India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has proposed the inclusion of non-intrusive biometric screening entry inside airports to address long lines and privacy concerns with traditional passenger screening methods, according to reports.
The committee made the recommendation after the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) mentioned long queues at airports during peak times that creates worries in light of COVID-19 measures that restrict large public gatherings. It also concludes that door frame metal detectors, handheld metal detectors, and physical frisking pose privacy intrusions and are obsolete methods.
To rectify these problems, the committee recommended that the MOCA expedite its proposal for full body scanners at airports to hasten the processing of lines and enhance passenger identity verification technology. The panel suggests that the MOCA explore the feasibility of facial recognition, fingerprint, and iris scans to screen air passengers, possibly by checking them against Aadhaar’s database.
“Biometric security is non-intrusive and faster than conventional screening, which leads to faster screening of passengers and leads to less crowding at airports and is therefore being introduced in many airports abroad. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the global best practices for biometric scanning and screening of passengers should be introduced in the country,” the report from the committee states.
