Additional Secretary (CPV) (Shri A.R. Ghanashyam): Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen! Namaskar Deviyon aur Sajjanon! Bonsoir Madame et Monsieur! As-salaam Alaikum Khawateen-o-Hazraat!
My name is A.R. Ghanashyam. I have been dealing with this desk of CPV Division for the last three months. So, I would like to assure you that the three colleagues that have come today with me are the primary authorities on their subjects and I am only additional to them.
We issue a large number of passports, a large number of visas. It may not be very important under normal circumstances, notwithstanding the fact that the Spokesman says it is the main course and it is substantive. But nevertheless it deals with a large number of Indians and a large number of foreigners which is running into millions. So, it is an important subject after all.
We have been issuing passports since 1914, and we continue to issue these passports according to the Passport Act of 1920. Then in 1935 Government of India Act the passports continued. After we became independent, the 1935 Act continued to issue the passports. It was only in 1950 that when the Constitution of this country was written that the responsibility of issuing the passports was given to the Ministry of External Affairs. And it continued and in 1959 we developed our own Central Passport Organisation. And over the years it has developed.
In early days it was very few people who wanted passports. The first flush of sudden demand for more number of passports came in the 70s when there was an oil crisis. When there was a construction boom in the Middle East, they suddenly wanted a large number of labourers to build their buildings, their roads and bridges and airports and seaports. We had a large community of Indians, mainly from the South for reasons of history, which started going to the Middle East. And this continued.
Towards the end of the last millennium, it was the software boom of India. Suddenly you had a large number of young kids who are code writers for multinational companies across the world, mainly in the West, who started going out. That was the second surge wherein the number of passports that were demanded from the Passport Organisation shot up.
Thereafter we went in for becoming a part of the globalization system. We started opening up our own economy. More and more interactions began to take place between us and the rest of the world. And today, a middle-class family can dream of having a holiday in Singapore, can dream of sending their children to study abroad, and can dream of importing things from abroad which are of daily use. And everybody wants a passport now.
In the early 60s, Government of India used to issue about 30,000 passports every year. Today we issue more than 40,000 passports every day. It is an enormous jump, and it has taken its toll on the psyche of the passport issuing authority, and it has compelled and ensured that it has taken technology as a partner. And it is only because of that that we are still able to survive.
There are still problems. When you issue a thousand passports from a passport issuing authority today, nobody talks about 975 of them which get issued and go. But the 25 that have a problem, they come to the media, they come to us, they come to me, they come to the officers, they come to our Minister, they come to the television. These are the passports which have had a problem in issuance for whatever reason. There are a number of initiatives that we have taken now and I do not want to steal the thunder from our officers who have many things to tell you. So, that is where I stop.
I hope that after this if you have any questions, if I am required I will come, otherwise it will be the Outsourcing and Visa Officer Neena Malhotra, to my right; and Suchitra Durai who deals with all issues relating to extradition and deportation and consular issues, consular access; and the Chief Passport Officer Muktesh Pardeshi who is constantly on the run from one place to the other in his work. They are all ready to answer your questions. If required, I will give you the additional answers.
Thank you.
Chief Passport Officer & JS (PSP) (Shri Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi): Good afternoon. Additional Secretary has given you a historical perspective on the evolution of passport services in India. I will focus on the improvements which have taken place in the delivery of passport services during the last two, three years.
As you are aware, the Ministry has successfully implemented what is called the Passport Seva Project. This was a Union Cabinet mandated project under the National E-Governance Plan. Within a short span of time, we have been able to implement this over 24 months. By June 2012 this project was fully operational. Now we have the experience which we have gained over 12 months to share with you.
Under the project, we have created 77 new offices. They are called Passport Seva Kendras. They are the citizen-facing outlets. We have a national call centre which operates on 24/7 basis and receives more than 20,000 calls a day in 17 languages. Apart from Hindi and English, we have provision for taking and entertaining calls in all the major vernacular languages of the country.
