New Delhi: Applying for various passport services has been made easy with the Centre launching a new scheme in which the DigiLocker platform has been integrated with the passport services. Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Friday launched the new scheme by which an applicant can leverage the DigiLocker platform of the government while applying for passport-related services from anywhere in India.Also Read - CBSE Class 10, 12 Term 1 Results Likely This Week: 7 Latest Updates Students Must Know
“With the launch of this new scheme, applicants applying for passport services can provide link to their specific documents uploaded in the DigiLocker. This would enable citizens to submit various documents required for Passport Services through DigiLocker in a paperless mode. They are not required to carry the original documents,” the MEA said in a astatement. Also Read - Degrees, Mark Sheets Issued Through DigiLocker Are 'Valid Documents': UGC To Colleges
What is DigiLocker? Also Read - NEET Result 2021 DECLARED: NTA Announces NEET-UG Results, Know How To Check Scores at neet.nta.nic.in and DigiLocker
1) The DigiLocker is a key initiative under Digital India, and it is also a flagship program aimed at transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
2) Notably, DigiLocker provides citizens a sharable private space on a public cloud enabling availability of all documents/certificates provided on this cloud.
3) Targeted at paperless governance, DigiLocker is a platform for issuance and verification of documents/ certificates in a digital way, thus eliminating the use of physical documents.
4) Once passports are also uploaded in DigiLocker, details would be easily accessible to authorized users from any location, which would be useful especially in case of loss of passport.
5) The MEA said that in the upcoming Passport Seva Programme V2.0, the use of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Chat-Bot, Analytics, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) will help ease the citizen experience and expeditious service delivery.
The minister said that to give further fillip to the citizen-centric approach and enhance the passport service experience in a paperless mode, the Centre has now successfully integrated into the DigiLocker platform of the government.
He said that in the coming years, biometric passports would help improve immigration processes at airports that are equipped with automatic e-passport gates.