An Indian ex-astrophysicist living in Germany has triggered an online debate after comparing Indian bureaucracy with the delays he faced in Berlin while renewing official documents. In a post on X, Mayukh Panja shared his experience of renewing both his Indian passport and German residence permit. He had expected the Indian process to be complex, since it involved multiple agencies across countries. But he was surprised by how smooth and efficient it turned out to be.
Mr Panja said it took him around 30 days to get an appointment at the Indian Embassy in Berlin. After submitting his documents, he received his new passport in about six weeks.
According to him, the process involved coordination between the Indian Embassy in Berlin, the passport office in Kolkata and the local police in the city. The police physically verified his permanent address in Kolkata before clearance was given. He also pointed out that Indian passports are not printed at embassies abroad. Instead, they are printed in India and then transported to embassies around the world.
Despite the international coordination and movement of physical documents, the entire process was completed within six weeks, he wrote.
Mr Panja then compared this with his experience in Germany. He said it took him six weeks just to secure an appointment at Berlin's Foreigner's Office, known as the Auslanderbehorde. After the appointment, he was informed that printing the new residence permit card alone would take another eight weeks, even though the work would happen within the same city.
Reflecting on the contrast, he wrote that although "a lot of stuff doesn't work" in India, he still finds it remarkable that such a vast and sprawling democracy continues to function at scale without "falling apart".