We have top-class amenities at the Passport Seva Kendras. I am sure some of you have visited them and found the facilities comparable to international standards. We have a website which is designed as a single-stop solution for all queries, all information and also status tracking of application. So, coupled with national call centre and the portal, if somebody had access to these he need not go to any third person for availing of passport service.
We have brought in a number of security measures. The physical presence of the applicant is required so that we can obtain his photograph in the presence of the citizen. Earlier there were many cases of photo substitution because the Government was not able to see the citizen. So, we are collecting his photograph, we are collecting his biometric details to ensure a higher level of security in issuance of travel documents. We have also introduced what is called a later-screen-image, or the ghost image, in passport booklets. So, there is a shadow image of your photograph printed in the passport so that photo substitution can be dealt with.
In 2012, globally, when I say globally I mean 37 Passport Offices in the country and 180 Embassies and Consulates abroad taken together, we issued 73.8 lakh passports and related services. This year, in India alone we have issued 48.19 lakh passports in eight months. So, if we calculate this over 12 months, then in Indiaalone we are going to touch 72 lakh passports. If we add another 12 to 13 lakhs issued by the Embassies abroad, this year in our estimates we are going to touch 8.5 million passports issued by the Government of India.
This would signify a 15 per cent growth over the last one year. If this growth continues, definitely during the financial year 2014-15 India will join the club of those countries who are issuing more than 10 million passports in a year. So, that would be the position in 2014-15 if we go by the current projection.
As to whether services have improved under Passport Seva, the figures will speak for themselves. Now, 68 per cent of normal passports are being dispatched in seven days. This excludes the police verification time. The time taken by the passport office in submission of application, printing, dispatch, signing, all those is reduced to seven days from application. So, 60 per cent of normal passports are dispatched within seven days and 90 per cent are dispatched within 15 days. So, if we are able to improve police verification system drastically, the Ministry is confident that we can reduce the total time taken in passport delivery to even a lower scale.
In the case of Tatkal Passports, 73 per cent are dispatched within three days. Though the time for Tatkal is seven working days, we are actually delivering 73 per cent within three days and 96 per cent within seven days. Four per cent we are not able to deliver within seven days because of some document deficiency, the verification certificate has not been reconfirmed by the verifying official. Otherwise, we are able to meet the desired service level.
In terms of police verification, 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. There we have to make constant efforts to improve that.
As of now, out of 722 police districts, nearly half of them, 344, have been connected online with the passport offices. In some States the work is under way and we are targeting that by the end of this year most of the States would have switched over to the District model. We have seen considerable improvement in police verification in those Districts which have switched over to District model and there is online connectivity with the passport offices.
In the last two, three months we have taken some functional enhancements, like there is a newly designed and more user-friendly passport seva portal. We have introduced online appointment system and there has been satisfactory feedback on online payment system. A few months back we, both MEA and the CPV Division, have introduced mobile app which is being availed by citizens to get more information about passport services and also track the status of application.
I think I will stop here and respond to questions in due course of time. Thank you.
Joint Secretary (Consular) (Ms Suchitra Durai): Good afternoon.
As the word suggests, Consular has two aspects to it. It deals with the welfare of the Indian community overseas as well as issues concerning foreigners in India. We have for a long time through our Consulates been giving services to the Indian community overseas. It was in the last few years that we laid down more detailed guidelines so as to improve our services.
In February 2012 we issued guidelines to all our Missions overseas whereby we did a number of improvements including a 24/7 helpline was established in all our Missions abroad.
We also started the practice of an open-house which is being held by our Heads of Mission or Posts with the Indian community where grievances are heard immediately, whatever can be resolved is done on the spot, and action is taken subsequently to resolve pending issues.
We have of course appointed Welfare Officers in all our Missions and Posts abroad to look after the affairs of the Indian communities. The estimated population of course of Indian community includes the diaspora which is probably about 27 million. And then we have about five million Indian passport holders which is our primary responsibility.
