India to issue e-Passports, reduce time taken for police verification

According to S Jaishankar, minister of external affairs, the Central government is working to implement e-Passports to facilitate easier international travel, provide protection against identity theft, and enhance data security. Jaishankar spoke at the Passport Seva Divas to reiterate the government's dedication to enhancing the citizen experience and public service.

In honour of this milestone, the MEA and the Central Passport Organization have reaffirmed their commitment to offering Indian citizens efficient, dependable, accessible, transparent, and speedy passport and passport-related services.

"It gives me great pleasure to join all our Passport Issuing Authorities in India and abroad on the occasion of the Passport Seva Divas 2022," he said. Even during the challenging times of the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the minister of external affairs, passport services were offered.

"I am happy to note that passport services were rendered with the same vigour and enthusiasm even during the testing times of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Ministry rose to the occasion to meet the increased demand for passport services built up due to two and half years of the pandemic, and dealt it swiftly with an impressive monthly average of 9.0 lakhs, with 4.50 lakhs additional applications granted in the last one month, thus setting a record," he said.

"As we commemorate the Passport Seva Divas on 24th June this year, we continue our commitment to deliver the next level of citizen experience," he added.

Looking back, Jaishankar said the government has been very successful in simplifying the passport rules and procedures for the citizens. "To further smoothen the passport delivery ecosystem, the Ministry is continuously working with States/UTs police to reduce the time taken for police verification: the mPassport Police App is now used in 22 States/UTs covering 8275 Police Stations."

He also informed that the Passport Seva System has also been integrated with the DigiLocker system to facilitate a paperless documentation process.

"The Ministry in collaboration with the Department of Posts operationalized 428 Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSKs) to reach out to our citizens at their doorsteps. The Ministry has successfully integrated the passport issuance systems in 178 of our Embassies and Consulates abroad," the minister said while adding that this has enabled the government to deliver passport-related services to the Diaspora efficiently through a centralized and secure application.

Passport Seva Programme (PSP) will launch PSP V2.0, an upgraded and better version of PSP V1.0, in recognition of the need to continuously improve the quality of passport services. PSP V2.0 would ensure a digital ecosystem among all stakeholders and provide improved passport services to citizens.

"It would ensure smooth governance end-to-end through standardised and liberalised processes, use of latest and emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Chat-Bot, Use of Big-Data, Advance Analytics etc. The Ministry is also working to roll out ePassports for Indian citizens which would make easier international travel and enable protection against identity theft and greater data security," he said in conclusion.

(With ANI inputs)