. Availability of support staff provided by SP during working hours.
iv. v. vi. vii. viii. Employees do not have to deal with the crowds. Centralize application and Database ensuring better availability and uniformity. Improved performance due to state of the art infrastructure and system deployment. Audit trail that ensures the legality of the task being performed by the user. Performance based incentive. What is the implementation status of the PSP? What is the roll-out plan across the Country? Till date 7 Passport Seva Kendras are running under the jurisdiction of RPO Chandigarh and Bangalore. Wave-I PSKs covering the POs/RPOs under TN, Kerala, AP and Delhi is expected to be completed by June-July 2011. Final rollout covering all the PSKs across the country is expected to be completed by the end of 2011. Jottings Successful completion of 3rd Party Audit 7 pilot sites are operating successfully in various parts of the country. On Jaunary 11, 2011, the Third Party Audit Agency (3PAA)- Standardization Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and IT, Govt. of India satisfactorily completed the compliance verification due at the end of the pilot phase of the project. The project is now rearing to go-ahead for roll out across the country. RPO Mumbai Plays Key Role in Libyan Evacuation Regional Passport Mumbai, headed by the RPO Shri Vinoy K. Choubey was the nodal agency to oversee the returning of Indian citizens from Libya via Mumbai because of disturbed domestic conditions in Libya. The first Flight carrying passengers from Libya landed at Mumbai International Airport on 28.2.2011. Since then a total of 28 flights have arrived at Mumbai carrying a total of 3257 Indian citizens from Libya. These flights comprised of flights chartered by Government of India and some scheduled service flights carrying Indian evacuees from Libya along with other passengers. These flights originated from airports in Libya or in the neighboring counties. On arrival at Mumbai International Airport, air tickets / financial assistance were provided to the passengers for onward journey to their respective destinations by RPO Mumbai officials. A total of 1300 - 1400 (as per estimates provided by M/s Balmer & Lawrie ) passengers were given air tickets. The air tickets were booked by M/s Balmer & Lawrie on authorization of RPO, Mumbai. Similarly, 1239 passengers were provided financial assistance. Rupees 2000/- & rupees 1000/- were given to adult and child below 12 years respectively. A total amount of Rupees 24,29000/- were disbursed. Assistance with respect to getting confirmed railway reservation or placement of new railway bogie was provided through Railway officials present at the airport. A number of evacuees were employees of well known companies. Many a times the representatives of these companies took responsibility of their staff returning from Libya at the airport itself, provided them assistance and made suitable arrangements for their onward journey. Such passengers were not provided any assistance by us. Service of more than 25 officers and staff from RPO, Mumbai were utilized for this operation. They were manning the operations at the airport round the clock, at times even after working in the office during office hours. At later date, 3 officials from PO, Thane, 2 officials from PO, Pune and 2 officials from PO, Surat reported to this office and were also roped in to assist in the operations. Apart from officials of RPO, Mumbai, officials from protocol department of State Government, Indian Railway, Protector of Emigrants, GVK and M/s Bamler & Lawrie were actively involved in the process of assisting the Indian citizens returning from Libya. GVK provided food, tea, coffee, water and free mobile facilities to the passengers. Since holding area at Mumbai International Airport is very small it used to become very crowded especially on arrival of charted flights. Since the control room was remote from the holding area not much use could be made of telephone and Xerox facility available there. The blue print for the above operation was prepared by AS(CPV) and JS(PSP)&CPO when they visited Mumbai just before the onset of operation. AS(CPV) chaired the meetings which was attended by senior officials from State Protocol Department, GVK, POE, M/s Balmer & Lawrie apart from Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) 15
JS(PSP) and RPO Officials etc. in which detailed modalities were worked out. Later on the operations were supervised and guided by JS(Cons) and JS(PSP)&CPO. Officials from RPO, Mumbai were the key implementing agency who were involved in actual execution and were also main coordinating authority wherever assistance of other agencies were required by the Indians returning home. RPO Mumbai officials worked round the clock with enthusiasm at the airport to make the operation a big success. 