About Digi Yatra
- Digi Yatra Scheme was conceived to achieve contactless, seamless processing of passengers at airports based on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT).
- It envisages that travelers pass through various checkpoints at the airport through paperless and contactless processing, using facial features to establish their identity, which would be linked to the boarding pass.
- With this technology, the entry of passengers would be automatically processed based on the facial recognition system at all checkpoints – including entry into the airport, security check areas, aircraft boarding, etc.
- Facial recognition technology is beneficial as it makes flying more convenient and reduces congestion at airports.
About Facial Recognition Technology
- Facial recognition is a category of biometric software that maps an individual’s facial features mathematically and stores the data as a faceprint.
- The software uses deep learning algorithms to compare a live capture or digital image to the stored faceprint to verify an individual’s identity.
Objectives of Digi Yatra
Enhance Passenger Experience And Provide A Simple And Easy Experience For All Air Travellers:
- Provide a seamless, paperless, and hassle-free experience for all passengers at all checkpoints at all Indian airports. (Including Tier-1, 2, and 3 airports).
- Improve passenger experience so that they can plan their trips efficiently.
- Get relevant information related to various facilities, protocols, airline times, and queue waiting times at the airport.
- Walk-through security scanners lead to increasingly advanced biometric security solutions.
- Stay connected through airports, and engage in customized digital offerings across experience areas, via airport Wi-Fi.
Digi Yatra enrolment process
- DigiYatra will have a centralized registration system for passengers. Passengers can create a Digi Yatra ID in a central system by providing details such as Name, Email ID, Mobile Number, and Details of Identity (Voter ID, Driving License, Aadhar, etc).
- On submission, a Digi Yatra ID will be created. Pax can quote this number while booking the ticket. Pax data including Digi Yatra ID will be passed on to the departure airport by the airlines.
- On first travel, the Pax has to go to the registration kiosk at the airport to validate the ID. In the case of Aadhar, the verification will be online. In case of other ID CISF will manually verify.
- On successful verification, the photo of the pax will be added to the Digi Yatra profile in a central system.
Implementing agency:
This scheme is being implemented by the Digi Yatra Foundation. It is a not-for-profit company founded to implement the Digital Yatra Central Ecosystem whose shareholders comprise of:
- Airport Authority of India (AAI),
- Cochin International Airport (CIAL),
- Bangalore International Airport (BIAL),
- Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL),
- Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (HIAL)
- Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL)
Privacy features of the project:
- There is no central storage of Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
- The passenger’s ID and travel credentials are stored in a secure wallet on the passenger’s smartphone.
- The uploaded data will utilise blockchain technology and all the data will be purged from the servers within 24 hours of use.
Issues
- Data Privacy: Users complain about a lack of trust in the ability to securely maintain privacy data such as facial data because of:
- Instances of the world’s largest data breaches in Aadhar Data.
- The policy provides exemptions for airports to share data with government agencies.
- Ineffective Privacy laws, as the latest laws are yet to be notified.
