The Past
Since the time when India as an independent country started issuing her own passports to her citizens, the rules and regulations to avail passports were really tough. The ratio of Indian Passport Holders were very low in comparison with the demography of the country. The consecutive governments at the centre failed to frame a policy regarding the issuance of passports. Stringent regulations and verification procedures supplemented with the bureaucrat-middlemen nexus made it almost impossible for a commoner to avail a passport.
The Scarcity
Compared to the International Scenario, the ratio of Indians who afforded a passport was very low. The Nehruvian Socialist approach towards Diplomatic relations and Foreign Policies, and the closed economy model practiced by the then congress regimes restricted the opportunities. Very small proportion of Indian Citizens had passports. Until late less than 4 % of Indians had passports! So out of Indian Population of 130 plus crore only mere 3-4 crore people had valid Passports! The important reason for this shockingly low rate of passport holders in India is due to hurdles between common public and Passport offices.
The Present
The inception of new government headed by Sri Modiji at the centre changed the scenario completely. Old rigid rules and regulations were replaced by new liberal rules with digital facelift and online nature, brought transparency to the whole system. This made the agents and touts irrelevant in the ecosystem and made the process easier to avail passports. The procedures for Tatkal Passports were simplified and as a result 90 % of the Tatkal Passports were issued within a span of three days.
The Abundancy
Now India is a New India and it stands third in the world after United States and China after issuing 12 million passports last year. Government of India executing a mega drive to open one Passport Seva Kendra in each Lok Sabha Constituency. Post offices are utilized to provide passport services and Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) are planned across the country. Government of India. Already close to 300 Post Office Passport Centres are functional. In future each head post office in India will have one Passport Seva Kendra. The year 2017 registered a 19 % growth in passport services. Apart from the indigenous centres Ministry of External Affairs is planning to open Passport Centres across the globe in all the Indian High commission offices. A Global Passport Seva Kendra has been launched in Consulate General’s Office in New York.
Passport Office in Uttara Kannada
It was a long pending dream of having a passport centre in Uttara Kannada District. It was quite impossible to have a Passport Centre in a district like Uttara Kannada due to the rigidity in rules. Only after the advent of Sri Modiji and after Government of India replacing the old rigid laws, dream of having our own Passport Seva Kendra became a reality. Now the people of Uttara Kannada need not travel to far off places to get their passport done.
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