Digi Yatra Foundation plans to expand its biometric solution beyond airports introducing hotels, railways, and other public places and offered to tourists from Pakistan and other countries. Nationals of certain countries such as Pakistan are required to report their arrival and intended departure at each place of stay within 24 hours at the nearest police station. Tourists of other nationalities who hold a visa for a period of more than 180 days are also required to register at the Foreign Regional Registration Office. Extending Digi Yatra to hotels and public places would prevent data leakage as people often tend to share unencrypted forms of identity documents through photocopies and screenshots, whereas Digi Yatra ID doesn’t carry any personally identifiable information.
Suresh Khadakbhavi, CEO, Digi Yatra Foundation mentioned, “This would enhance the travel experience for a tourist who has to produce a passport for check-in at a hotel and at police stations for verification.” Digi Yatra could also be extended to rail travel, with initial discussions already held with the Ministry of Railways. Nationals from certain countries, such as Pakistan, are required to report their arrival and intended departure at each place of stay within 24 hours at the nearest police station. Additionally, tourists from other countries holding visas for more than 180 days must register at the Foreign Regional Registration Office (FRRO).
Khadakbhavi explained that using Digi Yatra at hotels and public places would help prevent data leaks, as people often share identity documents in unencrypted forms, like photocopies and screenshots. In contrast, the Digi Yatra ID doesn’t contain any personally identifiable information. The Digi Yatra Central Ecosystem only stores a hash value or numerical identifier of the file content, ensuring that none of the four data items provided during registration on the app (name, Aadhaar, face scan, and passport number) can be leaked.
The Digi Yatra initiative facilitates the digital processing of air travellers by using their biometrics, such as facial scans, instead of boarding passes, enabling paperless movement through various airport checkpoints. Launched at airports in December 2022, Digi Yatra currently operates at 14 airports, with plans to expand to 15 more by the end of 2024.
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