Their primary purpose was catering to the needs of the population through a convenient process. Unlike the Government offices that provided small amounts of information, the eGovernance platform had all the requirements mentioned in one go. Additionally, they also coordinated with various other Government offices to handle everything, from a centralised location. Finally, they allowed applicants to download any of the necessary forms and fill them out in their own time. People could submit the forms in person, while some states would allow uploading them to the website, along with their supporting documents. The applicants would receive a notification about the progress of the application process. While the Central Government uses the same applications and detailed process, there might be a few state-wise changes might take place. Overall, the process is the same with a few varying documents or additional information.
The birth certificate is the relevant document that any person needs since it is the foundation for the rest of the registrations that someone would get through. It is a requirement as proof for the process, as well as, to mention whether the person was of the right age to get through a registration process.
Other than going through multiple registration processes relating to the Government, people were using the eGovernance websites to work on various other purposes like making some payments when going through paperwork and several additional costs. With the changes to the eGovernance platform, the Government has seen a 200% increase in e-transactions. The numbers increased from 840 million in 2013-15 to 2580 million in 2015-18.
Before applying for a birth certificate, the child’s parents have to register the birth, which is a process usually taken care of by the hospital at the time of the birth. There are exceptions to the rule, and some opt to get through it. While there are a few documents that they need to process, most of which the parents would ideally have while a few the hospital has to provide. There are rules about timelines to apply for a birth certificate however, people who delay the process have to provide additional paperwork when applying for one. After completing the birth registration process, applicants can apply for their certificates through the online platform and receive it at their home addresses.
Other processes that could be handled through eGovernance was the renewal of passports, along with various other tasks connected to getting a passport. While the Indian Government outsourced the passport process to Tata Consultancy Services with the plan of creating an efficient system for a minimum of ten years, there were a few changes that came with it. They did put together a better system, and the contract was later extended for a few more years, while TCS managed to increase the number of passports issued to more than double.
India currently has 65 million passport holders across the world. The country dispatches passports through 93 passport offices across India and 197 Indian diplomatic missions globally. In 2015, India issued 12 million passport documents with the application process for getting one becoming a lot easier, encouraging more people to apply for their travel document if they were planning on travelling out of the country. The only two countries issuing more passports than India are China and the United States.
Along with using the passport website only to register for a passport, people could also use it to get all the information they needed from the authorities about passport, including various application forms and the list of supporting documents. However, the Government was coordinating the passport process through the third party company, TCS, which significantly improved the number of people getting through the application process through their website and the official state-wise passport offices. There was a significant increase to four times that number of people applying for passports now since the process was a lot more convenient. They were only handling the passport coordination but could not issue them, which was done by the Ministry of External Affairs. The Ministry processes the information they need and reviews the documents before providing the passport.
Applying for a passport is one of the most relevant documents when travelling out of the country. The Indian passport comes in three variations, ordinary, diplomatic and official, with the most common being ordinary. It is a tedious documentation process with documentation verifications and police clearances. Other passports processes involve renewals or making changes to passports if there were errors or typos.
There are rules when it comes to applying for a visa. In most cases, people cannot apply for a visa if they have less than six months on their passport. People can get a passport renewal through the eGovernance platform. It takes about two to three weeks to get done after providing all the documents needed.
The passport of one of the most important documents when travelling from one country to another, for any purpose, whether work, pleasure, medical reasons, or otherwise. Along with the passports, the applicant needs to get the right visa. The visa process is an additional task handled that the applicant will have to get through. The challenge depends on the country they are visiting and the relationship between the one that dispatched the passport and the country sending the visa. India currently issues Indian passports from 93 passport offices around the country and 197 diplomatic missions abroad. In 2015, India issued 12 million of these travel documents, with only two countries issuing a larger number, China and the United States. By the end of 2015, there were approximately 65 million valid Indians passports globally with the number only increasing in the years to come.
