Verification delay a bottleneck for passports

September 15, 2013
PassportsNew Delhi, Sep 15: If you still have to wait for more than a month to get your passport despite the technology introduced by the Ministry of External Affairs, it is largely because of the slow pace at which local cops verify addresses and check records of passport applicants.

While police are expected to complete the verification of residential addresses and track records of each passport applicant within 21 days, they do so only in less than one-third of the cases. For the remaining two-thirds, they take months and, in some cases, even years.

“We think that if police authorities are able to give reports within 21 days, we can certainly meet the target of one month period in which we can deliver passports. Unfortunately, only 30 per cent of all police verification reports are received within 20 days nationally. We have to make constant efforts to improve that,” said country’s Chief Passport Officer Muktesh Pardeshi.

The MEA claims that it dispatches “normal” passports “within seven days” in 68 per cent cases and “within 15 days” in 90 per cent cases. The claim, however, comes with a disclaimer—the “seven days” and “the 15 days” do not include the time taken for police verification.

Though the MEA’s ambitious project to speed up the process of issuing passports with the help of Information Technology did help lessen the time taken in submission of application, processing, printing, signing and dispatching, the delay in police verification remains the biggest constraint.

“If we are able to improve police verification system drastically, the ministry is confident of reducing the total time taken in passport delivery to even a lower scale,” said Pardeshi.

The MEA has been working with state governments to establish online connectivity between the headquarters of police districts and the passport offices in order to speed up the process. But only 344 of the 722 police districts across the country could so far be linked with the passport offices.

A R Ghanashyam, the Additional Secretary heading the MEA’s Consular, Passport and Visa division, recently accompanied a parliamentary delegation to Bangalore to see how the Regional Passport Office in the city is working. He discussed with senior police officers and top brass of the Home Department of Karnataka government to find out the reasons of delay in police verification.

He was told that while approximately 5,00,000 passports were issued annually in Karnataka, the state had only a limited number of policemen to verify the addresses and check if the applicants had any past record of crimes. A policeman had to complete verification of eight to 10 passport applications every day, he said, quoting top police officers in Karnataka.

The MEA has also noted that a policeman could go for verification of the addresses of passport applicants only if he could spare sometime from his other duties, ranging from crime investigations to dealing with traffic violations and managing security of the VIPs.

The ministry contemplated depending on the digital databases of police in some states to check the track records of the passport seekers and thus lessen the burden on local cops. But it did not work as only some states have digitized criminal databases. An applicant may not have committed a crime in the state he resides in, but this is not enough to issue him a passport. He may have been involved with criminal activities in other states.

“This digital database (of any state) is of no use for us (for issue of passport). We need to have a national database and only then we will be able to depend on it,” said Ghanashyam.

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If you still have to wait for more than a month to get your passport despite the technology introduced by the Ministry of External Affairs, it is largely because of the slow pace at which local cops verify addresses and check records of passport applicants.

While police are expected to complete the verification of residential addresses and track records of each passport applicant within 21 days, they do so only in less than one-third of the cases. For the remaining two-thirds, they take months and, in some cases, even years.

“We think that if police authorities are able to give reports within 21 days, we can certainly meet the target of one month period in which we can deliver passports. Unfortunately, only 30 per cent of all police verification reports are received within 20 days nationally. We have to make constant efforts to improve that,” said country’s Chief Passport Officer Muktesh Pardeshi.

The MEA claims that it dispatches “normal” passports “within seven days” in 68 per cent cases and “within 15 days” in 90 per cent cases. The claim, however, comes with a disclaimer—the “seven days” and “the 15 days” do not include the time taken for police verification.

Though the MEA’s ambitious project to speed up the process of issuing passports with the help of Information Technology did help lessen the time taken in submission of application, processing, printing, signing and dispatching, the delay in police verification remains the biggest constraint.

“If we are able to improve police verification system drastically, the ministry is confident of reducing the total time taken in passport delivery to even a lower scale,” said Pardeshi.

The MEA has been working with state governments to establish online connectivity between the headquarters of police districts and the passport offices in order to speed up the process. But only 344 of the 722 police districts across the country could so far be linked with the passport offices.

A R Ghanashyam, the Additional Secretary heading the MEA’s Consular, Passport and Visa division, recently accompanied a parliamentary delegation to Bangalore to see how the Regional Passport Office in the city is working. He discussed with senior police officers and top brass of the Home Department of Karnataka government to find out the reasons of delay in police verification.

He was told that while approximately 5,00,000 passports were issued annually in Karnataka, the state had only a limited number of policemen to verify the addresses and check if the applicants had any past record of crimes. A policeman had to complete verification of eight to 10 passport applications every day, he said, quoting top police officers in Karnataka.

The MEA has also noted that a policeman could go for verification of the addresses of passport applicants only if he could spare sometime from his other duties, ranging from crime investigations to dealing with traffic violations and managing security of the VIPs.

