A majority of air travellers who flew out of Delhi using Digi Yatra, the biometric boarding system that helps in processing passengers at select airports, did so unknowingly or were compelled to use it. A relatively small number of people signed up for the system knowing the benefits it offered. Moreover, a significant share also said that they had not signed up for the service and always took the normal queue.
These conclusions are based on a survey conducted by LocalCircles on its online portal. The portal received 21,000 responses from citizens who flew out of Delhi airport in the last six months. Over 60% of the respondents were men and the rest were women. Only Indian citizens who were registered with LocalCircles were allowed to participate in the survey, which was published on January 27.
The Digi Yatra facility has come under severe criticism in recent days. Last month, many passengers complained on social media about how their biometric data was collected without their consent at various checkpoints in airports. The scheme was rolled out in December 2022 as a voluntary programme. However, 15% of the respondents in the LocalCircles survey said that they signed up for the facility as there was no “regular queue”, as shown in Chart 1.
Chart 1 | The chart shows answers to the following question in the survey: ‘When you travelled by air in the last six months, how did you sign up for the Digi Yatra programme?’
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Last week, responding to a letter from Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale raising the privacy concerns of travellers, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia, said that the process is voluntary and the consent of the passenger a prerequisite. Survey data show that 29% signed up for it without knowing that the queue was meant for Digi Yatra. Among the rest of the passengers, 41% did not use the app, while 15% used it knowing the benefits it offered.
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Though Digi Yatra was first launched in Delhi, along with Bengaluru and Varanasi, over a year ago, 85% of the passengers who flew out of Delhi in the last six months said that the organisations responsible for Digi Yatra are not doing an effective job of educating citizens about the app.
Chart 2 | The chart shows answers to the following question in the survey: ‘Are the Ministry of Civil Aviation and its affiliated organisations doing an effective job of educating citizens on Digi Yatra (information shared by citizens, its usage, risk and benefits) before they sign up?’
Only 15% said that they were aware of the risks and the benefits of the scheme.
Chart 3 | The chart shows the total number of passengers who have used the Digi Yatra process since December 1, 2022.
While the above data is limited to the passengers who flew from Delhi, as the facility has now been expanded to 13 more airports, the seriousness of the issue has amplified. The number of passengers across airports who have used the facility has surged since its introduction in December 2022. As shown in Chart 3, the total number of passengers who used the facility increased from 1.6 lakh by February 2023 to 17.5 lakh by June 2023 to over 90 lakh by December 2023.
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The total number of downloads of the Digi Yatra app also shot up from just 10 lakh in June 2023 to 35 lakh in December 2023 (Chart 4). Recent news articles also show that the Civil Aviation Ministry is thinking about using Digi Yatra for international travel as well.
Chart 4 | The chart shows the total number of downloads of the Digi Yatra app since December 1, 2022.
There have been reports of heavy traffic in busy airports such as Delhi. This has led to chaos at the terminals. This validates the need for a hassle-free, paper-less system such as Digi Yatra. However, it is a matter of concern that a high share of passengers were compelled to use it or were unaware of the process.
Source: Local Circles survey and Ministry of Civil Aviation
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