(PTI)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the government was working on introduction of e-passports and aims to issue 22 million in the first phase. The Ministry has plans to issue chip-enabled e-passports to citizens with advanced security features.
Replying to supplementaries during question hour in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said the personal particulars of the applicants would be digitally signed and stored in the chip which would be embedded in the present form of physical passport booklet. In case anyone tampers with the chip, the system would be able to identify it resulting in the failure of the passport authentication. To a supplementary question, Jaishankar said the ministry was in the “last stages of tender”, which has two components — international and domestic.
