The DigiLocker concept could essentially entail in a future wherein reliance on physical documents would be altogether minimal or absent. A government initiative could change this, and we are seeing some of the first fruits get underway now.
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If you are anxious about losing or forgetting your driving license or registration certificate, fret no more.
The Indian government today announced it will now allow people to upload their driving license and auto registration card to DigiLocker, its secure digital cloud storage service.
The innovative measure was jointly launched by Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Minister for Information and Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad at the Transport Ministry in New Delhi.
You only need your mobile number for the goal of registering on DigiLocker.
This is a great move by the government to make authentication and verification digital.
According to the ministry, DigiLocker will eliminate the use of physical documents, help accessing them anytime, anywhere and able to share online, and avoid forgery. These documents can be viewed by officials who will have their own version of the DigiLocker app, and it can also be used to issue penalty points.
The newspaper Times of India on 6 September reported that drivers could travel without physically carrying their driver’s licence or registration papers.
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It’s a big step towards making it easier to have control over all your documents, though in practice, the DigiLocker app and website report frequent access problems – multiple commenters on Google Play complain about not getting OTPs, and frequent crashes – something we also experienced.
