The Central government on Tuesday launched a smartphone app that allows an Indian citizen to apply for passport from anywhere in India without coming to the passport office near his/her home.
"For example, a resident of Jaipur, who is temporarily residing in Kolkata, will now be able to apply at a Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) or Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) under the regional passport office, Kolkata. He doesn't have to travel all the way back to Jaipur to submit an application at a PSK/POPSK under RPO, Jaipur," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement after launching the app.
"Police verification, if necessary, will be conducted in Jaipur. The RPO, Kolkata, will print and dispatch the passport at the address specified in the passport application form," the MEA said.
Launching the app, External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj said the government intends to set up at least one passport office in every Lok Sabha constituency.
In the last 48 months, as many 16 PSK and 214 POPSK were made operational, taking the total number of passport offices in India to 307. "Our target is to reach each of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies," she said.
Sushma said a large number of passport-related rules were either simplified or done away with, making life easier for citizens applying for passports. These include acceptance of a large number of documents as valid proof of date of birth; doing away with the requirement to furnish marriage certificate; no need to mention the names of estranged spouses in the case of a divorced person and providing passports to ascetics (sadhus), accepting their spiritual masters (guru) as their fathers.