Lok Sabha Question No. 2282 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-29
Subject: Passport Seva Kendras
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Kirron  Kher, Mohanbhai Kalyanji Kundariya, Sanjay Seth

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2282 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.07.2022

## PASSPORT SEVA KENDRAS

## 2282.  SHRIMATI KIRRON KHER: SHRI MOHANBHAI KALYANJI KUNDARIYA: SHRI SANJAY SETH:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) the   details   of   Passport   Seva   Kendras   operational   in   the   country, State-wise including Punjab and Chandigarh;
- (b)   the total number of passports issued in the country during the last three years along with the number of people who travelled to foreign countries during the said, State-wise including Jharkhand;
- (c) whether the Government is considering a proposal to issue chip based epassports   and   Passport   Seva   Programme,   V2.0 in   place   of   paper passports within the country and if so, the details thereof along with the steps   taken   by   the   Government   to   ensure   the   data   collected   for   epassports are encrypted for privacy and is secure and safe; and
- (d) the time by which these e-passports are likely to be introduced?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## [SHRI V. MURALEEDHARAN]

- (a) The   details   of   State-wise   Passport   Seva   Kendras   operational   in   the country is placed at Annexure-I.
- (b) The total number of Passports issued in the country during the last three years is  2,92,93,011.  As per data provided by Bureau of Immigration (BoI), the number of people who travelled from India including Jharkhand to foreign countries during the said period is 5,06,86,763.

(c) & (d) The Government is planning to issue e-Passports to its citizens, with advanced security features. An e-Passport is the same as the current Machine Readable Passport (MRP), with the addition of an electronic chip, which contains the same information that is printed on the passport's data page, i.e. the holder's name, date of birth, photograph, etc.

The personal particulars of the applicants would be digitally signed and stored in the chip. The data of the citizens for e-Passport would be used for the specific purpose only, i.e. issuance of the passport and related services. There is no secondary use of the data, thereby safeguarding the privacy concerns. Further transaction processes are authenticated by digital certificates and are cryptographically   signed.   Once   captured,   the   data   is   stored   in   a   secure repository, i.e. industry standard database. Relevant database security related

controls are performed round the clock by Security Operations Centre. Sample e-Passports have been tested and the full-scale manufacture and issue will commence with the completion of the technical eco-system and infrastructure. The said facility would be made available in phases at all Passport Offices across India.

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## Annexure

## STATE-WISE         LIST OF PASSPORT SEVA KENDRAS (PSKs)

|   S. No. | State/UT          |   No. of PSKs | Location of PSKs                                                                                                                                            |
|----------|-------------------|---------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Andhra Pradesh    |             4 | Vijayawada, Tirupati, Visakhapatnam, Bhimavaram                                                                                                             |
|        2 | Arunachal Pradesh |             1 | Itanagar                                                                                                                                                    |
|        3 | Assam             |             1 | Guwahati                                                                                                                                                    |
|        4 | Bihar             |             2 | Patna, Darbhanga                                                                                                                                            |
|        5 | Chandigarh UT     |             1 | Chandigarh                                                                                                                                                  |
|        6 | Chhattisgarh      |             1 | Raipur                                                                                                                                                      |
|        7 | Delhi NCT         |             3 | Herald House, Shalimar Place, Bhikaji Cama Place                                                                                                            |
|        8 | Goa               |             1 | Panaji                                                                                                                                                      |
|        9 | Gujarat           |             5 | Ahmedabad I& II, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat.                                                                                                                   |
|       10 | Haryana           |             2 | Ambala, Gurgaon.                                                                                                                                            |
|       11 | Himachal Pradesh  |             1 | Shimla                                                                                                                                                      |
|       12 | Jammu & Kashmir   |             2 | Jammu, Srinagar                                                                                                                                             |
|       13 | Jharkhand         |             1 | Ranchi                                                                                                                                                      |
|       14 | Karnataka         |             5 | Bangalore I & II, Hubli, Mangalore, Kalaburagi.                                                                                                             |
|       15 | Kerala            |            13 | Thiruvananthapuram,Thiruvananthap uram (Rural), Kollam, Cochin, Ernakulam Rural, Alapuzha, Kottayam, Malappuram, Thrissur, Kozhikode I & II, Kannur I & II. |
|       16 | Madhya Pradesh    |             2 | Bhopal, Indore                                                                                                                                              |
|       17 | Maharashtra       |             8 | Mumbai I, II & III, Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, Solapur.                                                                                                   |
|       18 | Manipur           |             1 | Imphal                                                                                                                                                      |
|       19 | Meghalaya         |             1 | Shillong                                                                                                                                                    |
|       20 | Mizoram           |             1 | Aizawl                                                                                                                                                      |
|       21 | Nagaland          |             1 | Dimapur                                                                                                                                                     |
|       22 | Odisha            |             1 | Bhubaneswar                                                                                                                                                 |
|       23 | Puducherry        |             1 | Puducherry                                                                                                                                                  |
|       24 | Punjab            |             5 | Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar I & II, Hoshiarpur.                                                                                                           |
|       25 | Rajasthan         |             4 | Jaipur, Jodhpur, Sikar, Udaipur                                                                                                                             |
|       26 | Sikkim            |             1 | Gangtok                                                                                                                                                     |
|       27 | Tamil Nadu        |             8 | Chennai I, II & III, Trichy, Thanjavur, Madurai,Tirunelveli, Coimbatore,                                                                                    |
|       28 | Telangana         |             5 | Hyderabad I, II & III, Nizamabad, Karimnagar                                                                                                                |
|       29 | Tripura           |             1 | Agartala                                                                                                                                                    |

| 30.   | Uttar Pradesh   |   6 | Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Ghaziabad.   |
|-------|-----------------|-----|--------------------------------------------------------------|
| 31.   | Uttarakhand     |   1 | Dehradun                                                     |
| 32.   | West Bengal     |   3 | Kolkata, Berhampore, Siliguri.                               |
| TOTAL | 32              |  93 |                                                              |

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