Digi Yatra

Last updated

Digi Yatra
डिजी यात्रा
Digiyatra logo.jpg
SloganA New Digital Experience for Air Travellers
OwnerDigi Yatra Foundation (DYF)
CountryIndia
Launched1 December 2022;18 months ago (2022-12-01)
At Delhi, Varanasi, and Bengaluru Airports
StatusActive
Website https://digiyatrafoundation.com/

Digi Yatra is an industry-led digital initiative coordinated by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in India. [1] Digi Yatra utilizes facial recognition to verify passenger identities at various checkpoints, such as check-in, security, and boarding gates, without the need for physical documents. Specific queues and check-ins have been set up in fifteen airports for passengers who have registered through the Digi Yatra app. Another 13 airports are expected to be launched in April 2024. It aims to provide a paperless travel experience to air passengers. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Ownership

Digi Yatra was launched by the "Digi Yatra Foundation", which is a private not-for-profit company owned by the Airports Authority of India (26%) and 5 other private airports - Hyderabad, Cochin, Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi all having a 14.8% stake each. [5] [6] Being a private company, it is not answerable to RTI requests under the Right to Information Act, 2005. [7]

History

The app was developed by Hyderabad-based startup Dataevolve Solutions. [8] The company was selected through the national start-up challenge conducted by NITI Aayog under Atal Innovation Mission (AIM). [9]

It was launched on 1 December 2022 in its first phase in Bangalore, Varanasi and Delhi. [10] [11] In April 2023, it was expanded to Vijayawada, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Pune airports. [12] In June 2023, Delhi Airport’s Terminal 3 (T3), announced that passengers traveling from T3 could use Digi Yatra from the airport premises without using the Digi Yatra mobile application. [13] [14] In the same month, Digi Yatra announced that their service reached one million users. [15] In August 2023, Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport implemented the Digi Yatra system. [16]

Privacy concerns and controversies

Western media and affiliates have been highlighting issues with Digi Yatra. According to a January 2024 survey, 29% of passengers in the Digi Yatra biometric system were signed up without their knowledge. Security personnel and staff at Indian airports have allegedly been capturing the face biometrics of passengers and non-consensually enrolling them in Digi Yatra, without even informing the passenger what they are doing it for. [17] Another 15% of passengers only signed up for the app because they could not find the regular gate. [18]

In April 2024, the app stopped working without passengers being given any prior notice. The app remained down for several days, and the foundation issued a statement about it being down for infrastructure upgrades. They had to migrate users to a new app, and in process, completely bricked the old app to ensure everyone moved to the newer version. [19] [20] A major difference between the two apps was that the new app was published on Google Play Store under a domain controlled by the foundation, while the previous app was published under a domain owned by Data Evolve, the company that initially developed the app.

Avinash Kommireddi, the CEO of Dataevolve solutions, had also been arrested for siphoning ₹36.5 crores of funds from Andhra Pradesh Police in an e-challan scam just a few months before this change. [21] [22] [23]

The Internet Freedom Foundation has raised concerns about the "privacy, surveillance, exclusion errors and lack of institutional accountability and transparency" with Digi Yatra. [17] [24] Privacy experts have said that Digi Yatra suffers from a poor governance structure and the lack of information and disclosures, despite it being a partly government-run service, have made it unreliable. [6]

Digi Yatra also forces users to sign up using Aadhaar. They have stated that there are plans to integrate other ID proofs, but there has been no progress on this as of April 2024. [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indira Gandhi International Airport</span> International airport in Palam, Delhi, India

Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving New Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of 5,106 acres (2,066 ha), is situated in Palam, Delhi, 15 km (9.3 mi) southwest of the New Delhi Railway Station and 16 km (9.9 mi) from New Delhi city centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport</span> International airport in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport is an international airport serving Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). It is the second busiest airport in India in terms of total and international passenger traffic after Delhi, and was the ninth busiest airport in Asia and 25th busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic in fiscal year 2023–24.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L. K. Advani</span> 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India

