Passport Patrika | Feb 2010

Feb 2010

HIGHLIGHTS:

MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Passport Patrika

Chairman Shri. A.Manickam, JS (CPV) & CPO Editor-in Chief Dr. T. V. Nagendra Prasad, Director (PV)

The Editorial Team

PSKs Set up at Pilot Locations

PSK Staff Training

for pilot locations

accomplished suc-

cessfully

Call Centres &

Helpline for PSP

established

External Communica-

tion & Advertising

activities planned

Software/Application

Training for PO staff

concluded success-

fully at Bangalore

Access Cards created

for CPO Staff

DPC/SPC Applica-

tions trial processing

launched at

Bangalore-1 PSK

Pg 10

2

Passport Seva Desk

Regards,

Passport Seva Team


Dear Colleagues,

The past one year had been an eventful journey with accomplishment of several milestones of the

programme which has laid a strong foundation for our future passport issuance system. We hope

the New Year would bring with it new vigour and enthusiasm for the Passport Seva Programme.

Considering the importance of training to adapt to a new working environment, several training

programmes such as Passport Office staff Training, Police Officials Training and PSK staff train-

ing at pilot locations have been carried out successfully.

The helpdesk for PSP is ready with call centres becoming operational at two locations to serve the

citizens in various Indian languages. PSK's for pilot locations have been setup and are ready for

Go-Live. The Software application is being tested rigorously in order to have an ideal error free

system in place. Testing is being undertaken by STQC (Standardization, Testing and Quality Cer-

tification) Directorate, a body under the Department of Information Technology, Government of

India. We had taken up the challenge of digitizing the entire passport issuance system workflow

and are working hard to achieve our goal. We look forward to your sustained support and active

participation in the project.

3


Contents

Welcome Aboard 05

Project Updates…The story so far 07

Status Update of the Project’s progress

Events

Foreign Secretary’s visit to Bangalore PSK 08

Network Operations Centre 09

PSKs Set Up at Pilot Locations 10

PSK Staff Training for Pilot locations 11

Call Centre Training 12

Passport Office employees training at Bangalore 13

Creating a Secure System 14

Technology Trends 15

Knowledge Bytes 16

The Origins of Passport

Worldwide Information 17

Health Tips 17

Fun Corner 18

Believe It

Jumble

Snapshots 19

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Welcome Aboard

We warmly welcome her and look forward to benefit from her guidance for the Project and the Central

Passport Organization.

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success” – Henry Ford

Smt. Nirupama Rao assumed charge as Foreign Secretary in July 2009.

She is the second woman to hold the prestigious post of Foreign Secre-

tary. In her distinguished career she has served in several capacities

including, Minister (Press & Information) in Washington, Deputy Chief

of Mission in Moscow, besides stints at headquarters as Joint Secretary

(East Asia), and as the first woman Spokesperson of the Ministry. She

also held crucial positions in the neighbourhood countries as Ambassa-

dor to China and High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.

Shri. Ashok Tomar has taken over as Additional Secretary (AD &

CPV) with effect from November 2009. Shri. Tomar belongs to the

1978 batch of the Indian Foreign Service.

We warmly welcome him and look forward to benefit from his guidance

for the Project and the Central Passport Organization.

http://thinkexist.com/quotation/coming_together_is_a_beginning-keeping_together/146314.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Foreign_Secretary



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Commissioner_(Commonwealth)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka

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Major milestones achieved during the journey towards the pilot go-live of the Passport Seva Project

Project Milestones – Pilot

Project Updates...The Story so far

“The nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side”- Margaret Carty

Milestones Achieved

Milestones - Work in Progress

Milestones to be Achieved

TRAINING

Soft Skills Training for Passport Seva Kendra employees recruited for pilot locations completed

Software/Application Training & Hands-On for the Passport Seva Kendra Staff recruited for the

pilot locations at the Prototype & Training Centre completed

Software/Application Training for the Passport Office employees completed at Bangalore

Software/Application Training completed for the Police Officials at Bangalore, Mangalore & Hubli

Software/Application Training planned for the Chandigarh Passport Office employees

CALL CENTRE

Call Centre & Passport Seva helpline established

Demo Software/Application Training for Call Centre Trainers conducted

Training for Call Centre Agents completed successfully at Mohali & Hyderabad

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Project Updates...The Story so far

CIVIL

Passport Seva Kendras set up with the installation of the IT system, biometric equipment & camera

completed at pilot locations

Prototype & Training Centre for the Passport Seva Kendra staff created at Kirti Nagar, New Delhi

for Hands-On sessions

SECURITY

Access Cards for MEA staff created

Login User-id and passwords for the application and system usage to be generated for all staff