13th National Conference of all india passport employees association 13th National Conference of All India Passport Employees Association was held on 30th April and 1st May, 2011 at Viswa Yuva Kendra, New Delhi where election for all posts of Central Committee were conducted and following were declared elected to the post stated against their names. S.No. Designation Name City 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. President Vice President General Secretary Secretary Organisation Joint Secretary Organisation Finance secretary Zonal Secretary (N) Zonal Secretary (C) Zonal Secretary (E) Zonal Secretary (W) Zonal Secretary (S) Joint Zonal Secretary (N) Joint Zonal Secretary (C) Joint Zonal Secretary (E) Joint Zonal Secretary (W) Joint Zonal Secretary (S) Shri M. Vasudev Shri B. S. Rana Shri Venugopalan TK Shri G. Shrinivasa Rao Shri Giriraj Sharma Smt Anita Bhatnagar Shri Dipankar Das Shri Harinarayan Juhare Shri Debasish Bhattacharjee Shri C. G. Solanki Shri N.K. Suriyaprakash Shri Hari Om Shri Lalit Kumar Shri Santosh Kumar Shri Piyush Vaghela Shri P. K. Behera Hyderabad Lucknow Delhi Hyderabad Delhi Delhi Chandigarh Bhopal Kolkata Mumbai Chennai Jalandhar Ghaziabad Ranchi Ahmedabad Bengaluru Auditors 16 Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) Shri S. Ajithkumar Shri Naresh Kumar Shri Ram Kripal Singh Cochin Ghaziabad Bareilly
Partners in the PSP Project The Passport Seva Project is being implemented by the Ministry of External Affairs in partnership with a number of organizations who have played a key role in conceiving and implementing this pioneering scheme. These include: Consultancy Services: TCS, one of Indias leading providers of IT and business solutions, is the designated Service Provider for the Passport Seva Project. n Tata Institute for Smart Governance: NISG, a body envisaged to lead private sector competencies in the implementation of e-governance projects and registered under S. 25 of the Companies Act, has been closely involved with the development of the detailed project report and the final RFP. It continues to monitor the progress of the project to ensure compliance with the RFP. n National for the Development of Advanced Computing: C-DAC, a premier R&D institution under the Department of IT, Ministry of Communication and IT carries out research in areas of IT, electronics and related areas. C-DAC, being a government agency, holds the strategic control over the data from the Project thus ensuring its security and protection from misuse. n Centre Testing and Quality Certification: STQC Directorate, under the Department of Information Technology is the principal agency of the Government that provides assurances for software quality, information security and IT service management. In the PSP, it has been instrumental in providing the third party audit that has been undertaken in the seven Passport Seva Kendras. n Standardization, Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) 17
VOL 01 | Jan June 2011 Editor: Mr Muktesh Pardeshi Editorial Team: Abu Mathen George, Maneesha Gupta, Shweta Singh Passport Patrika is published by MEA, New Delhi. For viewing online version of Passport Patrika, please visit http://passportindia.gov.in Editorial contributions and letters should be addressed to the Editor, Passport Patrika. Voice your opinions/suggestions/feedback at passportpatrika@gmail.com

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Passport Patrika | January - June 2011

  • 1. VOL 01 | Jan June 2011 Passport Patrika
  • 2. Editorial Aliti as assi ommolup tibeaque sin ne odistia quatquis none cum dolupta tioneca estrum cor moluptatur? Obis dus, sitint, sa samendi con plant. Ro il il inciusti con pra dis reperspient, quid min ra essim ne deliqui aut mo et labora acepedi omnimendes moluptatur atibeat resenim eumet explitiisque sam nissus peditatur? Pa cuptaspe culparum quate incieni blaborrumqui quiam restotatur aut quia cum qui conesti andestrumqui dolent qui atemque sinimus moditios ea cus am quide commodi squiam doluptatust et a quibusci repratus ant. Imincidus. Ibus, quatis pernatem haribus esti consequod etureste volorem reptat. Vellest orepele caborem rerfernam aut estempore nossecea volene as ut rersperferum esto qui que voluptatur, sandae omnimusamet, offic tem. Custo modions enectio. Sae. Nemque id que volecat re voloremod evel et la nos es non nem solecupis nobis erati con rem rem. Nem eum quatiandae nobisime parciae stecto quis aceperroviti solenim porera dolest od min el is et que aut voluptur ma qui omnis dendit aut volorep erunditam si aut quam evendandae que nonem. Nem excea as ad molorporpore explat inimil is eum dolorae ctibus rest, solor as moluptur anime poreicim sunt, qui tem et re et magnati dit quis di voloribusam, omnim fugitatur modis alissim aioreri oressequo mil int et a dolorepudae que conse il modisitat volut et pererum, andipie ndandel iaecto doluptae rae. Istotat ecerum autaquodipis que nosa explique vellabore por accab im reperrovit que volorem porerae iumqui seque qui ra qui tem laci autendant, eat velessin eumqui officia nitaest, as min et fugia vella quis vendusciis es ut volupid mos magnatemque liquia num aut perro exceaqui vendae prepti dolessi autature consed que voluptiusa volo ex et, nonecab is sitisci ut lam alist et maximaio explam, sum voluptatem vel explacc aboris quo berioneste et landendelita dolor mo inulpar chilitam intis parcipid qui cuptatem quibustia ium fugia coreicium ad magnimp elibus etur? Qui solo consente dolo dolenihit molorep ersped earias atatum et, alibus ratur, sus ni officiliquam as accum dit quam nosant, ut magnimaio modis atur accuptatem. Nem. Nam harum repe dest omnimusam eosam cus aut dolutem rende landis doloribus incte assimin verferatur aspedi utatemq uiassim pernatis aut aut eria voluptatet eium quiduci istrum del modis dolorepero quaturiatume nossunt, que as eum nus architas ut eostibu saperspercil incilla quianihiciat di vollaut ped