Lal Krishna Advani is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. He is one of the co-founders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu nationalist volunteer organization. He is the longest serving Minister of Home Affairs serving from 1998 to 2004. He is also the longest serving Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. He was the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP during the 2009 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport</span> International airport serving the city of Amritsar, Punjab, India

Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport is an international airport serving Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is located at Raja Sansi, 11 km (7 mi) north-west from the city centre. It is named after Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh Guru and the founder of Amritsar. The airport is the largest and the busiest airport of Punjab. It is the second-largest airport in Northern India after Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. The airport was the 3rd fastest-growing airport in India during the fiscal year 2017–18. It is a hub of cargo movements, domestically and internationally. The airport is ranked the 6th-best regional airport in India and Central Asia in 2019 and 2020 by Skytrax. The airport is awarded as the best airport in Asia-Pacific in 2020 by Airports Council International. The airport also featured in the top 10 airports in India and South Asia with Best Airport Staff for the year 2024 by Skytrax.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation</span> Indian online ticketing, catering and tourism company

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is an Indian public sector undertaking that provides ticketing, catering, and tourism services for the state-owned Indian Railways. It was established in 1999 by the Government of India and operated under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways. In 2019, it was listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange with the Government holding a 67% ownership. As of December 2023, there are 66 million registered users with IRCTC with a daily average of 7.31 lakh tickets booked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaipur International Airport</span> International Airport in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Jaipur International Airport is an international airport serving Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. It is located in the southern suburb of Sanganer, which is located 13 km (8.1 mi) from Jaipur. It is the 13th busiest airport in India in daily scheduled flight operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kempegowda International Airport</span> International airport in Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Kempegowda International Airport is an international airport serving Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka, India. Spread over 4,000 acres (1,600 ha), it is located about 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of the city near the suburb of Devanahalli. It is owned and operated by Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), a public–private consortium. The airport opened in May 2008 as an alternative to increased congestion at HAL Airport, the original primary commercial airport serving the city. It is named after Kempe Gowda I, the founder of Bangalore. Kempegowda International Airport became Karnataka's first fully solar powered airport, developed by CleanMax Solar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajiv Gandhi International Airport</span> International airport serving Hyderabad, Telangana, India

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is an international airport that serves Hyderabad, the capital of the Indian state of Telangana. It is located in Shamshabad, about 24 kilometres (15 mi) south of Hyderabad and it was opened on 23 March 2008 to replace Begumpet Airport, which was the sole civilian airport serving Hyderabad. It is named after Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India. Built over an area of 5,500 acres (2,200 ha), it is the largest airport of India by area. It is owned and operated by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL), a public–private consortium. The airport was the first airport in India to launch domestic e-boarding facility in December 2015 and international e-boarding facility in October 2020. It has also ranked in AirHelp's list of top 10 airports in the world. The fourth busiest airport in India by passengers traffic, it handled over 25 million passengers and around 150,000 tonnes of cargo between April 2023 and March 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suresh Prabhu</span> Indian politician

Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu is an Indian politician and chancellor of Rishihood University who was the Minister of Civil Aviation, Railways, Commerce & Industry in the First Modi ministry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lal Bahadur Shastri Airport</span> International airport in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport is an international airport serving Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located at Babatpur, 26 km (16 mi) northwest of Varanasi. Formerly known as Varanasi Airport, it was officially renamed after Lal Bahadur Shastri, the 2nd Prime Minister of India, in October 2005. It is the 20th-busiest airport in India in terms of passenger movement, and the second-busiest airport in Uttar Pradesh. The airport is awarded as the best airport in Asia-Pacific in 2020 by Airports Council International. It is the first airport in India to make announcements in Sanskrit language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tirupati Airport</span> Airport in Renigunta, Andhra Pradesh, India

