THE CLAIM
A social media post claiming that the government will replace the old passports with new, smart passports in the new year has been doing the rounds on social media.
It claims that the Centre will soon roll out the new passports that will be armed with ‘chips’ that will contain all sensitive user data and biometrics. The same post is also being shared heavily on WhatsApp.
The post is being shared with the title, “Old passport will be ‘useless’, Modi government will soon bring ‘chip’ new passport.”
The same claim was also made by several news portals like Zee Biz and News18 Hindi.
THE TRUTH
A Google search about the claim returned several news reports spanning over a period of three years, all talking about the imminent release of e-passports by the Modi government.
One of the earliest instances of such a report, by NDTV in 2015, quoted Muktesh K Pardeshi, Joint Secretary (PSP) and Chief Passport Officer, Ministry of External Affairs, as saying, "We are going ahead and are in the process of tendering. By 2015-16, we should be able to achieve e-passport.”
Similar reports by PTI in 2016 and The Indian Express in 2017 also claimed that the new generation e-passport, featuring enhanced security features such as bio-metric details, may ‘soon’ be rolled out by the government.
To establish the veracity of the claim and to check the progress of the roll-out, we reached out the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
The MEA spokesperson did not provide an exact date of the implementation but rather sent us a copy of General VK Singh’s (MoS, MEA) reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on the issue for more details.
Replying to a question on whether the government proposes to issue a new set of passports with all kinds of security features and better printing and paper quality in the Rajya Sabha, Singh had replied:
“Yes, the Ministry has plans to issue chip enabled e-passports to citizens with advanced security features and better printing and paper quality. The government has given its approval for procurement of electronic contact less inlays for manufacturing of e-passports to India Security Press (ISP), Nashik. In this regard, ISP, Nashik, has been authorised to float a Global three-stage tender for procurement of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)-compliant electronic contact less inlays along with its operating system which is required for manufacture of e-passports,”
“Manufacture of e-passport with advanced security features and better printing and paper quality will commence on the successful completion of the tendering and procurement process by ISP, Nashik.”
Crucially, however, no exact timeline for the roll-out was stated. While a copy of the tender floated by ISP, Nashik, is available online, the production status of the passports was not clear. Communication could not be established with ISP Nashik to confirm the same.
On the data that will be stored on the chip, Singh had said in his reply:
“The personal particulars of the applicants would be digitally signed and stored in the chip. In case, anyone tampers with the chip, the system shall be able to identify it resulting in the failure of the passport authentication. Access of information is protected in a way that the chip cannot be read without physical possession of the passport.”
Thus, while plans are in place to replace the old passports with e-passports, it is not likely to happen immediately in the new year, as claimed by the posts.
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