CCTV monitoring set up at the Passport Seva Kendra & Central Passport Printing Facility

Fire alarm, Smoke detectors, Burglar alarm systems installed at the Passport Seva Kendras

CENTRAL PASSPORT PRINTING FACILITY

Central Passport Printing Facility (CPPF) set up at Delhi

CPPF staff recruited

Soft skills training conducted & Software/Application hands-on training program planned for the

CPPF staff

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful” - Albert Schweitzer

Foreign Secretary’s visit to Bangalore PSK

Foreign Secretary Smt. Nirupama Rao visited Regional Passport Office Bangalore to inspect the progress of

the project and meet the staff. FS was given a detailed walk around of the Passport Seva Kendra facilities

and apprised of the progress. FS addressed the staff on the significance and necessity of the Passport Seva

Project.

Foreign Secretary at the Bangalore Passport Seva Kendra

http://www.wisdomquotes.com/002051.html

http://www.wisdomquotes.com/002051.html

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Network Operations Centre

The Network Operations Centre (NOC) is one of the most critical locations of Passport Seva Project. The

entire communication Network comprising multiple locations like Passport Data Centres, Passport Seva

Kendras, Passport Offices and the IT Infrastructure including the application and the portal would be moni-

tored and managed from the NOC. Ministry of External Affairs has allocated a space in New Delhi to build

the NOC. The premises hosts many government organizations and is a highly secured area.

NOC is highly secured with State of Art Access controls, CCTV and 24 hours physical security. Other sys-

tems such as Rodent Repellent, Intruder Alarm, Smoke detector, Water Leak Detection (WLD) have also

been provisioned in the facility. Only authorized associates have access to the NOC premises wherein each

associate is provided with an Access Card for the identification and entry to specific area of the premises.

NOC is also provisioned with LFDs (Large Frame Displays) to monitor the entire Passport Seva Network.

All the systems have biometric access control apart from User login and password. It has 24X7 technical

support team backup.

Mr. A.Manickam - Joint Secretary (CPV) and Dr. T.V Nagendra Prasad - Project Director (PSP & CPV)

along with other Senior officials of MEA have visited the NOC facility.

MEA Officials

Monitoring Agents L1 Operation Centre

Specialist Team L2/L3

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new” - Albert Einstein

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“You must be the change that you want to see in the world”- Mahatma Gandhi

Passport Seva Kendra: Pilot Location set up Complete

One of the most important aspects of the project is setting up of Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) all over the

country. PSKs would be extended arms of the Regional Passport Offices where non sensitive and non sov-

ereign functions will be performed by TCS and the sovereign functions including the granting of passport

will be performed by CPO officials. In the pilot phase, seven PSKs will go live at Bangalore (2 PSKs),

Mangalore, Hubli, Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Ambala.

The TCS project team has worked in unison with the MEA leadership at CPV, New Delhi, RPO Bangalore

and RPO Chandigarh to set up PSKs at all the locations. The design philosophy was finalized keeping in

mind the minutest details for the PSK set up. The overall citizen and employee comfort, furniture design,

color scheme, material selection and layout was arrived at with the sole purpose of ensuring excellent citi-

zen experience while availing passport services. The State-of-the-Art centres, with swanky interiors and

world class infrastructure will project a strong commitment of MEA towards the citizens of India with the

best in class service. These PSKs would have modifications in future based on the feedback from the CPO

officials and citizens.

The PSKs at the pilot location are ready and software testing has already commenced at these centres.

There has been active involvement and guidance from the RPOs at both locations in inspecting and certify-

ing the centres. Teams from National Institute of Smart Governance and STQC (Standardization, Testing

and Quality Certification) Directorate, a body under the Department of Information Technology, Govern-

ment of India, visited Bangalore and Chandigarh Centres to verify the PSKs.

Waiting Lounge at the PSK PSK Service Area

APO Cabin Token Counters at PSK

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“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary” - Donald Kendall

PSK Staff Training for Pilot Locations

As the Project steadily moves towards the Pilot Go-live stage, Bangalore and Chandigarh Passport Seva

Kendras (PSKs) are becoming fully functional with the State of the Art technology and personnel. Soon the

rest of the country would witness a new dawn of digitization in the Passport Issuance process.