utessi doluptat eiciis sus, cusanditibus modiciatibus excepti bustiur acculparum ium qui ius nonsequatur? Aruptatur a sequiscienis is magnisc ipsam, nobit aped eveliquibus essit, oditia veleseditam faceaqui de eatinctis magnam qui di quam apis volorum illa que et et ut ulla vendaer natae. Et eribeate consenis nonsero vidusdaepere nonsequidem ere velest lia vel idiat acculparit re iminulliquia quidel et fuga. Niminum acesectur aut moluptis sent ut qui netur maiossim que sum nobisto rruptibere neturibusant abo. Necti as aliaspe rnatias magnatia voloremodi dolupta tectati ationest, ipsapis delloruptis di rehentiur, eossunt enit, quam, tecturios cum, eium, int resedit accus secae dolupta perumquia dolorruntus nis rem suntur? Alitatis volorpo rionseribus et es aut initenis iunt lam quam ut dit aut hilisqu iberia debit pernatem nate vollam et, ipsam qui reprernatia net perem volo et endem id maion nosanim persper itaeper ferupti adipis dolorionse pos unt optatiosa parcipi ssedit fugit vendemossum andaeri aturemquia dolori dit pra con pro cus, quuntotat. Gendis perferepra invelenieni que none netur? Pliberrores Magnim
  • 3. Content 4 Snippets - Record performance in 2010 - Did you know - From history - Passport Adalat 5 Important Events - Passport Officers Conference for Southern Region - Estimates Committee of Lok Sabha - EAMs visit to RPO Kochi (Cover Story: From the Desk of the Regional Passport Offices- EAMs visit to RPO Kochi) 8 Knowledge Sharing Appeal Procedure 8 Status Scan - Project Updates - Go Live The Road Ahead 10 Voice of the customer Citizen Feedback 12 Crossings - Chief Passport Officers List - Retirement from the Central Passport Organization - Appointments in the CPV Division - Appointments as RPOs 13 PSP: Frequently Asked questions 15 Jottings - Successful completion of 3rd Party Audit - RPO Mumbai Plays Key Role in Libyan Evacuation - 13th National Conference of All India Passport Employees Association Partners in the PSP -
  • 4. Snippets Record performance in 2010 Over the last five decades, there has been considerable expansion in both the scope and volume of services rendered by the Passport Offices. The number of passports issued by all the Passport Offices in India in 1979 was a mere 8.51 lakh which has gone up to 52.51 lakh in 2010. Similarly, 2010 witnessed highest number of new passports Issued and miscellaneous services rendered, at 59.27 lakh and are a record ever achieved in a year. Did you know A small State like Kerala with a population of 31 million has four Passport Offices which together issued 7.21 lakh Passports and rendered 1.35 miscellaneous services during 2010. From history The first four Regional Passport Offices at Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai were established in 1955. Passport Adalat All Passport Offices will hold a Passport Adalat on last Friday of every month. Please check with your area Passport Office for more details. 4 Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011)
  • 5. Important Events Passport Officers Conference for Southern Region A Passport Officers Conference for Southern Region held in Kochi. RPO conference was held on 26-27 December, 2010 in Kochi for the Regional passport Officers of Southern Indi a. 16 passport officers from passport offices in Tamil Nadu (4), Kerela (4), Karnataka (1), Andhra Pradesh (2), Maharashtra (4) and Goa(1) attended this conference. Foreign secretary Ms. Nirupama Rao, Additional Secretary Mr. Basant Gupta, VP and Government ISU head , TCS Mr. Tanmoy Chakrabarty along with senior leadership from MEA and TCS addressed the RPOs and highlighted their role as ambassadors of change in this transition to the new PSP system. The sessions were well received and provided a good forum for addressing any queries the participants had. The RPOs were enthused and eagerly await the arrival of the transformational program in the coming year. Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) 5
  • 6. Estimates Committee of Lok Sabha The Estimates Committee of the Lok Sabha visited the RPOs in Mumbai and Kochi and presented a report. Study Tour of the Committee on Estimates to Mumbai and Kochi Committee on Estimates of Lok Sabha lead by Shri. Francisco Sardinha undertook an on-the-spot study tour of the RPO Mumbai on 09.02.11 and the RPO Kochi on 10.02.11. The Committee focused on the subject Customer Services in Passport offices. During the on-the-spot study tour, the members of the committee interacted with members of the public as well as the officials of the passport offices along with other officials of Government departments viz. Postal Department, etc. 6 Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) (COVER STORY) EAMs visit to RPO Kochi The EAM visited the RPO Kochi. External Affairs Minister announces PSK launch schedule for Kerala Shri S.M Krishna, Hon. Minister for External Affairs, Govt. of India visited the Regional Passport Office, Kochi on Feb 01, 2011. He was given a very warm and cordial welcome by the officers and staff of the Office as well as the project personnel of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). After a brief interaction with the concerned officials, he addressed a press conference. The Hon. Minister declared that thirteen Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) would be started by July this year in Kerala, in addition to the four passport offices in the State.
