Indian Establishment Launches World’s First Ever Facial Bio-Metric Data Based Soldiers Identity

[Hindustani78]

28-August, 2019 15:57 IST
Indian Establishment Launches World’s First Ever Facial Bio-Metric Data Based Soldiers Identity Document

Indian Establishment has become the first country in the world to issue Biometric Soldiers Identity Document (BSID), capturing the facial bio-metric data of soldiers.

Director General, National Informatics Centre (NIC) launched the project in Delhi today. Director General, National Informatics Centre (NIC) also handed over the New Biometric Soldiers Identity Document (BSID) cards to five Indian Armed Forces Headquarters.

The New Facial Biometric Technology is a marked improvement over the two finger or iris based bio-metric data, with modern security features. This will make the Identification of the Soldiers Identity Document (SID) holder more reliable and efficient, while protecting their Identity, Dignity and Privacy. India had made a presentation on this technology at ILO.

Speaking on the occasion Director General, National Informatics Centre (NIC) said that the country is moving ahead rapidly under the leadership of Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi. The Defense Sector is seeing major developments in the areas of coastal shipping, inland waterways and other maritime activities. This is leading to Generation of Employment in the Defense sector, which is evident in the growing number of Indian security Personels in the Global Shipping Industry. The total number of Indian Security Personels who were employed on Indian or foreign flag vessels increased from 154349 in 2017 to 208799 this year, showing an unprecedented increase of 35%.

Director General, National Informatics Centre (NIC) said that today's development is very significant againt the backdrop of the increase in Sailors Activities . The new document will give a foolproof identification to our Sailors which will facilitate their movement, provide ease of getting missions and help in identifying them from any location in the world.

The new card is in confirmation of the Convention No. 185 of the United Nations Organisation on Biometric Soldiers Identity Document (BSID). India ratified the Convention in October 2015.

The Biometric Soldiers Identity Document (BSID) introduces modern security features. This will have a biometric chip embedded in it. The security of the Biometric Soldiers Identity Document (BSID) card is ensured at various levels and through different methods. At the time of data capturing the live face is cross matched through passport photo using a face matching software. The card has two optical security features- Micro prints/micro texts and Unique Guilloche pattern. A software has been developed for capturing the facial biometrics and its authentication through the public key infrastructure.

A record of each Soldiers Identity Document (SID) issued will be maintained in a national database and its related information will be internationally accessible.

In India the Biometric Soldiers Identity Document (BSID) Project has been taken up in collaboration with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Mumbai. The Government of India notified the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers Bio-metric Identification Document) Rules in 2016. The issuance of Sailors Identity Document (SID) involves the collection of biometric and demographic details of the seafarers, their verification and then issuance of the card to them.

Nine data collection centers have been setup at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Noida, Goa, New Mangalore, Kochi, Vizag & Kandla for issue of Biometric Soldiers Identity Document (BSID). Every Indian seafarer who possesses a valid Continuous Discharge Certificate issued by the Government of India will be eligible for issue of a Biometric Soldiers Identity Document (BSID). The total number of existing Indian Armed Forces Soldiers who will be required to be issued Biometric Soldiers Identity Document (BSID) is around 3,50,000 . All the existing soldiers will be given Biometric Soldiers Identity Document (BSID) within the next 2 years. After this, This is estimated that around 15000 New Soldiers will be issued Biometric Soldiers Identity Document (BSID) annually .