Prisoners at Tihar prisons, located near New Delhi, India, will now be using smart cards instead of paper coupons for their food purchases.

As reported by The Economic Times, the former system of paper food coupons led to misuse and illegal activity within the jail. Some prisoners would use it for currency in order to get banned substances or buy favors from others. 

The UK Border Agency has announced intentions to require applicants applying for six-month stays from outside the European Economic Area to use biometric residency permits starting at the end of February 2012, according to an HR Magazine article.

The permits will replace the multiple documents employers in the country use to ensure their employees are legal residents as well as make the whole process simpler and more secure. 

A new report on the market for biometric technology in India forecasted a 42.4% compound annual growth rate for the industry in the four year span. TechNavio, a market intelligence reporting company, reviews and forecasts the period of 2010 through 2014 from

In addition to forecasting the growth of the market, the report also identifies key vendors in the country such as biometrics developers Sagem Morpho Securities, Suprema and Nippon Electric Company (NEC) and each one’s respective strengths and weaknesses. Beyond this, the report also identifies expected market drivers, growth challenges and market threats.  

Precise Biometrics has developed a new line of “smart cases” for brands of tablets and smart phones to be released in 2012 and 2013. The new smart cases have built-in card reader and fingerprint sensor enabling users to both secure their devices as well as replace various password-based security for protected online sites and applications.

The various problems Precise expects their new smart cases to solve include enabling government workers that need to scan smart cards in order to gain access to secured sites to access those sites from their mobile device. 

The General Services Administration (GSA) has implemented its first cloud-based physical access system at the Neal Smith Federal Building in Des Moines, Iowa.

The GSA contracted with BridgePoint Systems to utilize its TrustAlert Physical Access Control Systems. BridgePoint partnered with EmbarkIT to install the system, which replaced the GSA’s 10-year-old legacy system. The system leverages the GSA’s Kansas City, Missouri-based WAN and remote IT infrastructure, which allows the building to shrink its carbon footprint. 

As part of the U.S. Department of State’s initiative to simplify and streamline customer service interactions and processes, the Office of Passport Services has started a 90-day pilot program for online passport card applications.

Adult U.S. citizens living in the United States and Canada who currently hold a valid 10-year U.S. passport book may participate in the program. Applications must include an acceptable digital photograph and a payment of $30 via Pay.gov. Applicants will not be required to mail in their current passport book and forms. 

Codebench Inc. and Hirsch Identive announced the integration of Codebench’s PIVCheck Plus software with Hirsch Identive’s Velocity Management Software, which aims to provide federal government and commercial customers with a solution for identity validation, authentication and PACS registration using mobile handheld devices.

Pairing PIVCheck with Velocity helps users comply with HSPD-12 and PIV-I requirements by enabling them to validate and register FIPS-201 credentials, continue that validation on an ongoing, user-defined schedule, and provide instant certificate status when the credentials are presented at a reader.