Moneylife’s consistent campaign since March 2013, has led to a series of customer-friendly initiatives by MEA and TCS; the latest is with mobile technology. The mPassport Seva app provides a wide variety of services such as status tracking, locating a passport office and other general information
No more the arduous trips to your passport office and exasperating interaction with the officials who often make you run round and round. Now, to track your passport application; to find out which is your passport office if you are residing in a small town or overseas; to get the required contact numbers; to find out exactly what are going to be your application fees and; any other general information, all you need is to search it on your smartphone!
Termed as the `mPassport Seva’, this new mobile application enables Indian citizens to access passport related information on their smartphones. This service has been executed in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
It may be recalled that since March 2013 Moneylife succeeded in breaking the TCS’s corporate secrecy, when it took up the passport issue at Pune, which was in utter mess. For more than a fortnight, the TCS officials refused to take note of the constant emails being sent to them regarding the breakdown in services. The writer agitated in front of the Pune’s TCS’s Passport Seva Kendra in Mundhwa, after which TCS officials came out in the open, to discuss the problems. Passport applicants were also encouraged to use Right to Information (RTI) to track status of their passport application.
Thereafter, it was after Moneylife’s managing editor Sucheta Dalal’s intervention through a meeting she organized at the Moneylife Foundation office in Mumbai. This meeting held sometime in April 2013, broke the ice of corporate secrecy. Tanmoy Chakroborty, head of Global operations at TCS, took the lead in making the Pune passport office citizen-friendly through various facilities including online payment along with the online application form. It is heartening to note that this has now resulted in an extra facility that was not envisioned before – that is, the `mPassport Seva.’ Moneylife heartily thanks the TCS and the passport division of the MEA.
See these links for other Moneylife impact stories on passport:
Moneylife Impact: TCS swings into action to ease some difficulties faced by Pune passport applicants
Moneylife Impact: Now pay online for your passport; challan option also available
Moneylife Impact: Ministry of external affairs begins action on Pune Passport mess
Pune Passport Seva Kendra improves process of applications and facilities: A Moneylife Impact
An RTI application gives Peyush Rai his passport even before submitting his plea
File an RTI application if you do not get your passport in time
A press release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs on 5th November, states, “In order to keep pace with the current technology, the Ministry of External Affairs had launched the mPassport Seva mobile app on Android platform, as a pilot, in March 2013. Encouraged by positive public response, the Ministry has now launched this app on Windows and Apple iOS platforms as well.’’
To avail the facilities available on your Smartphone, you would have to download it their respective stores:
Android-based handsets: www.play.google.com/store/apps/
Windows-based mobiles: www.windowsphone.com/en-in/store
Apple iPhones: www.apple.com/itunes
Following are the facilities offered on your smartphone:
In the meanwhile, citizens share their happiness on getting their passports with the guidance of Moneylife. An example: Dear Vinita |
(Vinita Deshmukh is the consulting editor of Moneylife, an RTI activist and convener of the Pune Metro Jagruti Abhiyaan. She is the recipient of prestigious awards like the Statesman Award for Rural Reporting which she won twice in 1998 and 2005 and the Chameli Devi Jain award for outstanding media person for her investigation series on Dow Chemicals. She co-authored the book “To The Last Bullet - The Inspiring Story of A Braveheart - Ashok Kamte” with Vinita Kamte and is the author of “The Mighty Fall”.)
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This means access to other articles (outside the subscription period) are not included.
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Please help me...I need passport in short term. I don't want to loose my opportunity...
Mumbai & Thane, will answer your queries
Painless Passports: No Agents Needed!
Mr Tanmoy Chakrabarty, VP & Head of the Global Govt Industry Group at Tata Consultancy Services, will explain how passport issuance has been transformed, what you can expect in terms of service, speed and efficiency; and the next phase of the automation process which will track Indian workers abroad.
He will also talk about the e-migrate system that has been launched by the Govt to protect the interests of Indians going abroad for work.
Dr Swati Kulkarni, Regional Passport Officer - Mumbai.
IFS and MBBS, she worked as Consul General of India in South Africa before becoming Mumbai's RPO
Mr TD Sharma, Regional Passport Officer - Thane.
Come and have your queries answered on these and many other benefits of the e-migrate process and automation of passports.
December
12
Friday
Registration: 6pm
Session Time:
6:30pm – 8:30pm
Venue:
Indian Merchants
Chamber, Walchand
Hirachand hall (4th floor),
IMC Marg, Churchgate,
Mumbai - 400 020.
ADMISSION FREE
Registration is Mandatory!
RIGHT OF ADMISSION RESERVED
RSVP:
Jewel / Libertina at
022-49205000 or email us
at [email protected]
An activist like U should not face such problem. If U provide a few relevant details, perhaps I may help. There must be some reason given when U track status. Otherwise can speak to the helpline of your Passport Seva Kendra in which area your residence falls. Regards