Our Missions abroad render different kinds of consular assistance besides issuing various kinds of certificates including one major document which is the passport. We also render assistance which is like transportation of mortal remains, which is naturally a very emotive issue and of direct concern to the family which is based in Indiaas the case may be; and also repatriation of distressed Indians whenever they are stranded. We render prompt assistance to visiting Indians in case of any loss, or they might have lost a document, or they might not have any money, so we try.
And also in cooperation with the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs now we have established what is called the Indian Community Welfare Fund which helps the Missions in rendering the kind of services which have a financial aspect also. Naturally these services are rendered to those who have no economic means to help themselves. This is done on the basis of a levy that we do on our consular services, which is equivalent of about Rs.100 on every consular service that we render.
Then, we take care of other issues including settlement of labour disputes where Mission officers are sent including to factories and so on and so forth and help people. Our focus has throughout been on the vulnerable sections of our population. For example, we have millions of unskilled and low-skilled people working in the Gulf region. We have major problems dealing with housemaids. We have established shelters for runaway housemaids in a couple of countries. We provide also assistance to women who have been abandoned by their husbands, for example. We give assistance in the form of initial legal assistance through the same ICWF which is given through an NGO to the person concerned.
Thereafter of course we have consular dialogues with various countries which is regular where we exchange notes where we see how we can improve the services that we render to our own people in those countries and to that country’s community in India.
As far as foreigners in Indiaare concerned, this is the primary responsibility in terms of law and order of the State Government, and of course at the Centre with the Ministry of Home Affairs which implements Foreigners Act and so on and so forth. But where we come in is in the case of consular access. Whenever a foreigner is in trouble, the case of arrest, or death of foreigners, we get the reports from the State Government directly to the Ministry of Home Affairs which in turn informs us and thereafter we inform the Foreign Mission concerned. And on the request of the foreign Mission we issue access letters for their officials to visit, for example to people who are detained, people who are imprisoned in Indian prisons here.
Apart from this the CPV Division also does attestations of documents. On a per day basis we do about 3000 attestations. Also we do what is called Apostille which is very similar to attestation but that is operational in about a 104 countries which are all members of these Apostille Convention. So, altogether we do about 4,000 to 4,500 attestations per day. This is working very well. We have also tightened many of our procedures so that, in case the documentation is perfectly in order, we give it within one working day, sometimes on the same day itself the document is returned after attestation.
Attestation is rendered free by the Ministry of External Affairs for document. In case of Apostille we charge a very small sum of Rs.50 per document. We have outsourced these services recently, in the last one year, to about five different companies which collect the application forms, give it to us. They of course charge a very small service fee which we think is acceptable to the common man. We have pitched it at a very low like Rs.16, Rs.22 and Rs.18, which I suppose should be acceptable to everybody.
In addition I also look after extradition-related issues. All the requests which go out from India to foreign countries are through the Ministry of External Affairs. The incoming requests form outside also come to the Ministry of External Affairs. Thereafter we send them to the concerned States through the Ministry of Home Affairs.
This is of course a very complex issue and it requires a lot of effort and a lot of homework before we are able to get but we have had a reasonably good success rate. In the last ten years we have got some very important fugitives from our law. Similarly we have also handed over people to other foreign countries who wanted them.
I think I may link up all the issues but I am open to questions after this one more briefing.
Joint Secretary (V) (Ms. Neena Malhotra): Good afternoon. I deal with the V part of the CPV Division. I look after all visa-related issues. We examine and review visa policy provisions relating to all types of visas in coordination with Ministry of Home Affairs.
Our Ministry is the nodal Ministry responsible for fixing or revision of visa fee for foreign nationals. Visa fee is generally decided on reciprocal basis. As you may be aware, we have recently revised the visa fee in respect of nationals of UK,Sri Lankaand Mozambique. With some countries we have gratis visa regime. These are Mauritius, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, DPRK, Jamaica,Mongolia,South Africa,Uruguayand Argentina. With Argentinawe have this gratis visa regime only in respect of tourist visa. With Russia and Japan we have reduced visa fee regimes. Japanand Indiacharge eight dollars for all types of visas from nationals of each other country and with Russiait is flat 40 dollars.
