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70 yrs of freedom: Still no passport for 95% Indians
70 years of independence, but a passport remains out of reach for 95 per cent
NEW DELHI: Only 5.15% of Indians --6.8 crore out of a population of around 132 crore -- holds valid passports despite the wave of reforms and frantic expansion of passport related facilities in the past five years, show latest government data. Nearly half these passports, comprising renewed and new, were issued in the past three years, according to figures collated by the ministry of external affairs (MEA).
One key reason for the shockingly low number of passport holders was rigid rules and lack of access to passport seva kendras. But now the rules are simpler and the process speedier at the several passport seva kendras that have mushroomed across India. Passports are now issued with just one document -- copies of Aadhaar or Voter ID. The average number of days to complete the mandatory police verification has dropped to 29 days pan India in 2016 from 34 days in 2015 and 42 days in 2014.
Sixteen new passport seva kendras have been opened by the current government, taking their total to 93. No state or union territory is now without passport facilities.
India now ranks third in the world after China and the US in issuing passports, according to MEA. Expiry of a large number of existing passports every year also tempers growth. Between 2014 and 2016, 1.3 crore passports expired compared with 2.93 crore new passports issued. That apart, the number of Indians who have the desire or means to travel abroad is also modest. Departures in 2015, the last year captured by data, was 20.38 million, according to the ministry of tourism. Shrinking job opportunities abroad, especially in the Gulf, too curb passport growth. The passport data reflect India’s immigration map, with Maharashtra, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Punjab accounting for more than 50% of the total passports issued.
But interest in securing a passport has been intensifying every year. The passport seva portal receives 2 crore hits and the call centre more than 20,000 calls every day.
70 years of independence, but a passport remains out of reach for 95 per cent
NEW DELHI: Only 5.15% of Indians --6.8 crore out of a population of around 132 crore -- holds valid passports despite the wave of reforms and frantic expansion of passport related facilities in the past five years, show latest government data. Nearly half these passports, comprising renewed and new, were issued in the past three years, according to figures collated by the ministry of external affairs (MEA).
One key reason for the shockingly low number of passport holders was rigid rules and lack of access to passport seva kendras. But now the rules are simpler and the process speedier at the several passport seva kendras that have mushroomed across India. Passports are now issued with just one document -- copies of Aadhaar or Voter ID. The average number of days to complete the mandatory police verification has dropped to 29 days pan India in 2016 from 34 days in 2015 and 42 days in 2014.
Sixteen new passport seva kendras have been opened by the current government, taking their total to 93. No state or union territory is now without passport facilities.
India now ranks third in the world after China and the US in issuing passports, according to MEA. Expiry of a large number of existing passports every year also tempers growth. Between 2014 and 2016, 1.3 crore passports expired compared with 2.93 crore new passports issued. That apart, the number of Indians who have the desire or means to travel abroad is also modest. Departures in 2015, the last year captured by data, was 20.38 million, according to the ministry of tourism. Shrinking job opportunities abroad, especially in the Gulf, too curb passport growth. The passport data reflect India’s immigration map, with Maharashtra, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Punjab accounting for more than 50% of the total passports issued.
But interest in securing a passport has been intensifying every year. The passport seva portal receives 2 crore hits and the call centre more than 20,000 calls every day.
