E-passports Rollout and Security Measures

 E-passports Rollout and Security Measures 

 

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION No-1334
ANSWERED ON- 09/02/2024

E-PASSPORTS

1334. DR. T. SUMATHY (a) 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 epassports 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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Annexure-I

Passports issued State-wise during last 5 years 

State	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Andaman and Nicobar	65	19	1637	3031	5534
Andhra Pradesh	406947	189276	306431	503895	590921
Arunachal Pradesh	5033	2001	2068	3786	5423
Assam	94373	41574	58018	118943	132252
Bihar	301118	169218	255005	395609	374362
Chandigarh	34827	16659	21051	27560	32965
Chhattisgarh	56669	21337	27204	48230	54097
Dadra and Nagar Haveli	2924	1113	1983	2889	3346
Daman and Diu	5615	3266	5304	4238	4310
Delhi	472744	213254	287905	415979	495072
Goa	51352	26486	34268	51026	56910
Gujarat	838068	380582	514258	759560	1021350
Haryana	403413	201690	288303	481993	582408
Himachal Pradesh	59061	28124	41420	53481	69909
Jammu and Kashmir	121840	72958	67157	121127	158985
Jharkhand	92826	40431	66488	100645	108632
Karnataka	762962	344302	427835	713991	834992
Kerala	1192862	650708	929369	1513058	1547825
Ladakh	20	968	2337	4080	6288
Lakshadweep	2128	864	1064	2049	2445
Madhya Pradesh	220207	92063	112721	199785	238914
Maharashtra	1296683	566199	764668	1250829	1510112
Manipur	14798	5415	7440	13437	11347
Meghalaya	9190	3398	3583	7212	9871
Mizoram	5999	2176	2373	4796	7118
Nagaland	6852	3285	3949	5337	7855
Odisha	114751	53502	74728	111994	124239
Puducherry	26309	13517	18888	28061	30389
Punjab	946793	482413	644678	935884	1194100
Rajasthan	344030	174611	225950	377479	453139
Sikkim	6642	2082	3140	4937	6110
Tamil Nadu	1045803	471717	667563	1053907	1147513
Telangana	524108	276766	420929	634854	791680
Tripura	33223	24170	14864	26026	37153
Uttar Pradesh	987102	496619	642165	1115650	1368760
Uttarakhand	107127	48198	73676	99135	129602
West Bengal	520935	291653	343071	546710	598494
Grand Total	11115399	5412614	7363491	11741203	13754422

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