Our Ministry is currently involved with a massive project of implementing IVFRT programme which is basically online submission and processing of visa applications; and biometrics procedures which is capturing of facial biometrics and fingerprints. This is being done in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Informatics Centre. Online visa system has already been introduced in 130 Missions and Posts abroad. Biometrics is being introduced in phases by our Missions or Posts.
We also conduct negotiations on bilateral agreements with foreign countries on exemption of visa requirements for holders of diplomatic and official passports. Currently we have such visa exemption agreements with 55 countries. The recent addition, this year, are France and Greece. France is to be implemented I think in about a month’s time. It is visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders. We are having negotiations with several other countries which are at various stages.
We also conduct negotiations on business visa facilitation agreements and simplification of visa procedures agreements. We have such agreements with Japan, South Korea, Russia and China. We also signed this relaxed travel agreement with Bangladesh this year in January.
MEA along with Ministry of Home Affairs is also closely associated with negotiations on migration and mobility matters which are led by Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.
I also deal with surrogacy related issues and we have been closely involved with MHA and Ministry of Health on surrogacy-related matters, and we have contributed towards revision of guidelines on such matters. The draft Bill on the matter is being studied by all the three Ministries and we are having regular meetings on that.
In addition to regular visa stickers, we deal with SAARC travel endorsement stickers and OCI and PIO matters again in association with MHA. I also represent MEA on the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee on tourism related issues, which has been established under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Tourism). You are all familiar with tourist visa on arrival scheme which covers 11 countries as of now. And we have recently added four additional airports where this scheme is available.
As Suchitra mentioned, we periodically hold consular visa dialogues. This year we had inaugural round of visa-related dialogues with UK and Turkmenistan. We also had dialogues with Ukraineand UAE.
Last but not least, I also deal with formulating, implementing and monitoring policy-related issues pertaining to outsourcing of visa services. We have outsourced visa services in 68 Missions abroad.
Thank you.
Official Spokesperson: The ball is now in your court. We will start with those who have not asked a question before.
Question: Sir, there were some problems related to passport office in Calicut. Have you dealt with that problem? What is the action taken on that matter?
Chief Passport Officer & Joint Secretary (PSP): We are not aware of any problem in Calicut. If you are referring to Malappuram, yes. We have a separate office in Calicut and we have another office in Malappuram. The matter is being examined. We had queries and there was some media reporting also. We are examining whether there is truth in what had been reported in the media. A team had gone.
The preliminary inquiry reveals that the decisions were being taken as per the prescribed norms and guidelines of the Ministry. There was not major deviation from any norm. But this is a tentative conclusion that we have drawn. Study is being finalized.
Question: I want to know (1) the names of countries with which we have visa on arrival facility, and (2) the names of countries with which ECNR is not required.Joint Secretary (V): Currently 11 countries are covered by this tourist visa on arrival scheme. These are: Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos, Myanmar and Indonesia. In addition, senior citizens – nationals of age more than 65 years – from Pakistan are allowed visa on arrival at Attari-Wagha border for 45 days.
Official Spokesperson: We will get back to you on the ECNR question.
Additional Secretary (CPV): Basically, you should say 99 per cent of the times emigration check is not required. There are only a few cases where emigration check is required, and that is an ongoing process. As of now, if I am not mistaken, women who are below a certain age going to the Middle East, we put a check on them. And there are specific categories like that. The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and the Protectorate of Immigrants is the authority to give you correct answer for this.
Question: Basically, visa is generally on a reciprocal basis. We give visa on arrival to 11 countries. Not all of them reciprocate where Indians are concerned. So, are there any steps whereby we are also trying to see whether Indians can go there …
Joint Secretary (V): I said by and large we follow reciprocity in matters pertaining to visa. But there are several countries that grant visa on arrival to Indians but we do not reciprocate in the same way. Mauritius is one of them. I think Turkey gives visa on arrival to those Indians who already have Schengen or US visa on their passports. There are some other countries as well. By and large we follow reciprocity in visa fee matters. But on other matters we also like to see our national interest. We have a request from many other countries to cover them under this visa on arrival schemes, and we have also requested some other countries. The negotiations are on.
