The Passport Seva System has emerged as India's largest e-governance endeavour, said Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh a the ministry's mid-term review briefing in New Delhi on Wednesday. Singh said in the last two-and-a-half years, 3.91 crore passports had been issued in the country.
He said the ease of getting passports had been facilitated to such an extent that a normal passport can now be obtained within a week's time, with the applicant having to furnish Aadhar, PAN and voter identities, an affidavit of birth and another stating he/she had no criminal record.
The minister also spoke about initiatives like the 197 passport camps and 736 melas that were held to process applications of people living in areas far away from the nearest passport office. Further, he highlighted the special efforts that the government had made to help people in the northeaster states avail passports.
