New Delhi: Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia clarified that the DigiYatra initiative was voluntary for air passengers. The minister has directed airport personnel to collect data for the DigiYatra application only with the explicit consent of passengers.Scindia, in a letter to Trinamul Congress (TMC) MP Saket Gokhale, underscored the importance of obtaining passenger consent, stating, “Consent of passengers is a prerequisite for taking face biometric on kiosk-based registration. Further, the data is automatically purged from the airport system after 24 hours of departure of the flight.”The clarification comes in response to complaints received by Gokhale, who reported instances of individuals allegedly being coerced or having their biometrics taken without consent at airports across India.”I’d received several complaints from people that they were being forced at airports across India to sign up for DigiYatra or that their biometrics were being sneakily taken without their consent. I’d written to Civil Aviation Minister Sh J.M. Scindia regarding this issue,” Gokhale stated. The minister assured Gokhale that the matter has been addressed, instructing airport personnel to strictly ensure informed consent is obtained for enrolling passengers into DigiYatra, emphasizing the voluntary nature of the process.Responding to Gokhale’s concerns, Scindia stated that airport operators have been advised to sensitise Digi buddies (personnel involved in the DigiYatra process) on the consent-taking process, emphasising that the use of DigiYatra must be completely voluntary.The DigiYatra office echoed this stating, “DigiYatra is by choice and not mandatory. Like someone said (without infringing on anyone’s IP) ‘Try it once, love it forever!’ Seamless, Hassle-free, and Health-risk-free process at airports across India.”Digi Yatra, leveraging Facial Recognition Technology (FRT), facilitates contactless and seamless movement of passengers at various checkpoints in airports. Presently available at a minimum of 13 airports for domestic passengers, the initiative provides Digi buddies at airports to assist passengers in utilising the service.It’s crucial to note that the data shared by passengers for Digi Yatra is stored in an encrypted format. To avail of the service, passengers must register their details on the DigiYatra app using Aadhaar-based validation and a self-image capture..
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