I would also like to add that we also have a group tourist visa on arrival scheme, which we call Collective Landing Permit. That covers majority of the countries. In fact, almost all the countries other than those which are in the Prior Reference Category, this is applicable to those who are coming in a group of four or more. And they have to apply online 72 hours prior to departure and then they can get a visa on arrival here in Indiaat eight Indian airports.
Question: You said Indiahas revised the visa fee in respect of UK, Sri Lanka, Mozambique. Is it done on a reciprocal basis?
Joint Secretary (V): Yes, we have revised the visa fee in respect of UK,Sri Lankaand Mozambiqueto bring it on par with the visa fee charged by those countries.
Question: …(Inaudible)…
Joint Secretary (V): It is available on the net. There are about 10 to 20 categories and it is all available on the net both on our website as well as on the UKwebsite.
Question: Sir, mera saval Chief Passport Officer se hai. Aap ne bahut achhi data diye. Maybe it is right or maybe it is wrong. But the ground reality is a little different. People are facing so much problem at the Passport Offices. The passport application is in a very difficult language. Ek aam aadmi passport banvaane jaata hai toh bahut dikkat hoti hai. Then he has to go only to touts. Aur touts kya karte hain is se aap bahut achhi tarah parichit hain.
Dusra, aap ne police verification jab us mein kar diya hai, jab aap ek Aadhaar Card banaake de hum ko rahe hain, Bharat Sarkar ka yeh part hai, then why are you not taking Aadhaar Card as evidence for that?
Tatkal mein aap ne ek clause daal diya ki SDM verify karega. Sir, main agar kisi SDM ko nahin jaanta hun toh mere ko kaise verify karega voh. It is very difficult to get even a Tatkal passport. Ab usko lene ke liye phir mere ko kisi ke paas jaana padega. Voh kya karega, you know better. Police officer kya karega, you know better.
Dilli mein aap ne passport office khol diya ITO par jahan saalon se problem hai vehicle parking ka. Aur voh bhi mediavaali jagah par khol diya. Mediavaalon ko parking nahin milti, passportvaalon ko kahan se milegi? Bahut pareshani hai.
Mera ek suggestion sirf hai. Aap vahan ek aadmi ki niyukti karen joh is tarah ke log aate hain, gareeb ya chhote-mote jin ko passport application bharna nahin aata, unko application bhar ke de toh touts ki samasya solve ho jayegi. Same problem pehle MLOs ke pass hoti thi joh motor driving licence dete the. Voh samasya unhon ne khatam kar di. Aap bhi is tarah ki samasya khatam kariye. Aur joh traffic problem hai voh bhi nahin aaye. Aur Tatkal ke joh clause hain, unko itna easy kar dijiye ki Aadhaar Card ko maan kar aap kyon nahin dete? Aadhaar bhi toh Bharat Sarkar ka card hai. Saari verification us mein ho gayi. Aankhon ki test, haath ki test, police verification, everything. Then why do you need separate evidence to prove your residence?
Chief Passport Officer and JS (PSP): Jahan tak Aadhaar ki baat hai, aap jaante hain ki Aadhaar ek self-declaratory document hai. Verification nahin hota hai us mein. Aap joh le jaate hain, voh register kar lete hain. Aur sab se bada disclaimer Aadhaar patra milta hai us ke peeche hota hai ki yeh aapki nagarikta ka pramaan patra nahin hai. So, passport karyalayon ko is baat ka dhyan rakhna hai ki Aadhaar patra ki apni seemayen hain aur un seemaon ko humein jaanna hai. Isi liye nagarikta ko agar saabit karna hai, toh kayi aur dastavez chahiye, aur un dastavezon ko aap ko passport office mein pradaan karna hai. Aap dekhenge hamaare website mein list hai. Solah tarah ke pramaan patra hain joh aap de sakte hain. Unmein se teen dena hai.
