New Delhi. India has finally launched e-passport. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the e-Passport Scheme has been started as a pilot project under the 2.0 version of the Passport Seva program. The work of giving e-passport was implemented from 1 April 2024 itself. Under the pilot project, e-Passport was started in Delhi, Jammu, Shimla, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Chennai, Hyderabad, Goa, Jaipur, Surat, Amritsar, Raipur and Ranchi. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the work of providing e-passports will start across the country by mid-2025 this year.
The e-passport is somewhat different from the first passport given. RFID i.e. Radio Frequency Identification Chip and Antenna have been installed in the e-Passport. The e-passport cover has also been published in the golden color of the e-passport. India’s Foreign Ministry has used PKI or Public Infrastructure in e-Passport. Due to this, whatever personal and biometric data is about the holder in the passport, it remains safe and authentic. If someone has an e-passport, then on going abroad, he gets a lot of help in settling immigration quickly. Due to all the data in the chip of the e-Passport, all the information comes in the computer of the immigration officer as soon as this passport is applied in the machine.
There is no danger of the theft of any holder due to modern technology in e-passport. Apart from this, e-passport cannot be tampered with. Which makes it safe. E-passport cannot be made fake. In such a situation, the person who has a passport can go abroad. This also stops crimes through fake passports. Those who already have ordinary passports will not need to take e-passport till the date of its expiration. When they get passport renewed, they will now get e-passport.
