passport seva project taking governance to the...

AIMA Journal of Management & Research, May 2016, Volume 10 Issue 2/4, ISSN 0974 – 497 Copy right©

2016 AJMR-AIMA

Article No.5

PASSPORT SEVA PROJECT – TAKING E-

GOVERNANCE TO THE DOOR STEP OF CITIZENS

Bhavna Agarwal

Internal Audit Manager, TCS Limited

Abstract: The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India owns the sovereign task of issuing

passports. Citizens applying for passports within the geographical limits of India are served by a network of 37

Regional Passport Offices and Central Passport Printing Facility. Passport has been one of the essential documents

for citizens undertaking international travel for various purposes e.g. education, employment, business & profession,

tourism, medical needs, pilgrimage, sports, art, culture and lots of other occupations undertaken by human being.

Globalization, liberalization and privatization have further increased the demand of passports in every nook &

corner of the country, across all the social & demographical sectors.

Government of India approved National e-Governance Plan on 18.05.2006, to provide government services to the

public at large, through electronic media. This Plan covers 31 Mission-Mode-Projects, including Passport Seva

Project, wherein the Ministry of External Affairs undertakes Public Private Partnership with a leading IT firm Tata

Consultancy Services Limited. In this model, Sovereign act is still with the Government of India and responsibilities

related to infrastructure, manpower, IT applications and citizen service are assigned to the service provider firm.

This project has redefined the way passport related services were being provided to the citizens.By applying the

process re-engineering, it identified the areas to be redesigned for achieving dramatic results. A highly motivated

and trained team finalizes their vision and works relentlessly to provide hassle free service to bring delight to the

citizens of India. Is this vision realizable …..Keeping in view the large population of India and their constraints

related to IT infrastructure?

Keywords: Business Process Re-engineering, E-Governance, PPP Model, Government to Citizen, Passport

Seva

Introduction

Prior to the year 2010, when citizens of India were applying for passport, many of them had the

experience of standing in long slow moving queues for hours together to complete the

processing. Mere reading of these harrowing experiences sends shiver down the spine, just

imagine the plight of the passport applicants who kept on putting off their application plans for

months together to avoid going through pains of jostling, fighting and pushing to get their way

inside the Passport Office. And after getting into the Passport Office, applicants had to bear

arbitrary and indifferent behavior of concerned dealing hands. Harrowing experience did not end

with the processing at Passport Office. Due to manual processing, Police Verification also used

to take a very long time; and final step of passport delivery to the citizen was another painful

task.During this whole long time duration, applicant had to keep running from pillar to post to

know the whereabouts of his own passport. There were instances when passport did not reach to

the applicant for several months. Such delays were common irrespective of the purpose of

applying for the passport – be it higher education, medical grounds, pilgrimage or any other


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humanitarian need. Similar experiences met all passport applicants - be it small kids, elderly

people, ladies, pregnant women or differently abled citizens. Lots of such experiences have been

shared online by various applicants, indicating that obtaining Passport was a painful task.

These experiences sound like hell!!! No help used to be around except the touts who used to

exhort huge sum of money from such helpless applicants.

Regarding infrastructure: Till 2010, there were only 37 Regional Passport Offices (RPOs) all

over the country, with their limited resources in terms of working hours, tools and manpower, to

cater to huge demand of all the citizens of India.

NOTE: The case is based on the cited secondary sources.

About Passport Seva Project

One of the most important documents of identity of citizens –PASSPORT - is issued by the

Consular, Passport and Visa Division of Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India (GoI).

This is a sovereign act, stakeholders of which belong to wide demographic and socio-economic

sectors across the country. Globalization has further raised the need for holding passport.

Sensitivity, necessity and significance of the passport can be understood by the fact that youngest

passport applicant has been 1 day old and the oldest passport applicant has been 115 years old,

and this range includes stakeholders from all genders, various levels & streams of education /

professions and from all economic & social sectors.

Since several hurdles were being faced in imparting G-2-C services, as mentioned above;

therefore in order to cater the need of wide range of stakeholders and to provide government

services through electronic media, GoI launched National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) on

18.05.2006which covers 31 Mission-mode-project (MMP) andPassport Seva Project (PSP) has

been the most successful project of NeGP.

In the year 2008, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) awarded PSP project to Tata Consultancy

Services Limited (TCS), a leading IT firm of the country, selected through public competitive

procurement process.This project has been executed through Public Private Partnership (PPP)

model;whereinsovereign act of granting the passport still rests with GoI; and TCS is responsible

for development of application software and to ensure the change management. The change here

involves fundamental and radical change in the manner of passport applications processing and

applicants being serviced hither-to. MEA has carried out not just the automation, but re-

engineering of the entire process i.e. it is not just the progression from paper-based processing to

the software-based processing managed by an IT firm, rather it is a leap towards service

excellence, unheard of in any Government of India organization dealing with public at large.

