The DigiLocker platform, launched on July 1, 2015, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has 2.1 million registered users and 2.4 million documents have been uploaded
Soon, you will be able to take your car out without carrying physical copies of your driving licence and the car’s registration certificate (RC).
Digital versions of your important documents can be stored in a cloud-based platform, DigiLocker, which can be accessed through your mobile phone.
The DigiLocker platform, launched on July 1, 2015, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has 2.1 million registered users and 2.4 million documents have been uploaded.
The government on Wednesday announced the integration of DigiLocker with driving licences and vehicle RCs. With the integration, around 190 million RCs and 90 million driving licences will be available on the platform.
DigiLocker can be used for on-the-spot verification by law enforcement authorities such as the traffic police. Besides being convenient for citizens, this will also ensure authenticity of documents.
Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday the integration would mean less hassle for people, as they won’t have to worry about forgetting their driving licence at home. It would also make some people unhappy, he said, in an apparent jibe at policemen taking bribes from those not carrying documents while driving.
“This integration has been envisaged to bring a paradigm shift in the vision of paperless governance. The main objectives are to bring agility and efficiency to the entire process of issuance of driving licences and vehicle registration certificates process through IT enablement.”
People will also be able to share digital certificates instead of paper copies of documents for identity and address proof. The locker can be accessed via the DigiLocker mobile app.
DigiLocker is a platform for issuance and verification of documents and certificates digitally. When a person signs up, he gets access to a dedicated cloud storage space for his important documents. The ministry of road transport and highways is digitising driving licences and RCs and pushing for maintaining a National Register System.
With Wednesday’s launch, this has got integrated with DigiLocker. Once data from all regional transport offices is updated in the National Register System, the digital copies of the driving licences and vehicle RCs would also be available via DigiLocker.
These digitally signed documents will be treated at par with physical documents, according to the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000.
The electronics and IT ministry has already notified rules for the creation of a digital locker authority. By the end of the current financial year, it will also empanel private players to offer digital locker services.
Ajay Kumar, additional secretary, ministry of electronics and information technology, said the ministry of road transport & highways has become the 17th issuer to issue its documents to DigiLocker.
Abhay Damle, joint secretary, ministry of road transport & highways, said the ministry was also working towards integrating vehicle insurance and fitness certificates to DigiLocker.
Photograph: Toru Hanai/Reuters