LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-1334
ANSWERED ON- 09/02/2024
E-PASSPORTS
1334. DR. T. SUMATHY
THAMIZHACHI THANGAPANDIAN
SHRI D.M. KATHIR ANAND
Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state :-
(a) whether the Government has taken any steps for the rollout of e-passports with embedded chips, futuristic technology and advanced security features to citizens, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
(b) whether the Government has taken note of problems being faced by Indian passengers travelling abroad due to scanning issues of their passport bar code, if so, the details thereof along with remedial action taken by the Government in this regard;
(c) the total number of Passports issued by the Government so far, State-wise; and
(d) whether the Government has any plans for the issue of Passports to all Students enrolled for higher education in Colleges/Universities across the country, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI V. MURALEEDHARAN)
(a to d) At present the ePassport project, part of Ministry’s flagship Passport Seva Programme, is under final testing and the Pilot-launch of ePassport is being planned. Thereafter, after the successful pilot launch, the ePassport will be rolled out in phases across the country.
e-Passport is a combined paper and electronic passport with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Chip and an antenna embedded as an inlay. The key benefit of the ePassport lies in its enhanced capability to preserve the integrity of its data by having the data both printed on the passport and digitally stored on the passport’s chip; it becomes more challenging to counterfeit. In addition, the security of the ePassport is further enhanced through the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) which is the foundation for safeguarding sensitive information, and confirming the integrity and origin of personal and biometric data stored on the chip within the ePassport.
The Government has not come across any case of problems faced by Indian passengers travelling abroad with regard to scanning issues of their passport bar code.
Total number of passports issued in the last five year years, state-wise is attached at Annexure I.
Passports can be applied by anyone on payment of requisite fees and fulfilling the required documents.
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