Managing your all important documents is cumbersome task. Majority of people manage them in physical format only. They think it to be safe. But as the population is getting more knowledgeable and tech savvy, they are storing them in scanned image format in local computer, emails or on cloud via Dropbox. However, many people don’t feel safe in using them. Instead, what about using Government owned platform, which is fully secure? The answer is a Government of India’s recently launched DigiLocker.
India has 53,725 DigiLocker users and 43,121 documents stored in the digital form. The top three states in terms of number of users are Gujarat (9,178), Uttar Pradesh (7,667), and Maharashtra (6,186). DigiLocker is the national Digital Locker System launched by the government and can be accessed through the website www.digilocker.gov.in. It was launched in February by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, under the Ministry of Communications & IT.
The main objectives of government in creating such a vast digital format of documentation storage are as below:
- Minimizing the usage of physical documents.
- Eliminating the fake usage of documents.
- Provide a default DigiLocker to all residents.
- Making India an environment friendly country.
Issuers of documents will have the facility to upload and share these with any registered agency or department. The aim is to make it easy for agencies to share e-documents and minimize the use of physical ones.
Features of DigiLocker:
- It is linked to your Aadhaar Card Number.
- The storage facility is up to 1 GB, with no limit on number of documents to be uploaded. However, each document cannot exceed 10 MB.
- You can upload PDF, JPG, JPEG, png, bmp, and GIF types of files.
- URI or Uniform Resource Indicator is an authentication of your loaded documents from respective department or agencies. For example Income Tax Department will verify your PAN. After verification, you will only see the URL not the image. You just need to click and share with the agency of your choice while sharing.
- You can access it anywhere and at any point of time.
- You can download your eAadhar also.
Stakeholders of this System:
Issuer-These are the agencies or Govt organizations, which have rights to issue particular documents. Like IT Department for PAN Card, concerned school or college for your education certifications, Election Commission for Voter ID or state government which issues driving license.
Requester-Agency which requesting the documents from you. For example, when you apply for further studies, then the college or university may ask you earlier documents.
Resident-It is you, in whose name the documents are issued.
You can store multiple type of documents in this like property papers, investments papers of mutual funds, shares, insurance, medical reports, PAN card, passport, tax papers, birth or marriage certificates, etc. Some of private agencies offer similar document management services for a fee. One of them is Kleeto.com, which offers physical and digital space. The charges range from Rs 1,200-2,000 a year. Customers can store from 500 pages of physical and 500 digital documents with Kleeto.com. The company offers doorstep pick-up and return of documents a certain number of times, depending on the package you sign for.
Hope you will try DigiLocker for saving your important documents.