Primary activities such as form collection and submission, penalty and fee collection, PCC Application

processing and Biometric capturing would be taken care by Customer Service Executives (CSEs) at the

PSKs. Therefore, being the first point of contact for the citizens, the importance of customer friendly be-

havioral skills can‟t be overlooked. Hence, a comprehensive 3-day training program which included intro-

duction to the Passport issuance process along with soft skill courses for PSK private staff was organized at

pilot locations.

Soft Skills training manual was also distributed to the

participants for their future reference. Formal feedback was gathered using feedback forms while informal

feedback was collected through “My Training Experience” sheet where the participants were free to pen

down their thoughts, suggestions, comments and compliments. A lot of enthusiasm and keenness to learn

was exhibited by the participants. All sessions were thoroughly enjoyed by participants. They are now

equipped with requisite skills set to face the citizens confidently.

Well designed and structured Soft Skills courses mod-

ule which includes Customer Orientation, Understand-

ing your Customer, Communication and Listening

Skills, Conflict Management, Negotiation Skills etc.

were conducted which exposed the trainees to impor-

tant aspects of customer facing roles. All the modules

were created keeping in mind the practical aspects by

highlighting the concepts along with real life exam-

ples. Open house discussions were encouraged

wherein the participants were asked to share their ex-

periences and learn from them. Focus was laid on the

interactive role plays and group exercises to reinforce

concepts and add value to the learning curve.

A session on Information Security was conducted to

emphasize on the confidentiality and security related

aspects of citizen-centric sensitive and personal infor-

mation. Along with the soft skills module, a session on

Stress Management was also taken up to highlight the

significance of maintaining a good and healthy life-

style. Several stress buster and relaxation techniques

were shared with the participants and they were en-

couraged to use them in their daily lives.

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“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory” - Mahatma Gandhi

PSK Staff Training for Pilot Locations Continued...

Call Centre Training

The Passport Seva Call centre will be one of the touch points wherein citizens will be able to make enquir-

ies, and track their application/ complaint status through a toll free number. The call centre will become

functional just before the launch of pilot PSKs. In the initial phase, call centre services will be available to

applicants from Karnataka, Haryana, Punjab and Union Territory of Chandigarh only. Interactive Voice

Response services will be available 24 X 7 basis and agent support will be available 14 X 7 basis, i.e., be-

tween 8 AM to 10 PM round the year except on public holidays.

As call centre agents will be interacting directly with citizens and will be responsible for providing accurate

information, they were trained on Process & Soft Skills in a two days training program conducted at Tata

Business Support Services (TBSS) Office, Mohali.

Business process training comprised two major parts, Process training and a demo of call centre software

module of PSP application. Process training included overview of Passport Seva Project, business opera-

tions, process requirements, call centre management, mock calls & feedback sessions. Tracking of different

type of requests & grievances, usage of digital signature, dispatch & email handling functionality etc were

also demonstrated. A half day session on soft skills was also given to the agents. The participants displayed

a lot of enthusiasm and made the entire session interactive. They appreciated the training and suggested

similar training sessions in future.

Software/Application Training & Hands On:

A meticulous training program for 5 days at Kirti Nagar, New Delhi was developed to impart hands-on

training on PSP application module for PSK employees. The Training centre was set-up specifically to re-

semble the future PSK layout along with the entire infrastructure and equipment to be used there in order to

provide valuable process and application exposure to the trainees.

The training commenced with a detailed knowledge sharing session on Passport issuance process. Thereaf-

ter, application demo sessions on different cases such as Fresh, Re-issue, PCC, Walk-in, Penalty Payments,

DPC/SPC applications followed by hands-on practice were conducted. Training was also imparted on the

usage and acceptability parameters for peripheral devices such as camera, fingerprint machine, scanner,

printer and bar-code reader. Every Customer Service Executive was provided with sufficient time to prac-

tice in order to gain proficiency in using the application and the accompanying equipment.

A session on Information Security was conducted to emphasize the security and confidentiality aspects of

the Citizen specific information. Tips on how to secure the workstation from any security breach were

shared with participants such as not sharing the passwords, frequently changing them and locking the sys-

tem when away. Since the employees at PSKs will also handle cash, either as Application Fee payment or

Penalty payment, a session on “how to detect fake currency” was also arranged wherein a Senior Executive

from State Bank of India was invited to share his experience and learnings with the trainees.

http://thinkexist.com/quotation/satisfaction_lies_in_the_effort-not_in_the/14115.html

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“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough we must do”– Goethe

Passport Office Employees Training at Bangalore

As the Pilot Go-live is approaching, the Ministry of Ex-

ternal Affairs is taking every effort to see that the system

is robust from the security and service standpoint. Soft-

ware/Application training for Passport Office staff tops

the go-live priority checklist. The journey towards bring-

ing a smooth transition from the old system of Passport

Issuance to the new one can be successful only with the

aid of a comprehensive, rigorous training plan. A week

long training program was designed for the passport of-

fice employees at Bangalore, with three days training

dedicated to one batch while the next three days dedicated

to the second batch of the Passport Office staff. A one day workshop was also conducted for the RPO

(Regional Passport Officer), APOs and the Accounts Officer to brief them on the application and their spe-

cific modules.