Aur jahan tak SDM ki baat hai, keval SDM hi verification certificate nahin de sakta hai. Bharat Sarkar mein Under Secretary se upar koyi bhi hai voh de sakte hain. SDM de sakte hain, DM de sakte hain, Major …
Question: Saab ek aam aadmi vahan tak pahunch hi nahin sakta. Under Secretary aur DM kahan pehchanenge use? Gareeb aadmi ki kya himmat hai ki vahan tak jaye?
Additional Secretary (CPV): Aisi baat nahin hai ki aap aadmi nahin paunch rahe hain. Nahin toh 72 lakh passport toh nahin bante jis mein aam log bhi hain.
Jahan tak touts ki baat hai, har Passport Seva Kendra mein doh assisted terminal lagaye gaye hain jahan par koyi bhi jaake hamare employee ko keh sakte hain ki mera form aap bhar dijiye. Toh 77 Passport Seva Kendron mein har jagah par doh aise terminal lagaye gaye hain jahan par jaankaari hi nahin aap ja sakte hain aur you can ask for services to be delivered by PSK officer.
Question: I have a question on consular service, particularly in the case of Sushmita Banerjee. It is unfortunate that she was killed. Now her family in Kolkata and West Bengal State Government are asking for her body to be sent back when the last rites have already been performed. In this type of a case where a woman was married to a foreign national, what do you do if they ask for the body?
Joint Secretary (C): I think as the Spokesperson has already spoken on this issue, there is the legality also because she is married now to a foreign national and the next of kin is obviously the first degree relationship which now becomes the husband. Therefore, the extended family which is back home does not have the same legal status. But I would not really want to prejudge on this case because actually it is being handled by another Division, not by the CPV Division, and I would not really like to comment on this beyond this.
Question: …(Inaudible)…Official Spokesperson: I will check that about her passport status. But purely in legal terms the spouse is always the first resort in these matters. And this is not only in this case. For example you have large number of people dying in the Gulf. Let me give you an example of that. You always have this dispute of the wife and the father-in-law or the mother-in-law, etc., and this is an ongoing issue. But always the spouse inevitably always is seen as the first resort of next of kin. This is not unique in terms of divergence between one part of the family and the other. This is not an uncommon occurrence.
Question: I have a question on the extradition issue. Somebody like say an Anup Chetia in Bangladesh, do you have to keep renewing extradition requests annually or does it stand once it is made? What is the status particularly with Chetia at this point of time?
Joint Secretary (C): I will not comment on individual cases, but as a rule what happens is that once you send an extradition request to a foreign state that request stands unless a decision has been taken by that foreign government to reject it. If so, then it will be formally communicated. But a request once extended, actually stands.
Question: This question is to Mukteshji, just a clarification. If Aadhaar is not a proof of citizenship, so is not the Passport as the High Court has said. My question is that you gave us information about the increasing number of people asking for passports. What is the number of Indians who have passports in the country?
Chief Passport Officer and JS (PSP): A document is valid for ten years. So, we calculate it on that basis. As of now we should have some 50 million people having valid passports. We do not have the precise number but tentatively we can say that more than 50 million people are holding valid passports.
Question: Madam, when you talked of focusing on the vulnerable sections of Indian population overseas, you mentioned domestic helps and your ways of reaching out to them. In which countries do we have these kinds of problems and what initiatives are you taking to bring them back or intervening in a favourable manner?
Joint Secretary (C): These kinds of problems are mainly in the Gulf region. Therefore, one of the major initiatives which have been taken by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs is to ensure that no one below the age of 30 years for example is given the clearance to go as a housemaid anywhere at all in the world.
Having said that, there are a number of people who actually go around these guidelines and they go with visitor’s visas overseas and thereafter work as housemaids. Naturally, our job at the Missions is to help any Indian in distress irrespective of the way they went to that particular country. So, what we do is, in a couple of countries where this is a very major problem, for example in Saudi Arabia as well as in Kuwait, we have had shelters which have been established.
