When the notification was Released?



on the 24th of June 1967 passport act was passed by the Ministry Of  External affairs. in honor of that, we celebrate "Passport Seva Divas" on the 24th of June. on the occasion of "Passport Seva Divas", the government released notification of E-passport to avoid the misuse of passwords. 

The government said that " Ministry Of External Affairs (MEA) plans to simplify the rules and  progress of making passport, using modern technology." 


What exactly is an E-Passport?

The concept of e-passports was rolled out in 2017.

A traditional passport that has an embedded chip electronic microprocessor chip which contains biometric information that can be used to identify the holder of the passport.  

It uses a contactless smart card technology using a microprocessor chip and antenna embedded on the front or back or center page of a traditional passport.

In the world, many countries are moving forward to ePassports. they are issuing e-passports. Malaysia was the first country that introduces first-time e-passports. 


Who has been given to the work for e-passports?

Indian security press in Nasik will come out with chip enable passports. the software for passports will be developed by IIT Kanpur and The National Informatic center (NIC)

These new e-passports have better paper quality, better printing, and other advanced featured.

Contactless Feature:

The most critical component for such a passport is the contactless features.

International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) compliant electronic Contactless inlays along with its operating system.

Security Feature:


In case the passport is tampered with, the system will be able to catch I and will help the immigration officers to not authenticate the passport.

A senior MEA officer  while explaining about protecting the stored information said, "The information on the chip has been stored and protected in such way that without physical touch it can't be accessed."


Other Unique Feature:

These new e-passports with a chip will have thicker front and back covers.

And the silicon chip is likely to be embedded in the back cover and will have 64 kilobytes of memory space.

Due to security reasons, this has not been handed over to any commercial agency.

The applicant's photo, fingerprints, and digital signature will be stored on the chip.

It will come with the capacity to store 30 visits and international movements.


Why e-passports are important?

In the crowded airport, the e-passports will take a mere few seconds to be read.

The government has already tested the e-passport prototype in a laboratory identified by the US government.

While traveling, time is of the essence.

And according to the official source, the first in the line to get these passports will be the diplomats and government officials. Then the general public will get these.

If you apply for a new passport or re-issue in 2021, you could get an e-passport embedded with an electronic microprocessor chip.