E-Governance

PSP was launched with the vision "to deliver passport services to citizens in a timely,

transparent, more accessible, reliable manner and in a comfortable environment through

streamlined processes and committed, trained and motivated workforce." For the purpose of


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executing this project, in addition to development of application software, TCS has established

and managed 77 offices known as Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) across India, as extended arms

of 37 RPOs, which are to front end the passport applicants. Design philosophy of these PSKs &

processing thereat is evidence of deep concerns for the citizens of India and is a sure way of

achieving vision statement of project. A glimpse of PSK citizen centric design philosophy is

presented here-in-below:

1. PSKs are located in easily accessible, safe commercial areas having world class

ambience, central air-conditioning and several other best-in-class amenities

2. There are Spic-n-Span processing zones, waiting halls, cafeteria, baby care rooms and

washrooms

3. There are facilities like public phone, newspaper/journals, information kiosk,

photocopying machine

4. Processing counters are equipped with latest state-of-the-art technology comparable to

the best in the world e.g. Scanners, webcam, biometric device and fake note detector

device apart from basic computer hardware & software infrastructure

5. PSK Leadership Teams are excellent example of Management Prototype

6. Private staff managed by TCS is young, beaming with enthusiasm and seems to be

efficiency & politeness personified.

Service Transformation & Process Re-Engineering

Pilot phase of PSPwent live in April, 2010 in the state of Karnataka, followed by Chandigarh,

and it dramatically changed the way of servicing citizens. Confidence earned during Pilot Phase,

resulted into successful Nationwide rollout of PSP completed in June, 2012 and since then it has

been in Operation and Maintenance phase.During this journey, operational improvements were

made and innovative steps were taken to enhance quality of passport services. A glimpse of re-

engineered services providing best-in-class experience to citizensis presented here-in-below:

1. Passport Seva Portal made available to citizens 24 x 7 x 365 where all the relevant

information can be obtained within the comfort of citizens' own premises. It is receiving

2+ crore hits every day.

2. Application Forms, Instruction Kit and applicable formats of annexure to be enclosed

with the application, made available on passport portal free of cost.

3. Online helpdesk / feedback service made available to the citizens through passport portal

where citizens could interact for further clarifications and advice.

4. In order to make the general information more accessible, a light weight mobile

application mPassport Seva Mobile Appwas launched in March, 2013 for Android iOS,

Windows and BlackBerry platform. It recorded 13.7+ Lakh downloads by the end of Dec.

2015. Using their smart phones, citizen are able to access generic information about

process, fees, location of various centers, status of applications under process – anytime,

anywhere, on the go.


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5. Further support provided to citizens through 24 x 7 National Call Centre offering up-to-

date clarifications / advices to 20K+ callers per day, in 17 Indian languages.

6. Citizens have facility to upload their applications through passport portal, using their

User ID & Password and then to visit the PSK, mapped to the RPO as per their

geographical jurisdiction, for further processing of the application.

7. In sync with various IT enabled services in this internet age, PSP introduced Online

Payment Facility in July, 2013 in collaboration of SBI and its associate banks,

facilitating the service provider as well as the applicants. Both the parties are benefited as

they are freed from all the complexities of handling cash e.g. fake currency, mutilated

currency, short/excess payment, manual reconciliation, safe custody of cash etc. In this

particular project, online payment facility has also added benefit of ensuring optimum

utilization of available PSK resources, as advance payment of fees, motivates the

applicant to actually go to PSK and to avail the requisitioned services. Otherwise in case

of no such stakes involved, users may book a slot for themselves but may not actually

turn up to the PSK, resulting in unutilized PSK capacity lying idle.

8. Approx. 50000 daily footfall of citizens being managed, across all the 77 PSKs, by way

of appointments scheduled online. This computerized queue management system ensured

fair play in first-come-first-serve manner, spreading appointment slots throughout the day

and resulted in relief to citizens from standing in long queues since early in the morning

and from pains of jostling, fighting and pushing the way to get inside the Passport Office.

9. Citizens need to reach respective PSKs just half an hour before the scheduled

appointment and once there, they are to be taken care of by the trained and dedicated

workforce of PSKs, for completion of rest of their processing.

10. This process of managing the applicants‟ queue electronically is not applicable to each

citizen in a stringent manner; in fact there are multiple versions of process suitable for

multiple categories of citizens e.g. Senior Citizens, Kids, medical emergencies, Haz

pilgrims, differently abled citizens and PCC applicants. Each distinct category is to be

managed in its distinct electronic queue. Even such categories of applicants exist who do

not need to schedule online appointment and can simply walk-in to the PSKs for

processing of their applications e.g. Senior Citizens, Ladies with infants.