The ministry contemplated depending on the digital databases of police in some states to check the track records of the passport seekers and thus lessen the burden on local cops. But it did not work as only some states have digitized criminal databases. An applicant may not have committed a crime in the state he resides in, but this is not enough to issue him a passport. He may have been involved with criminal activities in other states.

“This digital database (of any state) is of no use for us (for issue of passport). We need to have a national database and only then we will be able to depend on it,” said Ghanashyam.

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Agencies
May 28,2020

Kochi, May 28: In these pandemic times, when the businesses are gravely affected and the MSMEs are particularly feeling the heat, a Kerala institute has come up with an initiative to help the distressed industry. The Institute of Small Enterprises and Development (ISED) has come out with a unique platform -- 'business clinic' for extending advisory services to the COVID-19 affected MSMEs in the state.

The Kochi based ISED's multi-disciplinary team of experts will offer free guidance to entrepreneurs to make a self-evaluation for improving their performance.

It will serve the interests of the MSMEs, entrepreneurial aspirants, such as the returning migrants, start-ups, educated unemployed, and women entrepreneurs.

ISED director, PM Mathew said COVID-19 pandemic has shattered the budgets and operations of most SMEs, globally, as also in India.

"Post-lockdown, the operational problems are likely to get aggravated. Beyond the broad macro level projections and debates, it is now time to act at the grassroots level. Many entrepreneurs need appropriate clinical assessment, and moral and psychological support, said Mathew.

According to the work force participation data at the national level, Kerala is ranked 31 in terms of the number of self employed, and placed in second rank in relation to the size of casual labour.

The Kerala Enterprise Development Report, brought out by the ISED states while the number of the unregistered enterprises is sizeable, constituting 76.85 % of the total, the respective share of registered MSMEs is only 9.53 %.

The constraints to these enterprises today are, poor sales, large inventory, delayed payments, damage of stock, wage bill arrears, unreliable labour supplies, fund diversion due to exigencies, GST related problems, and NPA/poor credit score.

"For all businesses, unlike in a sporadic recession in the economy, the danger today is circular and cumulative. Both from the demand side, and the supply angle, there is a serious contraction of business activities, which essentially means a glut in the cash flow. Corporate businesses, obviously, will come out of the mess due to their relative advantages of high reserve funds, liberal credit offerings, and easier access to alternative sources of finance," said Mathew.

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News Network
February 11,2020

Aligarh, Feb 11: Paediatrician Dr Kafeel Khan, who was arrested from Mumbai on January 29 after he delivered a speech at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) against communalism and politics of hate, will be released from jail on Tuesday after he was granted bail by an Aligarh court.

Khan will be released from Mathura jail on Tuesday after legal formalities are completed.

Chief judicial magistrate Karuna Singh granted bail to Khan on Monday on a bail bond of Rs 60,000. Two surety bonds of Rs 60,000 each would also be furnished by the guarantors.

Dr Khan's lawyer, Mohammad Irfan Gazi, told reporters, "The court was told that Khan was falsely implicated by police under political pressure. After hearing the arguments, the court granted him bail."

The suspended doctor was arrested by special task force (STF) of the UP police from Mumbai on January 29, when he reached the city to attend a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

He was arrested in connection with a case registered against him in Aligarh under section 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion) of the Indian Penal Code at Civil Lines police station on December 13

The case was filed after his speech at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

According to the FIR, while addressing students, without naming anyone, Dr Kafeel Khan said that 'Mota Bhai' is teaching everyone to become Hindu or Muslim but not a human being. "This is a fight for our existence. We have to fight."

The FIR also said that Dr Kafeel Khan made an attempt to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere and disturb the communal harmony with his speech.

Dr Khan was in the news in 2017 when he was named as one of the nine accused in a case involving deaths of several children due to alleged disruption in supply of oxygen at the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur. Though he was granted clean chit in a departmental inquiry, his suspension has not yet been revoked.

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News Network
July 14,2020

New Delhi, Jul 14: India's COVID-19 tally breached the 9 lakh mark as 28,498 new coronavirus cases were reported in the last 24 hours, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.

As per the Health Ministry, there are a total of 9,06,752 coronavirus cases in the country of which 3,11,565 patients are active cases.

5,71,459 patients have been cured/discharged while one patient has been migrated, the Ministry informed further.

553 more deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in the last 24 hours in the country, taking the number of patients succumbing to the virus to 23,727.

The Centre further informed that India's recovery rate from COVID-19 stands at 63.02 per cent while the recoveries and deaths ratio stood at 96.01 per cent and 3.99 per cent respectively.

As per the Ministry, Maharashtra -- the worst-affected state from the infection -- has a total of 2,60,924 COVID-19 cases and 10,482 fatalities. While Tamil Nadu has a tally of 1,42,798 cases and 2,032 deaths due to COVID-19.

Delhi has reported a total of 1,13,740 cases and 3,411 deaths due to COVID-19.

As per the information provided by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) 1,20,92,503 samples have been tested for COVID-19 till July 13, of these 2,86,247 samples were tested on Monday.

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