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18/06/24 13:02 PM IST

Digi Yatra could be expanded to hotels, rail travel and public places

In News
  • The facial-recognition technology based check-in service at airports, called Digi Yatra, could be implemented at hotels and public places such as historical monuments.
Significance
  • 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.
  • 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 (FRRO).
  • The Digi Yatra Central Ecosystem only saves a hash value or a numerical value that identifies the content of the file so that none of the four data items shared by passengers at the time of registering on the app (name, Aadhaar, face scan and passport number) can be leaked anywhere in the system. 
Digi Yatra Initiative
  • The Digi Yatra initiative is digital processing of air travellers which uses their biometrics such as a facial scan instead of a boarding pass to enable paperless movement through various checkpoints at an airport.
  • The initiative was rolled out at airports in December 2022, and today covers 14 airports while 15 more airports will be included by the end of 2024.
  • The primary aim of the initiative at the time its policy document was launched in 2017 was to improve passenger throughput (or number of passengers passing through various checkpoints) at airports.
  • This would achieve the objective of enhancing airport infrastructure needed to cater to increasing passenger volumes by ensuring more efficient airport operations, alongside physical expansion of airports in the country.
  • But the proposed use-case for hotels and other public places implies that the role for Digi Yatra could extend beyond air travel.
  • The Digi Yatra Foundation itself is a not-profit private company which is a consortium of five private airports that have a combined shareholding of 74%, and Airports Authority of India which holding the remainder 26% share.
  • The Foundation is also funded by this consortium.
  • At airports, so far Digi Yatra e-gates were deployed primarily at entry gates outside airports as well as security screening queues inside the passenger terminal building. Now, they increasingly can be seen at more touch-points such as boarding gates as well as baggage drops.
  • “Digi Yatra was envisaged for all the touchpoints, such as airport entry gates, check-in, baggage drop and boarding gates.
  • But airports rolled them out for airport entry gates and security checkpoints, and some have started to also implement it at baggage drop.
Source- The Hindu

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