11. In conformity with the vision statement of maintaining transparency, PSP provides

Premium Optional SMS Servicew.e.f. November, 2013, @ nominal charge of Rs.40/-

only. All applicants who avail this service shall receive up to 9 alerts about submission of

documents, notifications issued, exceptions/errors in processing, penalty, show cause

notices, police verification, printing of passport and completion of processing when

passport is ready for collection over the counter / dispatch, averaging out to 1+lakh SMS

being sent per day.

This is a two way interactive service through which applicant can also track the status of

application by sending SMS to a specified contact number.


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Another significant feature being that there exist several opportunities - at various stages

of processing - when citizen can activate this service. Even if opportunity to avail this

service is missed at previous stage, it can be availed at a subsequent stage.

PSP was already having service of intimating applicants about dispatch of passport, but

with this Premium Service, frequent intimations are sent at various stages of processing,

that too without requiring any specific software system. It can be availed by all the

mobile phone user applicants, subject to security provisions applicable to the particular

geographic areas.

12. One great challenge in legacy system was the time consumption in Police Verification of

passport applicant as this activity comprised of police visit to applicant‟s residence. With

increasing technological advancement, State Police Departments have also embraced

paperless working style and PSP developed a custom mobile application mPassport

Police Appto be used by police department on their mobile/tab devices when they

undertake field visits for address verification. Working closely with district police

headquarters and equipping them with necessary infrastructure & training, PSP has

accelerated the police verification process, bringing down the time consumption in Police

Verification to 34 days as compared to 49 days in 2013.

13. After application processing, the next step i.e. printing of passport is also indispensable

part of PSP. RPOs have been enabled with Software application and requisite hardware to

ensure smooth printing of passports for granted applications. Each RPO shall be printing

applications falling under its jurisdiction; and to take care of any spill over, there is

Central Passport Printing Facility (CPPF), equally equipped with all necessary

infrastructure.

14. The enabling force of Information Technology combined with Business Process

Reengineering has turned, the previous style of working, on its head and made the life of

passport applicants far easy as the number of public dealing counters has increased from

erstwhile 350 to 1610 in the new system and public dealing hours have gone up from 4

hours to 7 hours a day.

15. This re-engineered process challenged the very roots of complicated & undesirable way

of passport application processing which hitherto considered involvement of agents/touts

as basic need, without which, it was thought that, an innocent citizen could not move

towards his dream destination, as the very first step i.e. obtaining a passport – was full of

innumerable hurdles.

Crossing Organisational Boundaries

Even after all the facilitation provided as mentioned above, certain limitations were observed

related to working hours, working place and technology applied. PSP has successfully managed


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such limitations widening its network, to facilitate citizens with best-in-class experience. Few

initiatives are described below:

1. Passport Melas: Monday to Friday working of PSKs posed difficulties for some

citizens as all desirous passport applicants were not able to schedule PSK appointments

due to their other preoccupations. Therefore PSP organised Melas on weekends to avoid

this constraint. Applicants can attend these melas and avail the same facilities for passport

application processing, till now approx. 2.5+ Lakh applicants have availed passport

services during extended working hours through such melas.

2. Passport Camps: W.e.f. 18.10.2014, PSP is reaching out to the doorstep of applicants

through its initiative of organizing Passport Camps, in remote areas. These camps are

meant for specifically defined categories of applicants, providing them benefit of

extended working hours, overcoming the limitation of static PSK location. Such camps

have served approx. 51000+ applicants till now.

3. Passport Adalats: PSP reaches out to citizens by conducting Passport Adalats also,

which has helped in disposing of approx. 10000+ long pending and complex cases.

4. PSP goes rural through CSC: Digital divide posed another challenge to PSP. A huge

segment of stakeholders of this project is not computer literate and/or is not having access

to internet / computer systems. In order to overcome such difficulties and to extend e-

Governance to this segment of citizens, MEA collaborated with CSC e-Governance

Services India Limited. This collaboration extends benefit of 100000+ strong CSC

services - launched under NeGP, to passport applicants also. CSCs provide services of

filling & uploading of application form, online payment of fees and scheduling the

appointment with PSK – that too at a nominal charge not exceeding Rs.100/-. CSCs have

submitted approx. 1.2+ lakh applications till now, offering IT enabled services in very

cost effective manner to even non-techy citizens, at their doorstep, across India.

5. Passport Seva Laghu Kendra: In addition to 77 PSKs, MEA has planned 18

Passport Seva Laghu Kendras (PSLKs), to serve the citizens in remote areas where

existing PSK is far away. These PSLKs are established under direct supervision of

Passport Officer, wholly built and operated by GoI, extending all the services like PSKs,

only difference being that PSLKs are not covered under PPP Model.

PSP has done overhauling of Data Centre, Data Recovery Site, Network Operating Centre,

Security Operating Centre which ensures continuation of smooth & undisrupted services 24x7,

also during various natural calamities like earthquake and flood etc.

