Accessing 26AS or TRACES website from outside India

Update July 27, 2014

Looks like now NRIs can also access 26AS through different website.

TDSCPC services for NRIs is available through https://nriservices.tdscpc.gov.in/nriapp/login.xhtml . Kindly register and access TDSCPC NRI services through same.

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26AS (TDS form) can be accessed online if one is available for your PAN. It can be accessed

1. From the bank website after you login to your account

2. or income tax website (https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/) and then click on 26AS

3. or directly from https://www.tdscpc.gov.in/en/home.html

If you are doing that from India, you will not have any problem. But if you are overseas and trying to access you can do all of the above except logging into TRACES website. It throws up an error "
Site is not available due to technical reason.". It beats me why anyone would want to have that sort of security if I can call it that.

There are couple of ways to beat that. If your company has a VPN server in India, login to that. You should have no problem in accessing 26AS after that.

If that option is not available, there are few folks selling VPN service for India. If you are buying, make sure you are getting IP that belongs to India (Indian ISP). Reverse is more popular. I didn't have confidence in any of those sites. So decided not to buy.

Another easier and cheaper option is to use web proxy in India. Search for that. You will find quite a lot of proxy's. I picked 115.248.217.178:3128 from http://www.proxynova.com/proxy-server-list/country-in/ for demonstration.

Open 'Internet Explorer', click 'Tools' --> Internet Options --> Connections --> LAN Settings. Select Proxy server check box and enter IP address and port details.

Now you should be able to access TRACEs website.

Applying for or refresh of passport at Tirupathi PSK

First you need to take appointment online unless it is urgent. If it is urgent, you can go directly to PSK (passport Seva kendra) and there is a separate line for people without appointments. In our case, it is simple renewal/refresh. Passports were expired less than an year back.

Create a login at passport seva website ( http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/online/welcomeLink. ). Multiple appointments can be taken from one user id. No need to create one for everyone in the family.

Appointments open at 7.30PM on weekdays. If you login at 7.30 or after that, you will never get an appointment. I tired this for one month and was quite lost on how to proceed. There is no other way you can take an appointment and website keeps playing with you telling you comeback next day and try at 7.30PM. It is almost like government is laughing at your misery.

Fill the application or upload it to website and login few minutes before 7.30PM and keep clicking for appointment. It will keep rejecting after you choose PSK. Just ignore that and keep clicking. Magic will happen at 7.30 and it will show available slots, choose one and proceed. It will only show for one day.

If you have to take for multiple people, you won't get it if you try one after another. we tried from multiple PCs and was able to . Otherwise you will have to go on different dates.

For renewals, it was simple. We had to take only original passport and copy of it. Cash is accepted there for fee. Photos also not needed. They will take it there. Passports came exactly in one month for us.

Devi Eye Hospital - cataract surgery

Location: Devi Eye Hospital, Koramangala, Bangalore - 95
Service: Cataract Surgery

Quick review: Had cataract surgery done for my mom on both eyes in September 2011. No problems with surgery. Everything went fine. Found Dr. Shetty and the staff to be decent and trust worthy.

Details:

First impression when we walked in was good. We sort of knew that she needs cataract surgery. So they didn't have to convince us. Front desk staff was good. Lot of ladies in sarees and generally friendly or smiley. This seems like a norm in lot of eye hospitals. More people than necessary at the front desk.

They  have a small room where they do pre-op tests and all. Didn't get the guy name, but not impressed with him. Won't say what he is doing. Looks very lazy and least interested in what he is doing. Tried asking few questions to understand what tests he is running. Gave up half way through.

Dr. Shetty is good. Won't explain much though. I wanted to understand how bad is my mom's cataract and how do they even measure it. All he said was you have to do it at some point. so Let's do it. Can't say I was impressed with much of it, but there was something that made me to say ok to do at their center. I am usually very picky. This worked out pretty well. It took lot of (post-op) visits to feel comfortable. In general, my mom would say she has lot of pain or blur. He would say everything is fine. You eye looks very good. It's all in your mind. He may be right.

I had insurance. They covered mostly everything. It was hassle free with hospital folks for insurance claim. I just gave all the paper work before surgery and that's all I had to do.

Few things that can be improved or wish they had:

• Write down the exact lens used in some paper. I found it surprising that they haven't mentioned anything either about brand or the lens type. You just have to trust.
• I wish they let us see the surgery or pass on video.
• Staff needs to be more professional or better trained to deal with informed patients.