Summary: The Ministry of External Affairs has further simplified the process of applying for a new passport, with the option of post-police verification. The facility was earlier available only to applicants under the Tatkaal scheme. Now, regular applicants can avail themselves of this facility at no extra cost. A MEA notification, issued earlier this month, said this scheme applies to applicants that are 18 years of age or older.

Jayant Vaishampayan, Pune regional passport officer, said applicants will now be able to get their passports one week from the date of appointment. "The normal procedure of application, police verification and issuance of passport takes about 21 days. However, under this scheme, the passport will be issued first and police verification will be done post-issuance," he explained.

Vaishampayan added that it is now mandatory to submit the 12-digit Aadhaar number or 28-digit Aadhaar enrolment number under this scheme. "The ministry has also furnished a list of 12 documents, of which the applicant can submit any two, to apply for a passport under this scheme," he explained, adding that documents like freedom fighter identity cards, gas connection bills, rental agreement and property documents will not be accepted.

Ration cards have now been added to the list of accepted documents, as have student ID cards for minor applicants. "Aadhaar details and documents of parents will continue to be necessary for minor passport applications," he said.

Summary: The Centre today dropped plans to introduce orange-coloured passports for people requiring emigration check, and will continue printing the last page of passport. The decision was taken by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) after it was asked by a three-member committee to reconsider the proposal to omit last page of passports, which contain personal details including the holder's address.

"After comprehensive discussions with the various stakeholders, the MEA has decided to continue with the current practice of printing of the last page of the passport and not to issue a separate passport with orange colour jacket to ECR passport holders," a foreign ministry press release said.

The last page of the passport lists the names of father/legal guardian, mother, spouse, address, and whether the holder is in the 'Emigration Check Required (ECR)' category. The proposal to leave the last page blank had been met with opposition over concerns that passports would have ceased to be a valid address proof. The ministry had earlier decided to issue a passport with orange colour jacket to passport holders with ECR status, with a view to help and assist them on priority basis, it said.

But the decision was criticised by political parties, including the Congress which said the separate orange colour passports to ECR category shows the BJP's "discriminatory mindset". A PIL challenging the issuance of orange-colour passports was filed in the Kerala High Court, in which the petitioner argued that such a move would lead to segregation of people with low education and low economic status.

Emigration check is required for passport holders, not having education beyond the tenth standard, and having less than taxable income, who seek migration for employment. The petition had also objected to the government's doing away with the printing of information found on the last page of passports, contending that the move is not supported by any cogent reason and does not achieve any purpose.

After a preliminary hearing, the Kerala HC had issued a notice to the Centre to respond on the issues raised by the PIL. Those participating in the mela should bring an ARN printout with appointment details with requisite documents in originals in addition to one set of self-attested photocopies. Applications under fresh and re-issue categories alone will be accepted, it said. Applications for PCCs (Police Clearance Certificates) walk-ins including on hold and refused tokens will not be entertained during the mela, the release said.

Summary: Getting a passport under the Tatkal scheme has just got easier. Applicants will no longer be required to get 'verification certificates' from senior gazetted officers. The decision will end harassment that a common man without access to men and women in power corridors face and also axe an un holy nexus between a section of travel agents and government officials that put a stiff price on issue of these verification certificates.

People usually apply for Tatkal passports in exigency. When there is a sudden travel requirement with insufficient time for processing a regular passport application. From now on, an applicant will need only an Aadhaar number to be eligible for a Tatkal passport. Regional passport officer Bibhuti Bhushan Kumar said: "Annexure B allows an applicant to get the passport issued before police verification. The police verification certificate (PVC) comes to (regional passport office) RPO post issuance. For an applicant, particularly for a commoner, it was difficult to obtain such certificates.

"Now a tatkal passport applicant needs only her/his Aadhaar number. Along with this, she/he needs to file Annexure E (self-declaration) and any two of 12 listed documents. "Another measure that will bring huge relief to applicants, particularly those residing in distant towns, is the decision to introduce online allocation of time slots for resolution of queries instead of the present first-come-first-served process that led to serpentine queue. The RPO used to distribute 180 tokens to applicants daily. Now, 250 slots will be issued online.

The Kolkata RPO will also set up the third Passport Seva kendra (PSK) in the state at Silugri next month. At present, there are only two PSKs here, one in Kolkata and the other in Berhampore. The Siliguri office will be inaugurated by Darjeeling MP and union minister of state SS Ahluwalia.

By March 31, the state will also get four new post office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSKs) at Darjeeling, Malda, Barrackpore and Burdwan. At present, there are four POPSKs in Bengal including one in Kolkata at Beadon Street head post office.

Summary: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday said that the Government was continuously working towards taking passport services virtually to the doorsteps of citizens residing even in remote villages. Declaring open a Post Office Passport service Kendra (POPSK) in the country here, she said her Ministry was adopting a citizen-centric approach for passport services.

"We are committed to simplifying the entire process of passport services with a view to processing all applications in a speedy and transparent manner and have taken a series of reforms," she said. Part of this simplification process was the recent decision to do away with printing of the last page in passports, she said. "The government is continuously working towards taking passport services virtually to the doorsteps of citizens residing even in remote villages," she said.

Swaraj said her Ministry has also decided to offer 10 per cent reduction in passport application fee for children below eight years of age and senior citizens. She further said Passport Seva Kendras in the country had last year processed 19 per cent more passport applications compared to the previous year.

"The Karaikal head post office is the 60th POPSK of the total of 236 to be launched throughout the country," she said. The launch of POPSKs was part of a joint scheme with the Department of Posts to extend passport related services on a larger scale and ensure wider area coverage, by utilising Head Post Offices as "Post Office Passport Seva Kendra" (POPSK), she said. Earlier, she handed over the exit token to the first applicant who applied for passport at Passport Seva Kendra.

Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said his government was ready to allot land to construct a separate building for Karaikal Passport Seva kendra and urged Swaraj to expand the Karaikal seva facility in a big way. He also said that the Karaikal Passport Seva Kendra would benefit the neighbouring districts of Tamilnadu too.

Thanking Swaraj for taking action to retrieve boats seized by SriLankan Navy from Karaikal fishermen, he urged her to organise tripartite talks among governments of India, Sri Lanka and Indian fishermen to find a permanent solution to frequent arrests of Indian fishermen by the Lankan Navy.

Earlier, a group of fisherwomen from 10 hamlets here met Sushma Swaraj and submitted a memorandum, appealing for steps to secure the release of 26 fishermen of Karaikal district, they said, are languishing in Lankan prisons. The Union minister is scheduled to visit Lord Saneeswara temple at Tirunallar in Karaikal district tomorrow.