Service Excellence

Thriving on re-engineered process, supported by enabling force of state-of-the-art Technology,

PSP has redesigned the identified areas, worked relentlessly, achieved dramatic results, and

realisedits vision by providing hassle free service to bring delight to the citizens of India. It has


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not just automated but redefined and re-engineered the way of rendering passport related services

to the citizens.

PSP has not restricted itself just to the processing of passport applications, rather it has integrated

entire system with various national level organizations to ensure end-to-end Service Value

Chainsolution; starting from the point of procurement and Supply Management of blank

passport booklets from Indian Security Press (ISP), Nasik to various RPOs and CPPF;

andleading upto the point of speedy and assured passport delivery to citizens in close co-

ordination with India Post.

PSP has ensured compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) criteria,

which prescribed for global phasing out of all non-machine readable passports w.e.f. 24.11.2015.

All 20 years' validity passports, handwritten passports with photograph of passport holder pasted

on it, being issued by GoI earlier, are considered as non-machine readable. Upgraded PSP

processes are consistent with ICAO and all the new passports being issued now, are machine

readable passports. These new passports are equipped with additional temper proof security

features; eventually helping in strengthening the security of entire country and its citizens.

In recognition of the quality of its Operations, Services and Data Security, PSP has been

bestowed with tripple ISO Certification(2015) in the categories of 9001:2008 – Passport Seva

Kendra Operations, 27001:2013 – Information Security Management and 20000-1:2011 –

Service Management & Operations.

Snap Shot Of Process Re-Engineering, Service Transformation And Excellence

PSP‟s continuous value-add in the services and added features, are presented here-in-below at a

glance:

Process Area Before After

Sovereign task Owned by MEA, GoI Owned by MEA, GoI

Passport Offices 37 RPOs 77 PSKs + 18 PSLKs

Reporting Time Long slow moving queues for

hours together

Just half an hour before the

scheduled time

Applicants‟ Queue Pains of jostling, fighting and

pushing the way

Electronic Queue

Management

Dealing Hands Indifferent behavior Staff personifying efficiency

& politeness

Support System Touts - exhorting huge sum of

money

Management Prototype

Online Portal Not Available 24*7*365 Passport Seva

Portal

Mobile App Not Available mPassport Seva Mobile App

Online Support Not Available Online Helpdesk

Call Support Not Available 24*7 National Call Centre

Public Dealing Counters 350 per day 1610 per day

Public Dealing Hours 4 hours a day 7 hours a day


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Passport Fees Payment Cash / Draft Online Payment Process in

collaboration with SBI

Application Status Update Not Available Premium Optional SMS

Service

Police Verification Lengthy cycle due to manual

processing mPassport Police App reduced Cycle to 34 days from

49 days in 2013

Passports Printing Long Delay Requisite Hardware/Software

enabled RPOs & CPPF

Passport Delivery Endless Wait Speedy and assured in close

co-ordination with India Post

Citizen Experiences Harrowing / Complaints Compliments

Honors & Distinctions:

The project executed with such a vision, dedication, transparency and focus on citizen service, is

sure to achieve various awards and distinctions. Here follows a brief (and not exhaustive) list of

awards won by PSP:

1. December, 2012 – Computer Society of India-Nihilent Technologies e-Governance

Award for Excellence

2. March, 2013 - “Best Executed Project” at Blitz 2013 – TCS' annual global senior

leadership conference

3. March, 2013 – 'Promising Innovation Award' – Regional Rounds of Tata Innovista

2012-13

4. April 21st, 2013 - Acknowledged by Department of Administrative Reforms and

Public Grievances as one of the 7 best examples of public services delivery

5. July, 2013 - 'e INDIA Award of Excellence'

6. August, 2013 - Citation by GOVERNANCE Now: BIG DATA LEADER

7. October, 2013 - The Economic Times Certificate of Recognition

8. December, 2013 – Finalist (Security in e-Governance), Data Security Council of India

Excellence Awards

9. March, 2014 –SecureIT 2014 Award, 5th

Annual eGov SecureIT 2014 Conference on

Information Safety & Citizen Security

10. March, 2014 – Skoch Challenger 2014 Award for Governance

11. July 2014 - “mPassport Seva” application recognized as “Special Mentions” at

mBillionth Award South Asia 2014

12. January 2015 -„National Award for eGovernance, 2014 - 2015', Gold Award in the

„Outstanding performance in Citizen-Centric Service Delivery‟ category

13. 2015 - Platinum Icon at Web Ratna Awards

14. August 2015 -"Business Impact Award 2015" for successful implementation of PSP

This momentum is sure to continue as PSP moves forward and keeps on achieving further

milestones, one after another. June, 2013 recorded one such milestone when Adnan Raja, a little


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boy from Kolkata, became 1 croreth applicant in the PSP system. By the end of December,

2015approx.6.33 crore Indians held valid passports. Horrible experiences and complaints of

applicants recorded earlierhave turned into compliments.

