New Delhi
7 July 2007
The Ministry of External Affairs is planning to embrace information
and communication technology (ICT) to "guarantee" that passports are issued within
three days "anywhere in the country" and to enable an applicant to learn within 20
miniutes of applying online, whether he or she will get the passport or not, Foreign
Secretary Shivshankar Menon said.
The Ministry of External Affairs is also mulling to introduce mid-career training for
diplomats and completely reviewing promotions and assessments, Mr Menon said on
Saturday after releasing two books on diplomacy at the Indian Council of World Affairs.
The mid-career training would be mandatory at various levels.
Dwelling on the other reforms proposals, he said that intranet would be introduced in the
Ministry of External Affairs by the end of next year. Also, Management Information
Systems (MIS) would be introduced in the next two months. "We intend to use ICT for our
internal communication and to interface with the public," he explained.
Mr Menon said, "We have a huge opportunity to remake ourselves in the Ministry of
External Affairs because India is changing and the world is changing. [We need to]
modernise the way we work and how we work. A change in mindset and attitude [is
needed]."
He added, "[Today] diplomats serve democratic masters. [It is the job of the Ministry of
External Affairs to] coordinate all different interests that go into foreign policy and [it is
for diplomats to think] how to bring value to India's multiple transactions with the world."
He went on to suggest that the "process of change" was started in 2005 under the tenure
of his predecessor, Mr Shyam Saran. Suggestions were accordingly sought from serving
officers and retired diplomats who are members of the Association of Indian Diplomats.
"The maximum response came from the younger people ... 80 to 85 per cent of the ideas
came from them and [those ideas] can and will be implemented," he said.
Mr Menon released the book, titled "Asian Diplomacy: The Foreign Ministries of China,
India, Japan, Singapore and Thailand," written by a retired Indian diplomat, Mr Kishan S
Rana. He also released another book, titled "Foreign Ministries: Managing Diplomatic
Networks and Optimising Value", which is edited by Mr Rana and Mr Jovan Kurbalija,
director of DiploFoundation rpt DiploFoundation.
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