The training commenced with a walk through of the

Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) and overview of the PSK

operations starting from the token issuance at the Token

Issuance counter to the Granting stage. The entire train-

ing was scheduled on the basis of different modules like

PSK Overview, DPC/SPC, Verification, Granting, Pass-

port Issuance Authority, Printing, Lamination, Quality,

Dispatch, Disposal, Safe Custody, Store Manager, etc.

All the demo sessions were followed by the hands on

session where the staff was given sufficient time to prac-

tice on the PSP application. Since Passport Office em-

ployees are expert in the passport process, they could learn the new system quickly.

The Training Manual provide to the employees would

serve as a ready reference while working on the new sys-

tem. Feedback was gathered on daily basis and the sug-

gestions provided by the staff were acted upon regularly.

The training was appreciated by the staff as it provided

them knowledge and skills to operate on the application

in the new environment and gave them the confidence to

handle the Passport Seva Application effectively.

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“Ignorance is always afraid of change” - Jawaharlal Nehru

Creating a Secured System

Security and confidentiality are the prime aspects of the Passport Issuance system. In the future scenario,

standardized access cards would be created for all the Passport Seva Kendras and Central Passport Printing

Facility. The MEA, PSK and Support staff at PSKs would be mandated to carry a photo identification card

in order to enter and leave the premises. Access card would carry the photograph of the staff member, their

rank and blood group along with specific color coding to differentiate between Government officials and

private staff. Any official visitor at PSK would also be issued a visitor card which would help in restricting

access to secured areas at the PSKs. Unique login IDs would also be provided to all staff in order to prevent

any unauthorized access into the system.

Access Cards for Passport Seva Project

Access Card for MEA Staff Access Card for Private Staff

Access Card for Visitors at PSK Access Card for Support Staff

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“The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability”-Henry Ford

Technology Trends – Passport Seva System

Getting connected to Passport Seva System Securely

Passport Seva System will be operated by internal stakeholders like the Passport Office

employees and external stakeholders like the service provider staff. Besides, support or-

ganizations like police and post will also access the system. The Passport Seva system has

been designed keeping security as the highest priority. Various security concepts like

separation of various zones, restricted access, and use of digital signature mechanism have been used for the

project. Only Government staff will be provided access to the core of the system. Access to the next layer

will be available to the Service Provider staff. External support organizations will be accessing the system

through the internet and cannot come anywhere near the core system.

All users of the system will require Digital Signature for accessing and operating the system. Digital signa-

ture is the electronic equivalent of the physical signature which you currently affix on the file. The key uses

of the physical signature namely: (a) fixing the identity of the person who signed, and (b) non-repudiation,

are replicated in the electronic form through the Digital Signature.

Digital signatures are issued by an authority under the Department of Information Technology. This in-

volves the issue of a digital certificate which is nothing but a pen drive. In addition to using the normal user

ID, password and thumb impression to enter the system, each user would have to insert a pen drive (USB)

into the system to digitally sign each document which they are working on.

Just as one protects his/her ATM pin code, all staff are expected to guard their digital signature and inform

the Regional Passport Officer in case of loss/damage of the digital signature pen drive.

Many of our staff had justifiable concerns about how their record and conduct will be safeguarded under the

new Passport Seva System. In the current system there is a paper trail on file recording every stage of the

processing of the file. In case of any problem, the concerned file can be seen to find out the person who

took action on that case and the justification provided. How is this being handled in Passport Seva (PS)

system?

A facility similar to what has been discussed above is available on the PS system. Digital signature fixes the

identity of the person who has worked on the system. Besides from a legal angle, digital signatures ensure

non-repudiation. Detailed audit trail is maintained, forever, of each and every action taken on the electronic

passport application form. Date and time stamp will also be recorded. All these measures, initiated by the

Ministry would safeguard the interests of the staff.