  • 7. Elaborating further, he stated that these PSKs would be located at Neyyatinkara, Thiruvanthapuram, Kollam, Alapppuzha, Kottayam, Kochi, Aluva, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Vadakara, Kannur and Payyanoor. It was revealed that of the 8.75 Lakh applications received last year, the four passport offices in the State had succeeded in issuing as many as 8.56 Lakh passports till date. Explaining the situation in the country at large, the Minister stated that a record number of 62.13 Lakh passport applications were received across the country in 2010, and that the passport offices had successfully issued 59.27 Lakh new passports during the same period. The Ministry anticipates the numbers to cross one Crore this year. The Minister also pointed out that police verification had been made a must for issuance of a passport and that there would not be any compromise on such security checks. According to him, the Foreign Secretary has communicated this to the Chief Secretaries of all states, in order to ensure better support from the Local Police to the Passport Offices in faster clearance of the pending Police Verification files. Such co-ordination and support are essential, as Police Verification is a time-consuming process involving an onerous responsibility. Shri. Krishna also added that the Ministry of External Affairs has decided to upgrade the infrastructure facilities in all passport offices across the country for speedy issuance of passports. With the demand for passports expected to reach one Crore soon, the government is planning to take up a project to link Passport Seva Portal to district police headquarters so that reports are received expeditiously. In this regard, a data centre and a network operation centre have been opened in Delhi and a disaster recovery centre in Chennai. The complement of officers and personnel welcoming and briefing the Minister, included Mr.B.K.Gupta, Additional Secretary, MEA, Mr.T.Cherian, Under Secretary, Mr. B.Sreekumar, Regional Passport Officer as well as TCS PSK Regional Head, Mr. Lijo Mannaraprayil and Mr. Sharat. Rajan, Manager, Passport Seva Project Team. Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) 7
  • 8. Knowledge Sharing Appeal Procedure 1. There is a two tier system of appeals under the Passports Act: (i) JS (PSP& CPO) is the Appellate Authority against decisions taken U/s.6 or the 10 by the Passport Authorities (Passport Offices/ Missions/ Posts) and U/s 10A by Pos, and (ii) Additional Secretary (CPV) in the Ministry of External Affairs is the Appellate Authority in respect of passports suspended/ impounded/ revoked decisions taken by the Chief Passport Officer himself. 2. However, there is no appeal if the decision is taken by the Central Government under section 6(2) (i) (when the issue of passport or travel document is rejected to an applicant in the interest of public.). 3. A person, whose passport application is refused U/s 6 or passports is suspended/ impounded/ revoked U/s.10, is first expected to avail the remedy of appeal U/s.11 before approaching the High Court/ the Supreme Court. 4. While conveying the decision to the passport applicant/ holder on denial of passport facilities, the Passport Authority should invariably inform the applicant/ passport holder of their right of appeal to the Chief Passport Officer. 5. The aggrieved applicants have to apply within 30 days from the date of receipt of the order. 6. They have to deposit Rs.25/- towards the appeal fee in Passport Office or Treasury/ Mission. The appeal fee, if paid in Treasury is to be credited in Account No. 065- Other Administrative Services- Other Receipt. Status Scan PROJECT UPDATES: Project Updates The story so far 8 Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011)
  • 9. Project Statistics* *Number of citizens managed daily 3,500 *No of applications processed under PSP lakhs *No of passports dispatched lakhs *No of apps pending for Police verification (>21 days) 46K *No of calls received at call centre daily - 3000 *No of hits to online portal daily 15000+ *No of eforms uploaded daily 1300+ *The above mentioned statistics are as of 31st December 2010 Go live the road ahead It is our endeavor to reach out to the staff at the RPOs and keep them informed and updated on the project progress. Several critical milestones from a site readiness, staff readiness and support availability perspective need to be accomplished before a PSK can become functional and serve the needs of the citizens. To stay up to date on the progress of the project, keep viewing the poster at your site regularly! The first step in the journey is the approval of the Passport Seva Kendra site by Ministry of External affairs. Once the site is approved, construction of the building begins. This is followed by training of RPO staff. Training of RPO staff includes training on how to use the new application and also training on soft skills. After successfully completing these trainings you will feel confident of using the new system. Since police staff is closely involved in the issue of a passport, they are also trained on the new application. Once trainings are completed, the RPO is equipped with the necessary IT Infrastructure such as computers and networks etc. In the meanwhile, the PSK site construction is completed.MEA and NSIG officials then audit the PSK to ensure that all security and equipment Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) 9
