- India has become the first country in the world to issue Biometric Seafarer Identity Document(BSID).It will capture the facial biometric data of seafarers.
- The project has been launched by the Ministry of Shipping.The new card is in confirmation of the Convention No.185 of the International Labour Organisation on BSID.India ratified the Convention in October 2015.
- In India,the BSID project has been taken up in collaboration with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC),Mumbai.
- The project is being implemented under the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers Biometric Identification Document) Rules,2016.
- The issuance of BSID involves the (a)collection of biometric and demographic details of the seafarers (b)their verification and (c)issuance of the card to them.
- The BSID has the dimensions of a smart ID card.It introduces modern security features like an embedded biometric chip as well as optical security features such as micro prints/micro texts and Unique Guilloche pattern.
- A software has been developed for capturing the facial biometrics and its authentication through the public key infrastructure.A record of each SID issued will be maintained in a national database and its related information will be internationally accessible.
- This will give a foolproof identification to Indian seafarers which will (a)facilitate their movement (b)provide ease of getting jobs and (c)help in identifying them from any location in the world.