Cited beloware some of the Citizens‟ Testimonials drawing the picture of Passport services as it

stands today;these testimonials are recorded by applicants themselves after having firsthand

experience with PSP across the country:

"Hi, Today I had an appointment for reissue of Passport as the present one expires on Oct

2014. I have never seen such a arrangement in Passport Seva Kendra, SALIGRAMAM,

that the process took hardly 25 min to finish. TCS has taken up the handling of the

application, & FINAL stage, (approval) is by GOVT staff. The youngsters of TCS Team,

always on TOES, to see the applicant does not waste any time & things move like

RELAY race. Superb. We can compare to any international standard. The number of

people handled from morning 9.00AM to 10 PM is much more than any office & also the

way in which the applicants are taken care of cannot be mentioned in words. I felt as

though i have been attending a marriage "reception, except Free food. There is a

SNACKs Bar, & whole place is “SPIC & SPAN”. I came home (20 min from passport

kendra), & recd. the SMS that my passport is cleared for PRINTING. Within few minutes

another SMS, saying the Passport is PRINTED & ready for dispatch thru "Speed Post". I

am unable to believe my own eyes. Yes I am not in U.S & I am in India. Hats off to TCS

team."

Biju Kumar Gogoi, Guwahati – “Service completed as on TAT (Turn Around Time).

Excellent services rendered.” (05.01.2016)

Velumani I, Coimbatore – “I entered PSK Coimbatore at 10.35am and exited at around

10.45am. Such fast service was a result of the excellent services provided by PSK

Coimbatore.” (21.12.2015)

Lingasamy, Trichy – “PSK Staffs are very cooperative. My application was processed

within 20 minutes. This credit goes to JS (PSP) & CPO and his team as well as to TCS.”

(20.11.2015)

Arun Prasanth Ramasamy, Coimbatore – “Last time it took me almost half day when I

applied for Passport, but this time it took just 35 minutes. Looking at the excellent

services I can say that its‟ an awesome use of technology.” (05.10.2015)

Ravindra M Patel, Surat – “nice to see such a huge change and the management of

services is truly nice. Looking at these PSK I can say that we are moving towards

"MERA BHARAT MAHAN". (20.01.2016)

Alex Kuriakose, Cochin – “The whole process has been wonderfully organised. I have

had an extremely great experience. Services like these surely makes me a proud Indian.”

(16.12.2015)

Manorma Samyal, Jammu – “I had a really good and smooth experience. The services

are definitely at par with best in the world.”(29.12.2015)

Gopalan G, Coimbatore – “I have come to Passport Office after almost 5 years and to

my surprise I can see a flood of changes in the services being rendered to the citizens.”

(13.01.2016)


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Piyush Gupta, Delhi – “I was at the same Passport Office which I visited 10 years back

and today I could see wonderful changes and improvement in the services. Keep up the

good job. My wishes are with you.” (10.11.2015)

Shalini Sangha, Delhi – “I am pleasantly impressed by the services and the efficiency

with which the system operates. It is no longer a painful experience. The whole staff is

extremely courteous and helpful.” (17.12.2015)

Abhishek Sharma, Delhi – “Extremely delighted by seeing the way process has been

revamped. Much better than my last experience. Its‟ good to see government employees

performing excellently. Keep up the good work.” (06.10.2015)

Priyadarshini, Coimbatore – “I never had such an awesome experience with a central

government office. It was an incredible process. Hats off to Govt. of India and TCS and

for this wonderful initiative.” (21.12.2015)

Nitin Jain, Delhi – “Surprisingly, everything was automatic and there was no confusion

anywhere. I wish all the Government offices work like Passport Seva Kendras.”

(04.11.2015)

Shafeeque A P, Kannur – “The services at Passport Seva Kendra's are excellent. It is

very easy even for an uneducated person to get the passport. The behavior of the staff

members is very good.” (19.10.2015)