  • 10. standards are met. On successful completion of the audit, trial runs begin at the PSK. Once the staff is comfortable in using the new system and the operations run smoothly during the trial runs, the site reaches the final milestone of Go-Live! A Countdown Poster depicting this journey has been specially designed to keep you updated on the progress at your RPO. The Index box on the poster, lists these major milestones to be achieved before Go-Live at each PSK. As each milestone is achieved, the flying passport will move on the poster. Project updates from other RPOs will appear on the left hand side, in the space provided. This space will also give updates on the achievements of the Passport Seva Project. Voice Of customer citizen feedback All the 7 Pilot PSKs continue to deliver exemplary service to the citizens in a convenient and transparent manner. With the Wave 1 of expansion on the cards, it is essential that the best practices followed across are replicated to ensure continuity of citizen delights across all upcoming PSKs also. Proper feedback management plays an important part not only in tracking and monitoring of services but also in suggesting improvements to take the citizen satisfaction to the next level. Over a period of time, our experience in Project execution has enabled us to appreciate the importance of well executed feedback management to capture timely, accurate and relevant information. Across all the PSKs, a well designed and robust feedback mechanism has been put in place and a comprehensive methodology of collation and analysis has been devised to indicate and properly reflect the trends in citizen satisfaction. Various channels used for feedback collection are as follows 10 Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) n P hysical feedback forms at PSKs n ouch screen facility installed at PSKs (Currently installed T South PSKs only) in n -Mails received at PSP Helpdesk E n nline through the Passport Seva Portal O n all Centre C Collection of feedback is done on the following four Parameters n n n n C leanliness and ambience C ourtesy E fficiency / service delivery O verall Experience This document intends to present an overview of the trends in citizen satisfaction gathered over a period of 3 months (January- March2011)
  • 11. Feedback at Passport Seva Kendras n Seven pilot PSKs that are fully operational are: PSK RPO Region Bangalore Lal Bagh Bangalore RPO South Bangalore Sai Arcade Bangalore RPO South Hubli Bangalore RPO South Mangalore Bangalore RPO South Chandigarh Chandigarh RPO North Ambala Chandigarh RPO North Ludhiana Chandigarh RPO North Feedback from more than 30000 applicants collected through various channels in the month of Jan, Feb and Mar2011. n Services delivered by all the seven Pilot PSKs have been highly appreciated by the applicants. n Citizen Satisfaction level overall for all PSKs has been consistently above 98% at all the times in the month of Jan, Feb and Mar2011. n Parameters Cleanliness & Ambience and Courtesy have been rated high by the applicants at Hubli, Mangalore, Ludhiana and Ambala PSKs. n Parameters Efficiency/Service delivery and Overall Experience have been rated very well by the citizens for all the PSKs. Overall Citizen Feedback n verage A of 99.17 % Citizen Satisfaction level overall for all PSKs. Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) 11
  • 12. Crossings Chief Passport Officers List S. Name No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 12 Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) Period March 1954 July 1955 August 1957 December 1959 November 1962 August 1964 April 1967 August 1970 September 1973 July 1975 I. J. Broughton K. D. Bhasin Ranbir Singh P. S. Kotada Sangani Muni Lal V. A. Kidwai A. K. Nag A. R. Sethi S. J. S. Chhatwal M. Kutty C. V. Ranganathan L. N. Rangarajan K. D. Sharma H. C. S. Dhody M. K. Mangalmurti P. S. Sahai Y. M. Tiwari Shashank O. P. Gupta R. B. Mardhekar Smt. L. K. Ponappa T. C. A. Rangachari B. K. Mitra K. C. Singh Francis Vaz S. R. Tayal Banbit A. Roy Dr. A. K. Amrohi R. R. Dash R. Swaminathan A. Manickam Muktesh Pardeshi August 1976 March 1977 March 1977 July 1978 July 1978 July 1980 July 1980 January 1981 January 1981 September 1981 September 1981 August 1984 August 1984 March 1986 March 1986 April 1991 April 1991 July 1992 July 1992 August 1992 August 1992 July 1994 July 1994 June 1995 June 1995 June 1996 June 1996 April 1998 April 1998 January 1999 January 1999 September 2002 September 2002 February 2003 February 2003 July 2005 July 2005 May 2007 May 2007 March 2009 March 2009 October 2010 October 2010- till date
