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New Delhi,
11/06/2004
I. Issue of Attestation of Educational Documents
Ministry of Human Resource Development has
agreed to authorise respective State Governments
to authenticate the educational certificates of
applicants. The State Governments will authorise
senior officials of their Education Departments
to authenticate the educational certificates.
Once the educational certificates have been
authenticated by the State Governments, Ministry
of External Affairs will attest the
authentication done by the State Governments.
The new arrangement will come into force as soon
as possible.
II. Passports
(i) For public convenience, decentralization
scheme for receipt of passport applications at
district level in the office of District
Magistrate or Superintendent of Police has been
implemented in 24 States where 400 District
Passport Cells (DPC) have been established for
this purpose.
(ii) District Passport Cells receive
applications and after having the police
verification carried out, send it to passport
offices for further processing and issuance of
passports. DPCs increase accessibility by
allowing the applicants to go to their nearby
District Passport Centres, within few kilometers
of their residences, rather than going to RPOs
located in different cities.
(iii) The State Governments will be encouraged
to make arrangements for greater connectivity
and greater use of information technology for
sending on line details of applicants to
passport offices.
(iv) State Governments will be requested to
conduct police verification expeditiously to
reduce time taken in issuance of passports.
State Governments will be encouraged to
popularise the decentralisation scheme which can
also be a source of revenue to the State
Governments as MEA gives Rs.200/- to State
Government for each application received at DPCs.
Besides, Rs.100/- is paid to State Governments
for applications received directly at RPO for
police verification if received in less than 30
days and Rs.50/- if received beyond 30 days.
III. Haj:
It has been observed that the decision taken in
Haj 2004 to pay SR 50/- per pilgrim to the
religious guides (Mutawifeen) had resulted in
96% of Indian pilgrims stay inside the
traditional boundaries of Mina, as compared to
48% in Haj 2003. In order to ensure that all the
72000 pilgrims who perform Haj through the Haj
Committee of India, Mumbai stay inside the
traditional boundaries of Mina, it has been
decided to award catering service contract to
South Asian Moassassa @SR 120/- per pilgrim
(including SR 50 paid during Haj 2004). The
South Asian Moassassa would not only provide 13
meals to the pilgrims during core Haj days but
would also ensure that all the 72000 Indian
pilgrims going through the Haj Committee are
accommodated in the traditional boundaries of
Mina by allocating exclusive Maktabs. This would
greatly help the pilgrims as they would then be
able to focus on Haj rituals, by not having to
worry about food etc.
Some significant features on arrangements for
Indian pilgrims for Haj 2005 are :
a) Total computerization of pilgrims’ location
and movement including those who have come under
private tour operators.
b) Private tour operators will be brought under
stricter regulation to prevent exploitation of
the pilgrims.
c) Subsidy withdrawal in select cases will be
reviewed.
d) No. of Indian Hajis next year would be
120,000 including 72,000 under the Haj
Committee.
IV. Helpline:
The Ministry of External Affairs proposes to set
up a Help Line in the Embassy of India, Riyadh
for the benefit of the Indian community in Saudi
Arabia. This telephone based help line would
function 7 days a week round the clock and would
be manned by officials conversant in Indian
languages such as Urdu, Malyalam, Hindi, Tamil
and Telugu. A written record of all calls made
would be maintained and brought to the attention
of the concerned officials in the Embassy at the
earliest so that appropriate advise and guidance
is rendered to the affected Indian nationals.
The helpline would assist the Indian community
people with regard to matters of consular nature
such as accidents, deaths matters, hate crime,
arrests, detention, loss of travel documents,
etc. Based on its performance, the helpline
could be extended to CGI in Jeddah.
V. Emigration Status:
Some relaxations are likely to be made for
eligibility of emigration check not required
status (ECNR). Following categories would be
automatically given ECNR status:
i) Indian nationals who have passed 10+2
Certificate Examination. Earlier applicants were
required to have a graduate degree.
ii) Diploma holders of national vocational
training institutes such as Polytechnics and
Indian Technical Institutes.
iii) Persons below 18 years and above 50 years
of age. It is also being examined whether
applicants with employment visas and having
insurance cover Pravasi Bhartiya Bima Yojna
could also be exempted from Emigration Check
required (ECR category).
Source:
Ministry of External
Affairs
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