Ministry of External Affairs releases new mobile app 'MEAindia', it tracks your passport status, clarifies visa queries

Ministry of External Affairs' mobile app 'MEAindia' acts as a perfect tool to excercise many elements of democracy which remained elusive to an ordinary citizen till date. Vignesh Radhakrishnan reports.

Ministry of External Affairs' mobile app 'MEAindia' acts as a perfect tool to excercise many elements of democracy which remained elusive to an ordinary citizen till date. According to the app it "acts as a single window source of all information related to Ministry's citizen centric services and outreach activities."

MEAindia-app-icon

The aesthetic appeal of this government app is exceeding expectations. The rotatable palatte in the home page serves as a perfect user interface and invites the user to a variety of services.

Here is a link to the app : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mea

The app includes a range of services

Passport related:

Locating nearest passport office

Tracking passport application

Passport fee calculator

Downloading forms

Haj services :

Embarkation points

Private tour operator search

Flight and accomodation details

Visa details :

Document attestation related issues

Indian visas

Visas for Indians

Ministry related :

Ask your minister option - This option is a portal where we can directly question the external affairs minister. Till now only one question has been asked (How Joe Biden's visit influences India-Us relationships?), but it is yet to receive any reply from the minister.

Indian missions abroad option - This page provides a detailed map of all the Indian high commissions around the world. But there are no contact details provided thus acts as a static page with a display of Indian flags flying around the world. Hope it would be enhanced in the future with useful details.

Parliament related:

Here is a treasure trove for journalists and researchers.

All the questions raised in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha with answers has been listed in this page. Whether this page is getting updated regularly after every session is a 'wait and watch'.

It also provides all speeches and statements in both Sabhas along with press releases.

Fun stuff :

We can track where our Prime Minister and Exrternal Affairs Minister had toured in his/her tenure. A mini cartoon of our PM and EAM's face is an added joy.

Its an app with many useful features, with an excellent useful interface. Only 10-50 people have installed the app till now. How it will react once traffic increases is a wait and watch.