For any query – please write to

Golok Kumar Simli (Principal Consultant - Technology)

S.Chandrasekhar (Principal Consultant - Programme Management)

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“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” - Maria Robinson

The Origins of Passport

The oldest mention of a legal document used for safe passage and travelling abroad is in the Bible. The idea

of a passport has always existed since people began to travel from one country to another. In the United

Kingdom, the origin of the passport was the 'Safe Conduct', a note signed by the king or queen, asking the

person holding it be allowed to travel freely. Safe Conducts were issued to people of all nationalities and

were mentioned in an Act of Parliament in the reign of King Henry V in 1414.

In European countries the main task of the passport system was to ensure peace and order, whereas in Rus-

sia, apart from the above functions the passport also served as a means to oversee the control of tax pay-

ments, military service and other duties regulated by the state. As nations have grown in power and author-

ity over social and economic life in the 20th century, governments have made national documents, includ-

ing passports, as a legal device to facilitate movement and activities around the world.

Passports in India:

Passports were not issued prior to the First World War. During the war, the Government of India made it

mandatory to possess a passport for entering into the country or for leaving the country. The Indian Pass-

port Act of 1920 made this temporary war provision into a permanent arrangement and brought this practice

in line with those of other parts of the British Empire and other countries. The Act was renamed “The Pass-

port (Entry into India) Act, 1920” followed by the establishment of the Passports Act of 1967 which is still

in operation.

Following the India Act of 1935, „Emigration‟ continued to be a Central subject but the power to issue

passports on behalf of Central Government was delegated to the Home Departments of State Governments.

Later on, Passport became a Central subject under the Indian Constitution and was assigned to the Ministry

of External Affairs (MEA).

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Worldwide: Passport Card

The cool little passport card is smaller, cheaper and more convenient than the traditional passport book, but

it‟s not for everyone.

A passport card serves the same purpose as a passport book with an exception of being the size of a credit

card. It is used in the United States to attest the US citizenship and identity. The passport card contains a

vicinity-read radio frequency identification (RFID) chip. It was created in 2008 to facilitate the frequent

travel of Americans living in border communities and can be used for land and sea travel between the U.S.

and Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and Bermudas. Similar systems also exist in U.K and Singapore for

frequent travelers.

Stay Healthy: Nature Naturally Helps

It's said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land,

planted a garden, made animals and fish... all before making a human. He made and

provided what we'd need before we were born. Fruits and vegetables when eaten

raw nourishes the body and protects it naturally.

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like

the human eye... and science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and func-

tion of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All

of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed heart

and blood food

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood

cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood

vitalizing food

Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper and lower cerebel-

lums. Walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain

function

“Every human being is the author of his own health or disease” - Buddha

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Fun Corner

1. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different

2. Butterflies taste with their feet

3. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of

the keyboard

4. Honey - This is the only food that doesn't spoil

5. People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you Sneeze, your heart stops for a

millisecond

6. The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue

7. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in

the English language

8. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to Suppress a sneeze; you can

rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die

Jumble

Believe It!

“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you” - Saint Augustine

Unscramble the words to form meaningful words:

1. SAPOSRTP

2. TIOBMERIC

3. LDIGITA

4. DKHSEELP

5. SEURICTY

6. CADISPHT

7. LAAONMINTI

8. TRINP

9. COIUERR

10. DSSPWAOR

11. RTAGGNIN

12. NIIVFCERTAOI

13. MDPTILOA

14. MFIITNORATN

15. LLCCEEANTR (2 words)

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Snapshots

Bangalore PO staff attending the hands-on session on

the software/application

1.PASSPORT 2.BIOMETRIC 3.DIGITAL 4.HELPDESK 5.SECURITY 6.DISPATCH 7.LAMINATION

8.PRINT 9.COURIER 10.PASSWORD 11.GRANTING 12.VERIFICATION 13.DIPLOMAT

14.INFORMATION 15.CALL-CENTRE

Stay Connected

Send your contributions and feedback to us to improvise your own Passport Patrika.

Comments, Queries and suggestions are welcome.

Write to us at [email protected]

@

SOLUTION TO THE JUMBLE

“The mind is everything. What you think you become” - Buddha

Software/Application Training session at Bangalore

in progress

PO staff members from various locations at MEA,

New Delhi

RPO (Chandigarh), CPO & PD at the PSK staff

induction program - Chandigarh

20

“Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us” - Hal Borland


Warm wishes for a Bright & Prosperous New Year!!

2010

Passport Patrika | Feb 2010

Government & Nonprofit

Transcript of Passport Patrika | Feb 2010