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ANNEXURE -1

List of Passport Seva Kendras

S. No. Passport Seva Kendras Regional Passport Offices

1 Tirupathi Hyderabad

2 Vijayawada Vishakapatnam

3 Vishakapatnam Vishakapatnam

4 Hyderabad – Begumpet Hyderabad

5 Hyderabad – Ameerpet Hyderabad

6 Hyderabad – Toli Chowki Hyderabad

7 Nizamabad Hyderabad

8 Guwahati Guwahati

9 Patna Patna

10 Raipur Raipur

11 Ranchi Ranchi

12 Bhopal Bhopal

13 Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar

14 Bareilly Bareilly

15 Gorakhpur Lucknow

16 Kanpur Lucknow

17 Lucknow Lucknow

18 Varanasi Lucknow

19 Berhampore Kolkata

20 Kolkata Kolkata

21 Ambala Chandigarh

22 Chandigarh Chandigarh

23 Ludhiana Chandigarh

24 Delhi – ITO Delhi

25 Delhi – Shalimar Bagh Delhi

26 Delhi – R K Puram Delhi

27 Gurgaon Delhi

28 Shimla Shimla

29 Jammu Jammu


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30 Srinagar Srinagar

31 Amritsar Amritsar

32 Hoshiarpur Jalandhar

33 Jalandhar – 1 Jalandhar

34 Jalandhar – 2 Jalandhar

35 Dehradun Dehradun

36 Ghaziabad Ghaziabad

37 Bangalore – Lal Baugh Bangalore

38 Bangalore – Sai Arcade Bangalore

39 Hubli Bangalore

40 Mangalore Bangalore

41 Chennai – 1 Chennai



44 Coimbatore Coimbatore

45 Madurai Madurai

46 Tirunelveli Madurai

47 Trichy Trichy

48 Thanjavur Trichy

49 Trivandrum Trivandrum

50 Trivandrum Rural Trivandrum

51 Kollam Trivandrum

52 Kozhikode – 1 Kozhikode

53 Kozhikode – 2 Kozhikode

54 Kannur – 1 Kozhikode

55 Kannur – 2 Kozhikode

56 Thrissur Cochin

57 Alappuzha Cochin

58 Kottayyam Cochin

59 Cochin Cochin

60 Aluva Cochin

61 Malappuram Malappuram


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62 Ahmedabad – 1 Ahmedabad

63 Ahmedabad – 2 Ahmedabad

64 Rajkot Ahmedabad

65 Baroda Ahmedabad

66 Surat Surat

67 Panaji Panaji

68 Mumbai – Malad Mumbai

69 Mumbai – Andheri Mumbai

70 Mumbai – Lower Parel Mumbai

71 Nagpur Nagpur

72 Pune Pune

73 Thane Thane

74 Nashik Thane

75 Jaipur Jaipur

76 Jodhpur Jaipur

77 Sikar Jaipur


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ANNEXURE -2

List of Functional / Upcoming Passport Seva Laghu Kendras

S.

No.

State / UT Location of

PSK

Passport Office

1 Mizoram Aizawl Guwahati

2 Manipur Imphal Guwahati

3 Meghalaya Shillong Guwahati

4 Arunachal Pradesh Itanagar Guwahati

5 Nagaland Dimapur Guwahati

6 Tripura Agartala Kolkata

7 Sikkim Gangtok Kolkata

8 West Bengal Siliguri Kolkata

9 West Bengal Kharagpur Kolkata

10 West Bengal Kolkata (MEA

Branch

Secretariat)

Kolkata

11 Bihar Darbhanga Patna

12 Jammu & Kashmir Leh Srinagar

13 Madhya Pradesh Indore Bhopal

14 Maharashtra Solapur Pune

15 Karnataka Kalaburagi Bangalore

16 Andhra Pradesh Bhimavaram Visakhapatnam

17 Telangana Karimnagar Hyderabad

18 Puducherry Puducherry Chennai


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06.03.2016

www.Passportindia.gov.inaccessed on 05.03.2016

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for-download/ accessed on 06.03.2016

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passport-applicants accessed on 06.03.2016

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accessed on 06.03.2016

Dainik Jagran (Lucknow, Bareilly) & Dainik Bhaskar (Chandigarh) dated

07.06.2013

Hammer & Champy - Reengineering the Corporations: A manifesto for Business

Revolution

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accessed on 06.03.2016

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passport-centres-in-eastern-india-by-2013-112082202012_1.html accessed on

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06.03.2016

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http://inbministry.blogspot.in/2015/12/passport-issuance.html


2016 AJMR-AIMA

Teaching Note

Overview

The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India owns the sovereign task of issuing

passports. Citizens applying for passports within the geographical limits of India are served by a

network of 37 Regional Passport Offices and Central Passport Printing Facility. Passport has

been one of the essential documents for citizens undertaking international travel for various

purposes e.g. education, employment, business & profession, tourism, medical needs,

pilgrimage, sports, art, culture and lots of other occupations undertaken by human being.

Globalization, liberalization and privatization has further increased the demand of passports in

every nook & corner of the country and across all the social & demographical sectors.

Government of India initiated National e-Governance Plan in year 2006 to bring governance

closure to the citizens. This Plan covers 31 Mission-mode-projects including Passport Seva

Project, wherein the Ministry of External Affairs undertakes Public Private Partnership with a

leading IT firm Tata Consultancy Services Limited. In this model, Sovereign act is still with the

Government of India and responsibilities related to infrastructure, manpower, IT applications and

citizen service are assigned to the service provider firm.

