- External affairs minister has said that the manufacture of e-passports will be pursued on priority so that a new passport booklet with advanced security features can be rolled out in the near future.
- The minister also said that the ministry is soon going to have a chip based passport,the software for which has been developed by IIT-Kanpur and the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
- This passport will have a better quality of paper, better printing and will be enabled with advanced security features.
- The personal details of the applicants will be digitally signed and stored in the chip.In case it is tampered,the system will be able to identify it and the passport will not be authenticated.
- The International Civil Aviation Organisation(ICAO) has put down norms acceptable universally on how the e-passports can be read but it has no prescribed format on how personal information can be written and the safety features for e-passports.
- The process for the e-passport was initiated in 2017 in India.As per plans,the first in line for these passports will be diplomats and officials. Second in line will be the general public.
Passports with advanced security features soon
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