Passport Seva: A case of minimum government, minimum governance

"Minimum government, maximum governance" was one of the campaign slogans of Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the run up to the 2014 general elections. But the government of India's passport delivery mechanism appears to be one of "minimum government, minimum governance."

To cater to a population of 1.25 billion, ministry of external affairs' official Passport Seva website lists only 38 passport offices across the country in select cities like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.

The bulk of India's population resides in its over 6,00,000 villages. In addition to that there are more than 5,000 towns and 300 plus urban agglomerations. If a person intends to get a passport made, he/she has to visit the jurisdictional passport office of his area. But the real question pertains to the glaringly insufficient number of passport offices nationwide.

Does the government of India expect rural dwelling poor famers, labourers and ordinary persons to travel all the way to big cities in their area (with a passport office) in the quest for a passport?

If Passport Seva is indeed a "seva" (service), then the service should be extended to the common man. It should be within his reach not the other way round wherein he/she is expected to undertake a journey from his village/town to the jurisdictional passport office.

The journey is both tiresome and expensive for several citizens. Much of the work of Passport Seva has been outsourced to private entities like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The collaboration between government and private players has given the passport delivery process a facelift by facilitating digitisation but it is certainly not enough.

There is an urgent need to exponentially increase the number of passport offices in the country. If the government doesn't have the capacity to do so itself, then it should outsource the work to private companies. But what has to be ensured is that passport offices start reaching out to the citizens by maintaining an official presence in towns and villages across India.

There is no "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas" ("Together with All, Development for All") when select cities have monopoly over passport offices.

Increase in the number of passport offices will reduce congestion in the existing offices and ease the workload. The queues will be shortened and the situation more manageable at the various centres with lesser people to cater to.

Moreover, it will be a step towards inclusive development with passport service offices being extended to the remotest of places in the country.

Last year, the Central government was embarrassed when it came to light as to how the external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj was allegedly helping Lalit Modi, an economic offender sitting in London, to get his passport. The government justified it by sighting medical emergency and invoking the notion of an Indian helping a fellow Indian.

If the government can go out of its way to help Lalit Modi, then it surely can take urgent steps to benefit common citizens by providing Passport Seva with a Pan-India presence.

Secondly, the government should consider complete digitisation of the process. Currently, one can fill the passport form online but he/she has to take an appointment date on which he/she will be required to be present in the passport office.

The verification process is lengthy and may often run into hours. At the first page, one is required to go to the reception, stand in the queue and furnish his photo identity and address proof.

Thereafter, he/she is issued a token number and a file is made in which the self attested photocopies of the photo identity and address proof are kept. The applicant then proceeds towards Counter A wherein his/her original documents are scanned. A photograph is taken and finger impressions collected. Signatures are also taken and scans of every item are uploaded in the online database.

At Counters B and C, the applicant merely moves his file and shows his/her original documents and their attested photocopies to the officers present therein. After the three-step document verification process, one would expect the scrutiny to be complete but the acknowledgement slip handed out to the applicants at the end of it all (before he/she exits the passport office) says that the documents have been submitted but their veracity will have to be confirmed from the issuing authority as well.

The point is that the existing mechanism is such that it can be completed without the physical presence of the candidate. In the case of the University Grants Commission - National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET), candidates upload scanned copies of their signature and photograph on the NET website itself.

If one section of the government can do so then why can't the external affairs ministry? There should be no need for the applicant to merely come to get photographed and sign.

Also, since the address proof and photo identity documents are further verified from the issuing authority as the acknowledgment slip says, then why not allow candidates to upload the original documents and attested photocopies online?

The officials can take the prints if required and get that verified from the issuing authority. Again the physical presence of the candidate at the passport office is nullified. Lastly, biometric data in the form of fingerprints can be borrowed from the Aadhar database. Duplication of data should be avoided. The government should construct collaborative governance tools. For what purpose was the biometric data submitted to Aadhar?

The external affairs ministry and Aadhar should be asked to develop a database sharing system which would do away with the need for duplication of data. Therefore, digitisation of the whole process will make things simpler, easier. The candidate will simply have to log in, fill the form, submit the documents, photographs, signature and his task will be complete.

During the police verification step, the local police can further verify the candidate's presence at the said address physically as is done at present. Complete digitisation will massively transform Passport Seva.

However, in a country where only 15 per cent of the population has access to the internet, digitisation cannot be the only solution. It can be one among many solutions. Such a process will relieve the internet savvy class of coming and waiting in long queues at passport offices but for the poor, marginalised and deprived sections of society, this might not be an alternative.

For them, the first suggestion stands which is creation of passport offices in small towns and villages to make laymen aware of the need to get a passport and more importantly, enable them to actually get one. Another important thing which the government needs to be wary of is the manner in which certain brokers try to affect the functioning of passport offices.

At the Passport Seva Office in Lucknow's Ratan Square, brokers openly roam around proclaiming their presence. They are willing to arrange for any document and claim that they have the ability to get the work done as soon as possible. Is it possible that the authorities sitting inside are not aware of the presence of these brokers?

Does it hint at a possible nexus between the two which might enable a person with incorrect documentary evidences to illegally avail a passport? Ironically, at the same passport office in Ratan Square, parents, relatives and friends who accompany the applicants are asked to vacate the premises of the place by the guards post 4 PM.

Even if the applicant (an adult) is inside then also the person accompanying (who is already waiting outside the main building) will be asked to entirely leave the office premises and made to wait on the road.

If ordinary citizens can be rounded off so easily then why aren't brokers being clamped down on? Government offices are meant to benefit citizens and not middlemen. Realisation of the same is essential as poor citizens, rural dwellers should be prevented from being exploited by middlemen.