Table of Contents
- In his address through video conferencing on the Passport Seva Divas, external affairs minister
- Dr S Jaishankar stated that
- “The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) there are plans to further simplify the rules and processes of making passports, using modern technology.”
What is e-passport?
- An e-passport contains an electronic chip that holds the information printed on the passport’s data page.
- The bio-metric data of the travellers are also saved in that chip.
- The software for chip-based passports has been developed in India by
- IIT-Kanpur and
- The National Informatics Centre (NIC).
- According to officials the new passport will boost of-
- Better paper quality, better printing and will have advanced security features.
Who has been given the work for E-Passport?
- India Security Press in Nashik will soon come out with chip-enabled e-passports for the Indian citizens.
Contactless feature
- The most critical component for such a passport is-
- International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)-compliant electronic contactless inlays along with its operating system.
- India Security Press, Nashik, has been approved to procure electronic contactless inlays.
Security feature
- In case the passport is tampered with, the system will be able to catch it and will help the immigration officers to not authenticate the passport.
- A senior MEA officer while explaining about protecting the stored information said,
- “The information on the chip has been stored and protected in such a way that without physical touch it cannot be accessed.”
Other Unique Features
- These new e-passports with a chip will have thicker front and back covers.
- And the silicon chip is likely to be embedded in the back cover and will have 64 Kilobytes memory space.
- Due to security reason this has not been handed over to any commercial agency.
- The applicant’s photo, fingerprints and digital signature will be stored on the chip.
- And it will come with a capacity to store 30 visits and international movements.
When was the concept rolled out?
- The concept of e-passport was rolled out in 2017.
- And according to official sources the first in the line to get these passports will be the diplomats and government officials.
- Then the general public will get these.
Why Chip-enabled e-passport is important?
- While travelling, time is of the essence.
- In a crowded airport, the e-passports will take a mere few seconds to be read.
- The government has already tested the e-passport prototype in a laboratory identified by the US government.
Latest Burning Issues | Free PDF
WhatsApp