It gives me great pleasure to felicitate all our Passport Issuing Authorities in India and abroad on the occasion of the Passport Seva Divas. The Ministry of External Affairs, along with the Central Passport Organization, is marking this occasion and renewing our commitment to provide passport and passport-related services to the citizens of India in a timely, reliable, accessible, transparent and efficient manner. I congratulate the Passport Officers who have continued to deliver passport services at high standard, even during the pandemic.
The Ministry of External Affairs has leveraged greater use of IT and digital systems into its functioning, including delivering public services. The Passport Seva Programme (PSP) currently encompasses 555 Passport Kendra across the length and breadth of our country, including 36 Passport Offices, 93 Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) and 426 Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK). We are working closely with the Department of Posts for setting up new POPSK to extend outreach of our passport services to the citizens. The Ministry has successfully integrated the passports issuance systems in 174 of our Missions/Posts abroad into the PSP, enabling us to deliver passport and passport-related services to our Diaspora abroad efficiently.
Digital platform such as the mPassport Seva Mobile App for submissions of passport applications and the citizen-friendly "Apply from Anywhere" Scheme have eased the process for submission of passport applications by the citizens. The mPassport Police App has led to expedition police verification. In a major digital transformation, Ministry has integrated the Passport Seva Programme with DigiLocker, enabling citizens to submit various documents for obtaining passport services through DigiLocker in a paperless mode. We need to continue further simplifying the passport rules and increasing our efforts to provide passport services in a comfortable environment with wider accessibility and reliability and minimizing the compliance burden on citizens.
I call upon all Passport Issuing Authorities in India and abroad to make conscious efforts to further improve the delivery of passport and passport related services, particularly utilizing the new opportunities offered by increased use if technology that enable closer engagement with citizens.
Dr. S. Jaishankar