If a runaway housemaid comes to the Missionand seeks help, firstly we have to verify of course whether she is an Indian national. Once that has been established, we also need to in fact intervene with the sponsor for an exit visa. That is because in such countries you also need an exit visa to come back. It is not just a question of issuing a travel document. So, the Missiondoes all this and then puts up these people in the shelter for a period, which can range from a number of days to even a couple of months, and thereafter sends them back to India. This has been working very well now since this scheme has been established.
Question: My question is to Neena Malhotra. Just last week I received very interesting information from Canada. One John Dimitrov and Patirica Besek are going to attend a convention of the Young Presidents’ Organisation (YPO) and they are asking for visa from Canada. Now the information which they have been asked by the Consulate in Canada goes like this: Letter of invitation from the organizer of the conference confirming the places, dates and subjects (that is okay); clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs; administrative approval from the nodal Ministry; political clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs; and clearance from the State Government. Are all these things are required for a person to come to India? How is he going to get all these clearances in a short time given the way the bureaucracy works? The convention is in the month of November, only two months away?
Joint Secretary (V): Before I answer your question I just want to make some general comments about the Indian visa regime. I think I can say that Indian visa regime is perhaps one of the most liberal and one of the fastest visa regimes in the world, especially when it comes to tourist visas. We do not require an invitation letter, there is no requirement for travel insurance, there is no requirement for a confirmed hotel booking, there is no requirement for any financial documents to support that. And it is just one and a half page form compared to the elaborate forms some of you may have filled when you had gone to western countries.
As regards some other categories like conference visas, business visas, student visas, employment visas, we have certain guidelines. These are more or less universal I think. Many countries ask for many more documents than we ask for. Political clearance requirement for a conference visa is a must. There are also issues like who the organizers of that conference are, what are the topics which are being discussed in that conference. If all that is provided, then there is no issue regarding the conference visa.
I must also add that it also depends on the applicant’s origin. Sometimes if a person is from a country of origin which is in the Prior Reference Category, then he must apply on his national passport, the original passport and not the acquired nationality passport. So, there are several issues pertaining to certain categories of visas. But I would still say by and large Indian visa regime is one of the most liberal visa regimes.
Additional Secretary (CPV): If I may be allowed to add to that, Sir, first and foremost, when a conference is organized in this country it is the entity which organizes the conference which has to take the necessary approvals. First the Ministry of Home Affairs has to clear it. After that, if the Ministry of Home Affairs clears it, the political clearance is given by the Ministry of External Affairs. The participants to a conference like this have nothing to do with this. Let me be very clear on that.
After the two clearances are obtained, then the Ministry of External Affairs issues requests to the concerned Embassies from where the participants are coming, indicating the names and passport numbers of the individuals saying that these are people who are authorized to come to Indiato attend this conference and visas may be facilitated subject to usual checks. This is the procedure. Individual applicants cannot be asked for political clearance.
Question: Madam, could you please elaborate a bit on the surrogacy issue. How many requests you get and what is the current state of legality involved?
Joint Secretary (V): As you may be aware, a Bill is under consideration or is at the drafting stage and the Ministry of Health is the lead Ministry for that. There are certain general guidelines which MHA has issued, which we circulated to all our Missions abroad.
To begin with, I think the couple which is commissioning a surrogacy have to be duly married and the marriage should have sustained for at least two years. Secondly, the applicants have to provide a letter from the Embassy of the foreign country in India or the Foreign Ministry of that country clearly stating that the country recognizes surrogacy and the child or the children to be born to the commissioning couple through the Indian surrogate mother will be permitted entry into their country as a biological child or children of the couple commissioning surrogacy.
The couple has to apply for a medical visa and it is not correct to apply to come on a tourist visa and commission surrogacy. Then the couple has to furnish an undertaking that they would take care of the child or children born through surrogacy. The treatment should be done only at one of the registered ART clinics recognized by ICMR. The list of such clinics is available on the Ministry of Health website and we have also circulated to the Missions abroad. And the couple should produce a duly notarized agreement between the applicant couple and the prospective Indian surrogate mother. In addition, at the time of grant of exit visa to the child born through surrogacy, the FRROs ensure that the entitlements of the surrogate mother have been taken care of.