The project has redefined the way of providing passport related services to the citizens.By

implementing the process re-engineering, it identified the areas to be redesigned for achieving

dramatic results. A highly motivated and trained team finalizes their vision and works

relentlessly to provide hassle free service to bring delight to the citizens of India.

Usage of This Case

This case being in the nature of Decision Case is relevant for:

Masters courses with specialization in Strategic Management and /or BPR

Specialized certification programs to introduce application of BPR

MBA courses and Management Development Programs

Professionals involved in Projects related to e-Governance/ Government-to-Citizen

Projects

This case helps in studying how enabling force of Information Technologies can be used for

accomplishing far more than doing just the automation of existing process.

The case highlights how fundamental and dramatic value addcan be done in organizations

dealing with public at large – that too with great degree of sensitivity & empathy towards various

segments of society. The case illuminates how complaints can be turned into complements, and

how accountability & responsibility can be ensured by weaving the work around defined process,

instead of putting in too much effort in traditional style of supervising.

The case discusses fundamental issue of treating 'like with alike'. It helps in understanding that in

any process, a huge percentage of the cases may be processed with a standard process but some

of the cases may need specific attention. This case draws the readers‟ attention towards the fact


2016 AJMR-AIMA

that a work item requiring specific attention must not obstruct the flow of a number of cases

which may pass through the "Green Channel" OR without experts opinion.

In addition to above, this case talks about connecting with each nook and corner of a country as

vast as India. It helps in understanding the peculiar nature of Project Management which

procures resources from various functional organizations and integrates them to produce

synergetic outcomes.

The case touches upon various aspects of Business Process Reengineering, Project Management,

Information Technologies, Supply Chain, Customer Satisfaction; what makes it most exciting is

the fact that all of these techniques have been made available to the citizen at their door step.

This case opens a wide horizon for brain storming the potential areas where life of citizens can

be made easy and at the same time sustainable governance can be ensured. This way the readers

shall be motivated to discuss the practical application of such methodologies in other areas of

their need and interest where similar or probably better service transformation is waiting to

happen through application of innovation.

Teaching Objectives

This case will provide the following exposure to the students:

An understanding of how Business Process Reengineering can fundamentally & radically

improve the services and outcome of an organization.

The role of IT enabled services in implementation of Business Process Reengineering;

The role of citizens feedback in deciding line of action and success parameters for an

organiztions.

Various stages in the Passport Seva Project implementation and the challenges overcome

Assignment Questions

1. Is the case living true spirit of Business Process Reengineering?

2. What was the vision of Passport Seva Project and did the vision reflect clearly in the

manner of service chosen by PSP?

3. Passport Seva Project has brought the public service delivery system to the door step of

citizens. Please evaluate.

Teaching Plan

This case can be covered in a session of 2 hours and I recommend the following timing for each

section:

Background – 10 minutes

Business Process Reengineering: An introduction – 15 minutes

Passport Offices – Brief History and previous work environment – 10 minutes


2016 AJMR-AIMA

Deciding Business Process Reengineering as an approach for enhancing quality of

service – 10 minutes

Passport Seva Project development stages and the activities – 30 minutes

The challenges faced – 30 minutes

Evaluation – complaints turning into complements – 15 minutes

Analysis

Presented here-in-below are some hints to analyze the assignment questions:

1. Is the case living true spirit of Business Process Reengineering?

Concept of BPR pioneered and defined by Davenport, Dr. Michael Hammer and James

Champ in early 1990s

BPR as defined by Hammer and Champy (1993): Business Process Reengineering is the

fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business process to achieve dramatic

improvement in critical contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality,

service and speed.

Four key words are – Fundamental, Radical, Redesign, Process

It concentrates on workflows and to weave the work around processes

Processes shall mean the complete end-to-end activities and not merely the sub-processes

It is not just automation but designing the process afresh

BPR does not considers merely incremental development rather seeks to achieve

breakthrough in performance

It is about reinventing the organization and enhancing productivity

BPR uses the enabling force of IT to eliminate unnecessary activities and to streamline

the activities that add value to the organization

BPR nurtures the employees to work for serving the customers in best possible manner

and not to work just for the managers who supervise them

BPR changes the shape of organization fundamentally and overhauls the basic manner of

working being user till now

Passport Seva Project should be evaluated with reference to these theories of BPR

Entire process of servicing the passport applicants has gone through overhauling end – to

– end i.e. starting from circulating blank passport booklets to dispatching the printed

passport to citizens

Public Private Partnership undertaken with IT firm Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.

Development of application software and arrangement of hardware infrastructure

Breakthrough achievement in number of applications processed, service hours increased

Elimination of unnecessary activities and concentration on adding value for citizens

Suitable examples are to be given with each point, the examples of reengineered services

can be picked up from the text of case

The evaluation of PSP with reference to BPR theories indicate that the previous manner

of providing passport related services has undergone reengineering, entire end-to-end

process has been changed fundamentally & radically and is providing breakthrough

results


2016 AJMR-AIMA

2. What was the vision of Passport Seva Project and did the vision reflect clearly in the

manner of service chosen by PSP?

