Comments on: Passports – Why are they still in use?

By: shantan

shantan — Tue, 04 May 2010 04:36:44 +0000

interesting thoughts….a digital or smart passport will be a watershed in our long history with paper-based documents for every act of life!

By: GP65

GP65 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:10:15 +0000

Conceptually this is logical. However, this is not a decision that any country can take unilaterally. After all, it is the country we travel to, which has to recognize the alternative identification forms. Their immigration departments need to be technologically enabled to permit that.

Secondly, visas are issued by another country that signify that they authorize us to enter that country. Currently all visa systems (even in developing countries) are geared towards a paper based passport. So it is not just immigration departments but also visa departments of all countries that we might wish to go to, that would need a process to work wth paper based passports.

Finally in this era of gloalization, work authorization is proved in many countries by having a work visa stamped in your passport. The HR processes of employers in these countries are developed to accept a work visa as valid authorization. They would need to evolve an alternative mechanism to do that.

I don’t think the reference to Nandan’s project is relevant here. US has had a unique identifier (social security number) for decades. It still has a passport.

By: Amit Gupta

Amit Gupta — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:29:38 +0000

I can’t agree more to this. I have gone thru agony of getting the passport and then getting it reissued. http://amitguptaz.com/amit-gupta/reissue-of-indian-passport/

By: shubham

shubham — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:45:47 +0000

http://business.rediff.com/report/2009/jul/16/govt-to-introduce-e-passports.htm Link given by Atul regarding Indian Government trying some sort of E-Passports with biometric scan

By: Ankit Nagori

Ankit Nagori — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:10:41 +0000

I guess the need of a paper based passport arises in situations where the passport holder needs to prove his identity right away..on the spot..none of the technologies which u mentioned would come handy then..not all cops can be equipped with Retina or Fingerprint scanners…waht say??

By: AT_korvus

AT_korvus — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:14:09 +0000

Interesting point by Nattu.

Also, I totally agree with the fact that paper based Passports are outdated, but IMO with the current technology, going for a vast retina based and/or DNA and fingerprint based system might be unfeasible. Also, look at it this way, in the case of a centralized database, the onus for security is on the government, while when you make individuals carry passports, the onus for security lies on them, and the government shifts the responsibility and saves a lot of its time and effort. It might not be efficient for the people, but its easier for the babus.

By: natrajan

natrajan — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:26:43 +0000

No doubt the procedure is highly inefficient. But sometimes the ineffiency of the process is so much a deterrent that it differentiates between the serious and the not-so serious ones.

We can compare it to Business Suits. What is the value added by uncomfortable business suits in board meetings/interviews/public speeches? Nothing.

We could very well do with jeans and denims that are much more comfortable. The discomfort of the business suits separates the serious ones from others.

I can cite more examples. But the idea remains the same. Sometimes the inefficiency is not to slow down the process but to make the process too difficult for casual interests.

Credits :
Thinking Strategically by Dixit and Nalebuff

By: ruchir

ruchir — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:47:58 +0000

From filling up form to submitting it and then to getting it is a gargantuan task. Infact it is so inefficient that chances of getting a passport made without encountering middle man are less than 10 % (my guess is that the unorganized sector here feeds atleast 200 people in a typical capital city). Procedure is like this : People from all across the state come to its capital city and wait in 300 meter Que for 12 hours before they get their chance to inquire about their passport. And when you miss your chance you have to pay a certain penalty. (This is atrocity in the name of service.) And when you post a query on net, it goes into an account which is never opened since its was created.

My understanding is that even if this Social security number doesn’t come up there is a lot that our so called govt can do (which its not doing for a long time).

By: Atul

Atul — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:35:35 +0000

Nandan Nilekani has left Infosys for this very reason, to head the unique identification project.

Also, I’d like to say – I don’t think it is just about technological revolution – I think it is about a whole lot of “feet on street” that is required for this.

Getting a Passport is one of the most detailed processes – if it is just changed overnight into an online system, then we will have many more Kasabs coming into the country!

In fact, more than for just the passport going online, I think it is this Unique Identification Number that can bring in that difference – imagine if our identity is verified once in a detailed fashion by the government(like the plan is for the Unique Identification Number) – we can then make a lot of security checks less strenuous – no need to give your License photocopies, no need to give your board exam copies for Date of Birth and what not!

I think the government has for once shown a real interest in this project by asking Nandan Nilekani to head this project, and (as it appears) given him full responsibility for it.

Let’s hope it all works out!