<span style="color: #222222;">External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar today said there has been a complete transformation of passport delivery service in the last six years.<br />''<br />''He said, there is widespread recognition in the country and within the government that the passport delivery program has improved by leaps and bounds.<br />''<br />''The Minister was delivering the keynote address on the occasion of Passport Seva Divas. This day is celebrated to commemorate enactment of Passports Act on 24 June 1967.<br />''<br />''Dr Jaishankar said, his Ministry has taken significant initiatives for the simplification of Passport Seva rules.<br />''<br />''The number of documents have been reduced and passport issuance process has been eased.<br />''<br />''He stressed that real reform on the ground is about the small things and rules and processes must keep getting simplified.<br />''<br />''The Minister said, the focus has been to increase use of technology and digitisation.        <br />''<br />''He said, work on chip enabled e- passports is currently going on. He expressed confidence that introduction of e- passports will strengthen the security of travel documents.<br />''<br />''He added that the m-Passport Seva actually shows how well technology can be used in domain of passport delivery. He also congratulated the winners of Passport Seva Puraskars.<br />''<br />''In his speech, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said in the six years of NDA government, External Affairs Ministry has taken several important steps to improve passport delivery system in the country.<br />''<br />''He said, the issuance of passports is one of the most successful citizen centric activity of the Ministry.<br />''<br />''He pointed out that the number of Indian citizens travelling abroad has increased rapidly, and more than one crore passports were issued last year.<br />''<br />''He expressed gratitude towards Department of Posts who have worked with the Ministry in the unique endeavour of setting up Post Office Passport Seva Kendras in the country.<br />''<br />''He said, these efforts have been appreciated by the citizens of the country.</span><br />