Definition of Vision: "Vision" is a dynamic statement and declaration of organization‟s

goals, what the organization would like to achieve and accomplish. It provides inspiration

for day-to-day operations as well as strategic decisions. By outlining the key objectives,

vision enables the organization to develop the strategies for achieving the stated goals.

Key characteristics of Vision: "Vision" has two key characteristics – 1. Where the

organization intends to go, and 2. How it is going to be there

Vision statement is to give direction to employees of the organization and to the outsiders

Tiffany Silverberg who writes and edits business articles, has said that vision statement

should go beyond profit margins and internal benefits and look toward the long-term

effect organization intends to have on its customer base, its industry, the economy and/or

the environment.

Vision Statement of PSP: "To deliver passport services to citizens in a timely, transparent,

more accessible, reliable manner and in a comfortable environment through streamlined

processes and committed, trained and motivated workforce."

Reflection of PSP vision statement in its manner of service:

a) Observation of Service Level Agreement regarding serving the citizens, increased

working hours, reduction in time taken for completion of services, serving the citizens on

scheduled appointment time

b) Citizens being informed by SMS / Email about the status of processing of their

applications

c) Increased working hours, conducting Passport Mela and Passport Camps, tie up with

Common Service Centers under NeGP

d) Grievances / concerns of applicants being paid attention to, records of applications

processing being maintained, authenticity of data ensured by technical support

e) Design philosophy of PSKs ensures that citizens experience comfort during

processing, it reflects in infrastructure and services available at PSKs

f) Processes of providing passport related services are defined right from the point of

filling the application, to payment of fees, to scheduling the appointment, to visiting the

PSK, servicing the citizen at PSK, granting of passport and delivery of passport. At the

same time care has been taken that process are not rigid to cause discomfort to the

citizen, like process is applied to the alike segment of citizens only and various versions

of processes have been defined to serve various categories e.g. Senior Citizens,

differently abled, minors etc.

g) The workforce employed in PSP is thoroughly trained and groomed to perform their

duties in terms of domain knowledge, computer literacy, public dealing and servicing the

citizens considering it their duty.

Such facts prove that PSP is living the true spirit of its vision.

3. Passport Seva Project has brought the public service delivery system to the door step of

citizens. Please evaluate.

Government-to-Citizen: It is a link between government and its citizens which takes

place through the enabling force of Information Technologies. It is abbreviated as G2C.

In this business model, citizen can obtain services from the government through the use


2016 AJMR-AIMA

of electronic media like internet. Such initiatives facilitate citizens' interaction with

government as consumers of public services.

E-Governance: The "E" or "Electronic" indicates governance driven by technologies. E-

Governance applies enabling force of information technologies for imparting government

services, for exchanging information, for integrating stand-alone systems and for

providing government service to citizen in a convenient, efficient and transparent manner.

In this model, distinct boundaries among government, citizens and business groups tend

to dismantle.

Reflection of G2C and E-governance in manner of PSP servicing the citizens:

a) MEA partnering with IT firm Tata Consultancy Services Limited

b) Development & implementation of application software and usage of sophisticated

devices e.g. machine to capture biometric identification, tabs for police verification

c) Integration among various service providers e.g. Indian Security Press, Nasik;

Regional Passport Offices; Police department; Central Passport Printing Facility, New

Delhi; Call Centre, Missions / post abroad and immigration points

d) Passport Seva Portal providing information, application submission and feedback

registration service to citizens 24x7x365

e) Call Centre providing 24x7 support in 17 languages

f) Offering mobile application services to enable the citizens to avail basic information on

their Windows and Apple iOS enabled mobile phones

g) Electronically managed queue system at Passport Seva Kendras

h) Facility to pay passport fees using electronic payment system

i) Handheld electronic devices for Police Verification procedure

j) Maintaining transparency at every stage of application processing by offering premium

SMS Services

k) Organization of Passport Melas on weekends to facilitate citizen who could not avail

the services on other working days

l) Organization of Passport Camps in remote areas to reach to the door step of citizens

m) Conducting Passport Adalats to resolve long pending and complex cases

n) Tie up with over 100000 Common Service Centers operating under NeGP, across rural

hinterland to provide application submission, payment of fees, appointment scheduling

etc. at a very nominal charge

o) Compliances with guidelines of International Civil Aviation Organization

This analysis indicates that PSP is working relentlessly to provide hassle free service to

applicants, taking assertive steps to streamline and simplify the processing and striving to

improve governance in tandem with TCS

It is a transformational and citizen centric initiative that facilitates speedier and courteous

services from a government department, bringing IT enabled public service closure to

home

passport seva project taking governance to the...

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