The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has initiated the process for the printing of 5 million e-passports, with a plan to begin the distribution of first electronic passport (e-passport) within the coming June. The passport department of the ministry has called for international bids last week, specifying a 45-day period.
After one year, the machine-readable passport (MRP) will have to go through the e-passport method to renew or get a new one. According to Tirtha Raj Aryal, director and information officer of the passport department, chips with fingerprints, photos and personal details will be kept inside the passport. In other countries, 'chips' are used with biological identities such as the retina of the eye.
"Since the released MRP is unable to read the photo, it is possible for the person to be identified," Aryal told Kantipur. The so-called e-passport is used in almost one hundred countries of the world, including the US, the UK Has come in. In South Asia, after India, Bangladesh, Nepal proceeded. In Nepal, about 6 million passports have been distributed till now in MRP system beginning in January 2067. The remaining one million copies printed in the MRP scheme are intended to be distributed (new or renewed) before e-passport arrives. According to Director-General of the Department, Rajendra Pandey, in the future, the government can facilitate the identification and identification of people by adding the 'link' of the national identity card to the e-passport.
The government has charged the citizen with Rs 5,000 per ordinary MRP and Rs 10,000, 12,000 or 15,000 in other cases. Despite being criticized by Nepal as 'one of the most expensive fees a citizen can earn from a passport', e-passports are now estimated to be more expensive.
Now the passport will have two types of pages 32 and 64. Currently, the MRP has only 32 pages. Although the International Civil Aviation Agency (ICAO) may use e-passports worldwide by 2025, the 'mandatory schedule' has not been determined. External Affairs Minister Pradeep Gyawali had taken special initiative to show promptness in the process of e-passport implementation and to implement it effectively within a year. According to ICAO's decision, e-passport must contain the name, surname, date of birth, nationality, document number, issue date, expiry date as well as the chips in MRP. Depending on the biological identity of fingerprints, DNA, retina of the eye, the country can decide whether to keep it or not. Nepal has decided to put 'fingerprint' on chips.
In developed countries, the e-passport carrier uses 'e-gate' on immigration and when e-passport is displayed on the machine on the gate, the person will automatically open the gate as soon as the person is recognized. In the case of use of both MRP and e-passport, there are two gateways of regular and electrical processes. In addition to the MRP, the provision of MRP can be used in Nepalese till its expiry date, but with the renewal, e-passport must be arranged.
- from Kantipur