  • 13. Retirement from the Central Passport Organization List of the Retiring officers from the Central Passport Organization (2011 2012) Name Category Post held Date of birth Date of Station Retierment from Shri S Y Chavan Gen DPO 24.03.1951 31.03.2011 Thane Shri Marshal Kujur ST DPO 08.03.1951 31.03.2011 Lucknow Shri I M Sabharwai GEN APO 07.03.1951 31.03.2011 Chandigarh Shri Dhanjibhai R Gamit ST LDC 02.04.1951 30.04.2011 Ahmedabad Smt V B Kamble SC DPO 25.04.1951 30.04.2011 Nagpur Smt N A Saraswathy Gen APO 26.04.1951 30.04.2011 Cochin Shri C G Rajan Gen APO 10.04.1951 30.04.2011 Cochin Shri K S D Thameem Gen DPO 11.04.1951 30.04.2011 Chennai Shri M A Nalinakshan Gen Asstt. 11.05.1951 31.05.2011 Bangalore Shri S B Hire Gen DPO 15.05.1951 31.05.2011 Mumbai Shri P Narayanan Gen APO 02.05.1951 31.05.2011 Cochin Shri M K Satam Gen APO 01.06.1951 31.05.2011 Mumbai Smt Lalitha Chacko Gen APO 01.06.1951 31.05.2011 Cochin Appointments in the CPV Division a. Mr. A.K. Sobti took charge as Director (PSP) in April 2011 b. Mr. R.K. Singh took charge as Director (CPV) in May 2011 Appointments as RPOs a. Mr. C. Santhil Pandian took charge as RPO, Chennai in April 2011 b. Mr. Rajesh Sharma took charge as RPO, Shimla in May 2011 Passport seva project: frequently asked questions (faqs) Why there was a need of Passport Seva Project in place of the existing system? This initiative is to be driven by the following Vision statement of the Passport Seva Project (PSP): To deliver all Passport-related services to the citizens in a timely, transparent, more accessible, reliable manner & in a comfortable environment through streamlined processes and committed, trained & motivated workforce What are the desired outcomes of the PSP? The followings are the desired outcomes for the various stakeholders of the PSP. For Citizens: a. Delivery of all Passport-related services within defined service levels b. Closer access points for services c. Ease of availability of all Passport-related information online d. Portfolio of online services with certainty and speed and with a real-time status tracking and enquiry facility e. Availability of good public facilities at the Passport Facilitation Centres f. Anywhere service g. Multiple service delivery channels Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) 13
  • 14. h. Ease of payment of fees for the services received i. An effective Grievance Redressal Mechanism j. Transparency in availing the services For Employees: a. Uniform and well-defined work procedures b. Rationalized work norms and clear accountability for performance c. Incentives for higher productivity d. Recognition to efficient employees e. Trainings for requisite skill enhancement f. High growth opportunity in areas of value-added services, on account of outsourcing of non-core activities g. Better work environment For Ministry of External Affairs(MEA): a. Improved service delivery to citizens b. Standardized practices and procedures across all Passport offices c. Centralized decision support system to monitor and evaluate the performance of all Passport offices across India d. Capability to handle increased demand e. Better utilization of Government resources in areas of value-added services, on account of outsourcing of non- core activities Is PSP a privatisation drive? No. The Passport Seva Project is undertaken by the Ministry of External affairs and the ownership lies fully and solely with the Ministry. All the sovereign assets including data and information is owned by the Ministry both de-jure and defacto. How is Application Security concerns addressed in PSP when the software has been developed by the private Service Provider? When it comes to Software development, major clients worldwide including Government clients, Banks etc, the Software development is entrusted to specialist software companies which the client select through open bidding process. In case of PSP too, the software development has been taken up by M/s TCS Limited, the SP of the Passport Seva Project selected through open bidding process. However, when it comes to the security concern of the software Codes being written by SP, standards procedures has been followed in PSP, as being followed worldwide. 14 Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) What are Passportv Seva Kendras (PSK)? PSKs are the front-end delivery channels to be located across the country as part of the Passport Seva Project. 77 PSKs will be built under the Passport Seva Project. 