Tirupati International Airport is an international airport serving Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. It is situated in Renigunta, a suburb of Tirupati. It is 2.8 km (1.7 mi) away from National Highway 71, 16 km (9.9 mi) from Tirupati and 39 km (24 mi) from Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swami Vivekananda Airport</span> Airport in Chhattisgarh, India

Swami Vivekananda Airport, formerly known as Mana Airport, is a domestic airport serving the state of Chhattisgarh, India. The airport is located at Mana, approximately 15 km (9.3 mi) south-east of Raipur and 10 km (6.2 mi) east of Naya Raipur, situated conveniently between the two cities. On 24 January 2012, the airport was renamed after Swami Vivekananda, the iconic Hindu monk and philosopher who spent three years of his youth in Raipur between 1877 and 1879.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyderabad Metro</span> Rapid transit system in Hyderabad, India

The Hyderabad Metro is a rapid transit system, serving the city of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is the third longest operational metro network in India after Delhi Metro and Namma Metro (Bengaluru), and the lines are arranged in a secant model. It is funded by a public–private partnership (PPP), with the state government holding a minority equity stake. Hyderabad Metro is the world's largest elevated Metro Rail system based on DBFOT basis. A special purpose vehicle company, L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Ltd (L&TMRHL), was established by the construction company Larsen & Toubro to develop the Hyderabad metro rail project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Airport</span> Airport serving Nanded, Maharashtra, India

Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Airport is a domestic airport serving the city of Nanded, in the state of Maharashtra, India. It was inaugurated on 4 October 2008 by the former Minister of Civil Aviation, Praful Patel, and the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh, with Kingfisher Airlines flying a special commemorative flight to the airport using its ATR-72 turboprop aircraft. It is named after Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth and the last Sikh Guru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urban rail transit in India</span> Overview of the urban rail transit system in India

Urban rail transit in India plays an important role in intracity transportation in the major cities which are highly populated. It consists of rapid transit, suburban rail, monorail, and tram systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delhi Metro</span> Rapid transit system in India serving Delhi NCR

The Delhi Metro is a mass rapid transit system which serves Delhi and its adjoining satellite cities, such as Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurugram, Noida and Bahadurgarh, in the National Capital Region of India. The system consists of 10 colour-coded lines serving 256 stations, with a total length of 350.42 kilometres (217.74 mi). It is India's largest and busiest metro rail system and the second-oldest, after the Kolkata Metro. The metro has a mix of underground, at-grade, and elevated stations using broad-gauge and standard-gauge tracks. The metro makes over 4,300 trips daily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jayant Sinha</span> Indian politician

Jayant Sinha is an Indian politician who is a Member of the Indian Parliament and formerly the Minister of State for Finance and the Minister of State for Civil Aviation in the Government of India. Sinha is currently the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance and a member of the Public Accounts Committee for 2019–20. He has also been an investment fund manager and management consultant. He is also a member of the Board of Advisors of India's International Movement to Unite Nations

DigiLocker is a digitization service provided by the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) under its Digital India initiative. DigiLocker allows access to digital versions of various documents including driver's licenses, vehicle registration certificates and academic mark sheets. It also provides 1 GB storage space to each account to upload scanned copies of legacy documents.

India Stack refers to the project of creating a unified software platform to bring India's population into the digital age. Its website describes its mission as follows: "India Stack is a set of open APIs that allows governments, businesses, startups and developers to utilize a unique digital Infrastructure to solve India’s hard problems towards presence-less, paperless, and cashless service delivery" Of the four "distinct technology layers" mentioned on the same page, the first, the "Presenceless Layer" is the most controversial as it involves storing biometric data such as fingerprints for every citizen. Since such markers are widely being adopted to enable cashless payment, the issue arises of fraudulent use of biometrics. The other layers are the Paperless Layer, which enables personal records to be associated with one's online identity; the Cashless Layer, a single interface to all national banks and online wallets; and the Consent Layer, which aims to maintain security and control of personal data.