Question: …(Inaudible)…
Joint Secretary (V): I would not have an approximate number but majority of the applications are from the western world – the United States of America, some from Israel, Canada, Australia, very few from the Asian region.
Question: My question is to Suchitra Durai, just a clarification really. When you are seeking the return of a fugitive, is it a must to have an extradition treaty with that country?
Joint Secretary (C): It is not at all necessary. It helps if you did have a treaty with that country because then the request goes and thereafter it is immediately considered by that country. Even in the absence of an extradition treaty you can send in a request. That country thereafter might seek a reciprocal assurance from you in case they want somebody from India. There have been cases where we have sent requests and got requests form other countries even in the absence of an extradition treaty.
Question: …(Inaudible)…
Joint Secretary (C): It is definitely a political decision.
Question: Since we have the opportunity of Mrs. Neena Malhotra’s presence, my question is about the case in New York.
Official Spokesperson: This is not about issues relating to that. This is relating to issues of her area of work.
Question: Then I will put another question. What is the total number of visas which are issued by Indian Missions across the world?
Additional Secretary (CPV): It is about five million, Sir, every year.
Official Spokesperson: Since everybody else has asked a question and I understand AS (CPV) wants to ask all of you a question, I give him the last chance to ask.
Additional Secretary (CPV): When I took over this desk three months ago the question which really haunted me was the police verification. How do I get this thing organized? So, one of the first visits that I had occasion to do was to Bengaluru. There were nine Members of Parliament who were inspecting the RPO and I had gone with them. I had access to the top brass of that State Government and we asked them the same question. Everybody is blaming the Ministry of External Affairs for delay in the passport. If you look at our website, how many of these delays are because of police verification? Practically all the delay is because of police verification. There are some States in which police verification does not come at all. So, we have a serious problem there. So, I asked this question to the Head of the Police, the Home Secretary, and the Additional Chief Secretary as to in what way they could help us to get out of this mess.
The Police Chief said, Sir, let us explain to you our situation also. Maybe you have explained yours, let me explain our problem. The State of Karnataka issues 500,000 passports approximately every year. We have a certain number of Constables who do the police verification. If I divide the number of passports to be issued by the number of Constables that I have, it works out to eight to ten police verifications per day per Constable. Now, what is the roster of duty for a Constable? It starts with crime investigations, it starts with some murder investigations, he looks after traffic violations, he looks after VIP security. Toh vaqt milega toh he will go on address verification. Finally, let us say one hard working fellow has found the time. He goes to the house. Invariably it is locked because in today’s generation which is seeking passports both the husband and wife work. Voh ghar par milte hi nahin.
So, we are thinking about this problem for the last three months. We have got all kinds of ideas – some revolutionary ideas and some simple technology solutions. I want to put this question to you people with the background that the police verification is required for two reasons. One is the address proof. We want to make sure that the man who declares that this is my address, actually lives at that address and he is not taking us for a ride. The second is, we want to know whether he has any criminal track record and it is the cops that have to tell us. Talking about criminal records, there are some States which have digitized and computerized their criminal records. If I run through this digital system for an applicant from that State and he is cleared, that does not mean that he is actually cleared. If anybody has seen a movie called Special 26 they will know. People do not commit crimes in their own home. They always go somewhere else and commit the crime. So, this digital database is of no use for me. We need to have a national database and only then I will be able to depend on it.
So, the question that I have is, you please think about it, speak to your people, speak to as many friends as you can, and let us know whether you have any offers to us on how to get rid of this police verification delay.
Thank you.
Question: …(Inaudible)…
Official Spokesperson: Do not worry. The answers have to come by email, not here.
Thank you very much for all this. I would like to thank my colleagues who have spared the time and come and were willing to listen to all the volleys that you had to serve towards them. I am grateful to all of them and all of you to have given this opportunity for them to interact with you. Thank you.
Additional Secretary (CPV): And we must also thank the Spokesman for giving us the opportunity. Thank you, Sir.
(Concluded)