7 PSKs out of 77 has already been functioning from past 6-8 months as part of the pilot project and has been verified and okayed by the Third Party Audit Agency. Who owns the PSKs and who is heading it? PSK is owned by the Ministry and is headed by Assistant Passport Officer from the CPO Cadre. How will Passport Offices(PO)/Regional Passport Offices function(RPO)? The POs/RPOs will continue to function as usual like printing of passport, lamination, Quality Check, Dispatch etc. Also, the escalated/complex cases from PSKs are dealt in the Passport Office. Under each POs/RPOs there may be one or more than one PSKs. Passport Officer/Regional Passport Officer will be the overall administrative head of the PSKs associated with the concerned Passport Office. Will the Passport Seva Project lead to downsizing of CPO Cadre? No. In fact, after launch of the pilot project in Bangalore and Chandigarh, it has been observed that the demand of the passport seekers have increased one and half times (1.5 times). This will result into requirement of more man-power resources from the Ministry side. Will it hamper career prospects of Central Passport Office(CPO) personnel? No. Ministry is constantly reviewing the promotion and other policies that will lead to better career growth of the CPO personnel. What are the advantages which PSP offers to employees? Following are the noticeable advantages employees can experience in light of the Passport Seva Project: i. World Class Passport Seva Kendras with better amenities and comfortable working environment. ii. Cluttered and time consuming tasks have been outsourced to the SP and employees have to deal with only filtered application coming from front-end delivery channel. iii. Availability of support staff provided by SP during working hours.
  • 15. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. Employees do not have to deal with the crowds. Centralize application and Database ensuring better availability and uniformity. Improved performance due to state of the art infrastructure and system deployment. Audit trail that ensures the legality of the task being performed by the user. Performance based incentive. What is the implementation status of the PSP? What is the roll-out plan across the Country? Till date 7 Passport Seva Kendras are running under the jurisdiction of RPO Chandigarh and Bangalore. Wave-I PSKs covering the POs/RPOs under TN, Kerala, AP and Delhi is expected to be completed by June-July 2011. Final rollout covering all the PSKs across the country is expected to be completed by the end of 2011. Jottings Successful completion of 3rd Party Audit 7 pilot sites are operating successfully in various parts of the country. On Jaunary 11, 2011, the Third Party Audit Agency (3PAA)- Standardization Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and IT, Govt. of India satisfactorily completed the compliance verification due at the end of the pilot phase of the project. The project is now rearing to go-ahead for roll out across the country. RPO Mumbai Plays Key Role in Libyan Evacuation Regional Passport Mumbai, headed by the RPO Shri Vinoy K. Choubey was the nodal agency to oversee the returning of Indian citizens from Libya via Mumbai because of disturbed domestic conditions in Libya. The first Flight carrying passengers from Libya landed at Mumbai International Airport on 28.2.2011. Since then a total of 28 flights have arrived at Mumbai carrying a total of 3257 Indian citizens from Libya. These flights comprised of flights chartered by Government of India and some scheduled service flights carrying Indian evacuees from Libya along with other passengers. These flights originated from airports in Libya or in the neighboring counties. On arrival at Mumbai International Airport, air tickets / financial assistance were provided to the passengers for onward journey to their respective destinations by RPO Mumbai officials. A total of 1300 - 1400 (as per estimates provided by M/s Balmer & Lawrie ) passengers were given air tickets. The air tickets were booked by M/s Balmer & Lawrie on authorization of RPO, Mumbai. Similarly, 1239 passengers were provided financial assistance. Rupees 2000/- & rupees 1000/- were given to adult and child below 12 years respectively. A total amount of Rupees 24,29000/- were disbursed. Assistance with respect to getting confirmed railway reservation or placement of new railway bogie was provided through Railway officials present at the airport. A number of evacuees were employees of well known companies. Many a times the representatives of these companies took responsibility of their staff returning from Libya at the airport itself, provided them assistance and made suitable arrangements for their onward journey. Such passengers were not provided any assistance by us. Service of more than 25 officers and staff from RPO, Mumbai were utilized for this operation. They were manning the operations at the airport round the clock, at times even after working in the office during office hours. At later date, 3 officials from PO, Thane, 2 officials from PO, Pune and 2 officials from PO, Surat reported to this