Privacy issues have been raised by the IT department’s purported usage of DigiYatra data, although the ministry of aviation and the CEO of the app refute the allegations.
The Ultimate News recently made the shocking accusation that the Indian Income Tax Department is using passenger data gathered through the DigiYatra app to find possible tax evaders. The CEO of DigiYatra, Suresh Khadakbhavi, has disputed the story, which has raised questions regarding privacy, monitoring, and the extent of government data use.
A project coordinated by the civil aviation ministry, DigiYatra was started with the goal of making air travel smooth and paperless. Facial recognition technology is used in the procedure. To help customers have a more seamless airport experience, the app collects their biometric information, trip information, and identification documents. But according to the latest report, the IT Department has started comparing DigiYatra’s passenger data with income tax returns in order to identify any disparities. This is especially true for regular travellers who spend a lot of money and whose claimed income does not support their expenses.
What does DigiYatra’s CEO have to say?
In a forceful reply, Khadakbhavi rejects the accusations as unfounded. He has highlighted that there is no central repository where DigiYatra keeps any Personally Identifiable Information (PII). In accordance with the Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) framework, the data is instead locally saved on the devices of the passengers. This method guarantees data security, privacy, and scalability, preventing direct access to this information by the government or any other organisation.
The app’s milestone of surpassing 9 million active users in 2024 was highlighted by Khadakbhavi, who remarked, “Such baseless articles overshadow the achievements of DigiYatra.”
Ministry of Civil Aviation responds
The report has received a response from the ministry of civil aviation. “Unfounded and inaccurate” is how it describes the report on DigiYatra’s data being accessed for income tax. “Data on Digi Yatra passengers is not shared with Indian tax authorities. According to the Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) concept, the Digi Yatra app stores travel credentials and personally identifiable information (PII) only on the user’s device and not in a central repository. Additionally, the data is completely erased if a user uninstalls the DigiYatra app,” the ministry stated in an article published in The Ultimate News.
But is there a loophole here?
Although the privacy guarantees seem comforting, there were some concerns about DigiYatra’s method of confirming passengers’ identities at airports. How can the system guarantee smooth data retrieval for identity validation during check-in, given that the CEO of DigiYatra disclosed that there is no central repository? Users submit their boarding pass, a selfie, and their Aadhaar or passport information to the app, which creates a special QR code for usage at the airport. Critics contend that data cross-verification of some kind needs to take place in the background, creating the possibility of privacy flaws. “The airport systems automatically purge passenger data within 24 hours of the flight’s departure,” according to the ministry of aviation, implying that the data is only kept for a short time.
“Stupidification of governance?”
In India, the dispute has also rekindled larger discussions about data governance and usage. A widely circulated tweet slammed DigiYatra, comparing it to previous policies like demonetisation and asserting that these tactics ignore systemic problems like widespread loan fraud and government-enabled corruption in favour of focussing on apprehending minor offenders. The tweet claims that the government is still “oblivious” to the true causes of black money creation, which frequently result from expensive loans for government contracts.
If accurate, the claims represent a dramatic change in the potential use of travel information as a weapon by tax authorities. According to reports, the IT Department intends to closely examine frequent foreign visitors, especially those whose purchasing patterns don’t match their stated income. This raises ethical concerns regarding the extent of surveillance, even though it is consistent with the government’s larger drive for accountability and transparency.