External Affairs Minister Smt. Sushma Swarajs message on the occasion of Passport Seva Divas on June 24, 2015
The External Affairs Minister Smt. Sushma Swarajs message on the occasion of Passport Seva Divas on June 24, 2015 is as follows: It gives me great pleasure to felicitate all our Passport Issuing Authorities in India and abroad on the third Passport Seva Divas being held on the 24th June, 2015. The day signifies the enactment of the Passports Act, 1967 and its enabling provisions of passport issuance. The Ministry of External Affairs and its subordinate office, the Central Passport Organization have reason to celebrate as well as to mark the event with renewed commitment to provide passport services in a timely, assured and efficient manner. The past one year has been noteworthy in many respects. In particular, I am proud of the recent three ISO certifications of Passport Seva which is hallmark of international quality standards besides being the recipient of the National Award on e-Governance and Web Ratna Platinum Icon Award. It was also the first time that the Ministry has taken passport services closer to citizens in a big way by way of organizing Passport Seva Camps in far off places across the country. The openings of four Passport Seva Kendras in North-East, co-opting of Common Services Centres, organizing Passport Melas and simplifying the procedures for passport application submission are some other citizen-friendly measures that have been taken in the last one year. our Government is committed to the principle of 'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance and delivering services to citizens in a convenient, accountable and transparent manner and putting in place more and more inclusive and robust mechanisms to achieve these objectives. Let us rededicate ourselves, on this important day, to take more effective steps with renewed vigour to make our passport issuance system worthy of emulation.
YSK