The Hyderabad Airport Express Metro or Corridor IV was a planned Hyderabad Metro line from Raidurg metro station to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. The total length of the line is 31 km (19 mi). Hyderabad Airport Express Metro is fully funded by Government of Telangana through the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode. As of December 2023, Union Government is yet to provide in principle approval for this project.

References

  1. ↑ "Digi Yatra- A New Digital Experience for Air Travellers| National Portal of India". www.india.gov.in. Archived from the original on 4 October 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  2. ↑ "Digi Yatra, a paperless airport entry facility launched: All you need to know". Hindustan Times. 1 December 2022. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  3. ↑ Livemint (17 August 2022). "Explained: What is Digi Yatra, how it will work and other questions answered". mint. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  4. ↑ "What is Digi Yatra for air travel, which allows passengers a paperless entry at THESE airports?". DNA India. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  5. ↑ "About Us". Digiyatra Foundation . Archived from the original on 16 March 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  6. 1 2 Majumder, Arindam; P, Suraksha (16 April 2024). "Digiyatra CEO denies storing passenger data". The Economic Times . ISSN   0013-0389. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  7. ↑ "Digi Yatra Not Under RTI as Run by a Private 'Non-Profit Body': Ministry of Civil Aviation". The Wire . 15 March 2023. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  8. ↑ "This Hyderabad-based startup is behind the airport walk-in app DigiYatra". 2 February 2023. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023.
  9. ↑ "Digi Yatra to be implemented at Kolkata, Pune, Vijayawada and Hyderabad Airports by March 2023". 2 February 2023. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  10. ↑ "Facial recognition technology introduced at 3 airports in India under Digi Yatra initiative". The Indian Express. 2 December 2022. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  11. ↑ Nigam, Saumya (2 December 2022). "DigiYatra launched in Delhi, Bengaluru and Varanasi Airports: Everything you need to know". India TV News. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  12. ↑ Roshni (3 March 2023). "DigiYatra App: How to use it for airport check-ins". India Today . Archived from the original on 6 March 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  13. ↑ "IGI Airport allows passengers to use DigiYatra without mobile app". Financial Express. 9 June 2023. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  14. ↑ "Delhi's IGI Airport introduces app free 'DigiYatra' for passengers". Mint . 8 June 2023. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  15. ↑ "Digi Yatra App user registration crosses 1 million mark". Business Line . 22 June 2023. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  16. ↑ "Ahmedabad: Digi Yatra to facilitate seamless travel". The Times of India . 29 August 2023. ISSN   0971-8257. Archived from the original on 21 November 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  17. 1 2 McConvey, Joel R. (29 January 2024). "Digi Yatra still ruffling feathers among air travelers, but keeps growing". Biometric Update. Archived from the original on 29 January 2024. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  18. ↑ "'Didn't find regular queue': Fliers still confused about DigiYatra, reveals survey". Business Today . 28 January 2024. Archived from the original on 28 January 2024. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  19. ↑ Lobo, Simone (3 April 2024). "DigiYatra app users asked to download new app". MediaNama. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  20. ↑ "Digi Yatra gets an all-new app, old one will not work at airports: How to download and other details". Moneycontrol. 10 April 2024. Archived from the original on 10 June 2024. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  21. ↑ Reddy, U Sudhakar (31 October 2023). "ED issues ECIR in Andhra e-challan scam involving ex-DGP's son-in-law". The Times of India . ISSN   0971-8257. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  22. ↑ Kumar PV, Ramana (22 November 2023). "Ex-AP DGP's Nephew Arrested for Siphoning Police's E-challan Money". News18. Archived from the original on 22 December 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  23. ↑ Kommireddi Avinash vs The State : S.H.O, Tadepalli,P.S Crl.M.P.No. 65 of 2024 in Crime No. 628/2023 of Tadepalli,P.S
  24. ↑ "Resist Surveillance Tech, Reject Digi Yatra". Internet Freedom Foundation . 16 January 2024. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  25. ↑ "FAQ". DigiYatra Foundation. Archived from the original on 16 March 2024. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.