Bangalore Passport Seva Kendra Experience 2012

Recently I had the need to visit the Passport Seva Kendra in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.  I had read a lot about the new & improved services initiated by the Ministry of External Affairs.  And I must say I was very impressed with the results.

The only painful experience is getting the appointment to visit the passport office.  Sadly the appointments are exhausted within 5 minutes of the window opening.  However the appointment booking window opens all 7 days at 6 p.m.  Yes, the booking window opens all day of the week and the booking is for the subsequent working days.

Application Process
Once you fill the application and get the appointment, you need to carry the required documents and the fees to the PSK.  The site (http://passportindia.gov.in) has very helpful tools to determine the fees for your application as well as the documents that needs to be carried with you.

Documents & Attestation
A few information that is not very clear with regards to the documents are;
When you take proof of residence you have to carry documents proving that you were a residence for at least a year.  What I mean by this is, if you are carrying telephone bills or utility bills, you need to carry a latest bill and a bill from last year. 
Another thing is about document attestation.  In some situations you need to submit declarations that needs to be printed on lowest denomination stamp paper and notorised (e.g. when renewing a passport due to damage to the passport).  Samples of all these are provided in Appendix.
And the last point is some documents like you passport copy is mentioned to be self attested.  However for other documents, it is mentioned that it needs to be attested.  It is not mentioned whether 'attested' means self-attested or attested by a gazette officer.  You don't need to attest these document copies by a government officer.  You can self-attest these documents as well.  However don't forget to carry the original of these documents for verification by the officers there.

Total Time & Experience
All in all I was given a 30 minute slot and was asked to report 15 minutes earlier.  I reported on time.  There was a small crowd at the entrance.  People who had reached well before their due time.  However the security folks made it easy to enter inside on my scheduled reporting time.  The whole process is conducted very smoothly.  Instead of the planned 30 minutes, the entire process was completed in 45 minutes.  Very professional managed.

Kudos to change.  Hopefully we would have more & more of our government offices turn like this in future.

Indian Software Professional Dilema

Indian IT & ITES industry has grown over the years and now constitute a sizeable portion of the country's GDP.  This has changed the employement landscape in the country.  I wonder how many people currently working in this industry grew up wanting to be an IT professional.  Many would have had different dreams, doctor may be or engineer or military or even an artist.  However the lure of the lifestyle that this new profession provides and the ease of entry has made many leave their childhood career dreams and embrace this new today.

In my memory the first kind of jobs that came were Medical Transcription.  Call centres came second and then IT system support and the rest.  So what started this?  I guess for medical transcription it was the kind of work.  May the work was not very appealing to the folks abroad.  However if it had to be done, paying the people in the western world hourly rates would probably have made the entire exercise not very economically viable.  And this is where the English speaking and understanding Indians made their entry.

Over the years the kind of work has changed.  Indian IT companies have grown to become multi-national companies spread across the globe and even hiring local workers in the countries they are now based.  This has changed the IT market with increased competition.  However the people working in this industry are going through a lot of different emotions and thoughts.  Some are struggling to find their identity.  Some have left the search and have decided to go with the flow and see where the industry takes them.

The Indian IT professionals don't get paid the same as their western counterpart for the same work done.  The reason why the cost is low is the starting reason why the job has been given to Indian IT folks.  If the cost were the same then the job may not be outsourced and these Indian IT folks may not have a job at all.  However there are Indian IT folks who are better - more productive & efficient - than their western counterparts.  So shouldn't they get paid favorably?  This thin minority gets lost amongst the majority.  So what does this minority have to look forward to?  Shouldn't the IT industry players recognise this and set in motion practises to change this?  Wouldn't that break some of the people who are going with the flow to take notice make them change?  Wouldn't a more thinking & innovative Indian IT professionals be more productive for the country as a whole?