office and were also roped in to assist in the operations. Apart from officials of RPO, Mumbai, officials from protocol department of State Government, Indian Railway, Protector of Emigrants, GVK and M/s Bamler & Lawrie were actively involved in the process of assisting the Indian citizens returning from Libya. GVK provided food, tea, coffee, water and free mobile facilities to the passengers. Since holding area at Mumbai International Airport is very small it used to become very crowded especially on arrival of charted flights. Since the control room was remote from the holding area not much use could be made of telephone and Xerox facility available there. The blue print for the above operation was prepared by AS(CPV) and JS(PSP)&CPO when they visited Mumbai just before the onset of operation. AS(CPV) chaired the meetings which was attended by senior officials from State Protocol Department, GVK, POE, M/s Balmer & Lawrie apart from Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) 15
  • 16. JS(PSP) and RPO Officials etc. in which detailed modalities were worked out. Later on the operations were supervised and guided by JS(Cons) and JS(PSP)&CPO. Officials from RPO, Mumbai were the key implementing agency who were involved in actual execution and were also main coordinating authority wherever assistance of other agencies were required by the Indians returning home. RPO Mumbai officials worked round the clock with enthusiasm at the airport to make the operation a big success. 13th National Conference of all india passport employees association 13th National Conference of All India Passport Employees Association was held on 30th April and 1st May, 2011 at Viswa Yuva Kendra, New Delhi where election for all posts of Central Committee were conducted and following were declared elected to the post stated against their names. S.No. Designation Name City 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. President Vice President General Secretary Secretary Organisation Joint Secretary Organisation Finance secretary Zonal Secretary (N) Zonal Secretary (C) Zonal Secretary (E) Zonal Secretary (W) Zonal Secretary (S) Joint Zonal Secretary (N) Joint Zonal Secretary (C) Joint Zonal Secretary (E) Joint Zonal Secretary (W) Joint Zonal Secretary (S) Shri M. Vasudev Shri B. S. Rana Shri Venugopalan TK Shri G. Shrinivasa Rao Shri Giriraj Sharma Smt Anita Bhatnagar Shri Dipankar Das Shri Harinarayan Juhare Shri Debasish Bhattacharjee Shri C. G. Solanki Shri N.K. Suriyaprakash Shri Hari Om Shri Lalit Kumar Shri Santosh Kumar Shri Piyush Vaghela Shri P. K. Behera Hyderabad Lucknow Delhi Hyderabad Delhi Delhi Chandigarh Bhopal Kolkata Mumbai Chennai Jalandhar Ghaziabad Ranchi Ahmedabad Bengaluru Auditors 16 Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) Shri S. Ajithkumar Shri Naresh Kumar Shri Ram Kripal Singh Cochin Ghaziabad Bareilly
  • 17. Partners in the PSP Project The Passport Seva Project is being implemented by the Ministry of External Affairs in partnership with a number of organizations who have played a key role in conceiving and implementing this pioneering scheme. These include: Consultancy Services: TCS, one of Indias leading providers of IT and business solutions, is the designated Service Provider for the Passport Seva Project. n Tata Institute for Smart Governance: NISG, a body envisaged to lead private sector competencies in the implementation of e-governance projects and registered under S. 25 of the Companies Act, has been closely involved with the development of the detailed project report and the final RFP. It continues to monitor the progress of the project to ensure compliance with the RFP. n National for the Development of Advanced Computing: C-DAC, a premier R&D institution under the Department of IT, Ministry of Communication and IT carries out research in areas of IT, electronics and related areas. C-DAC, being a government agency, holds the strategic control over the data from the Project thus ensuring its security and protection from misuse. n Centre Testing and Quality Certification: STQC Directorate, under the Department of Information Technology is the principal agency of the Government that provides assurances for software quality, information security and IT service management. In the PSP, it has been instrumental in providing the third party audit that has been undertaken in the seven Passport Seva Kendras. n Standardization, Passport Patrika (Jan-June 2011) 17
  • 18. VOL 01 | Jan June 2011 Editor: Mr Muktesh Pardeshi Editorial Team: Abu Mathen George, Maneesha Gupta, Shweta Singh Passport Patrika is published by MEA, New Delhi. For viewing online version of Passport Patrika, please visit http://passportindia.gov.in Editorial contributions and letters should be addressed to the Editor, Passport Patrika. Voice your opinions/suggestions/feedback at passportpatrika@gmail.com
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