Working of Digilocker

Introduction:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a national digital locker project (Digilocker).  It is considered one of the most important steps toward making India digitally successful. It was launched in 2015 and its guidelines regarding rules and usage were given in 2017. Its main aim is to increase the security of our data and reduce the hard copy or physical form of our document. And bring all paperwork in electronic form. It makes it easy to share documents in electronic form with the concerned authority to whom we want to send them. It is one of the important parts of the digital India initiative to make it successful.

Digilocker and it’s Working

Now the questions arise, What is Digilocker? And How it works?  The answer is very simple, Digilocker is the platform that is introduced by the government of India, In which it provides space in the form of cloud space to store our private documents in electronic form and these stored document will work as original documents. And it is also linked with the various governmental department. The interesting thing is that it provides maximum free storage of 1GB and one file can be of maximum 10 MB. It is secure to keep our documents because it is linked with our aadhar number or mobile number. It will bring a big change in the life of today’s youth and reduce the headache of carrying their physical documents. It reflects the ideas of upcoming India’s future like India talent ( IT) + Information technology (IT) = India tomorrow (IT). Its working is very simple, Digilocker app is a platform where citizens store their scanned documents in the storage provided. When an authority or any issuer issue any documents can directly send documents in the digilocker.

When we need to share our private documents with any institutes or authority then we can directly share with them. After seeing its process we got that it is very easy to handle and use. When we put our documents in digital form it required time to time audit of these documents to maintain records of these documents. It is mentioned in the Information technology act 2000, that law required records and every information regarding these stored documents in the form of the electronic form. It will also have a provision or facility to provide a signature in the electronic form.

Section 7 of the IT act tells about the maintenance and audit of documents in electronic form.  It is mentioned in sec 8 of IT act that publication of rules and regulations electronic gazette where the law provides that any notification regarding rules and regulation and any other information should be published in the official gazette, as well as electronic gazette and this notification, shall be deemed with the date of gazette to satisfy these rules and regulations after published in both gazettes. In Orissa Consumer Association Vs Orrisa Electricity regulation commission, Orissa HC held that notification is published in an electronic gazette is deemed to have been published in an official gazette.[1]

Technical Components

Every document have its components to work similarly digilocker main technical components are as follows:-

1. Repository: The soft copy of scanned documents is kept in the repository. It is very secure and easy to access in a few minutes at any time when we require it.
2. Access Gateway: It is an online mechanism that will help the requester to access the particular documents in the form of electronic from various repositories in a few minutes by using Uniform Resources Indicator (URI). And this gateway is very secure.
3. Digilocker Portal: It is the dedicated storage in the form of cloud-based personal space storage for each resident who wants to store their documents in digital form. It also reduces the fear of misplacing the documents.

The government and its agencies and various organization are trying to implement information technology that will help to convert all the paperwork in paperless work in digital form and record as permanent documents and reduce the fear of misplacing and destroy of original documents. In Tirumala Devi Euda Vs The state of Andhra Pradesh, the AP high court held that the law provides for the publication of the rules and regulation in both official and electronic gazette is need to satisfied these published rules and regulations[2]. It is connected with various governmental and other organizations and institutions like UIDAI, Road Transport, and Highway Authority, Income Tax Department, various school boards including CBSE, Department of various state and central government ministry.

We can directly get our documents with the help of digilocker once after login in it. These organization which is registered with digilocker can push documents and certificates like driving license, voter ID, and school certificates, etc. After seeing various advantages and its features, The question arises is that How we use it? And what are its benefits? The answer is quite simple 1stly we have to go to the website and download it on our device. After that, we have to create our account on it by using our mobile number and aadhar number. After creating an account we can store our scanned documents in it the form of pdf, jpg, and like that. If any organization has uploaded any E- documents, you can see them on digilocker.  

It also provides the facilities of E-sign. The central government prescribed various rules regarding digital signature like the type of signature, in which form and standard of signature under IT (certifying authority) rules 2000.  It also various identification facilities for the smooth working of digilocker. These E- sign work as the self-attested documents work[3].  It also provides facilities to share these documents with any person to whom we want to send them. The road transport ministry has mentioned to the state transport department to allow the use of electronic documents like driving license, vehicle registration certificate which is stored in digilocker.

Various Stakeholders

There are various stakeholders in the digilocker system these are as follow:-

1. Issuer: These are those entities that issue these documents to an individual in a particular format and also make them available in electronic mode. These entities can be the Transport department, tax department, and like that.
2. Requester: These are those entities that want to access our documents like a university, passport office, and like that.
3. Resident: It is the user of digilocker service based on aadhar card and mobile number.

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is pleased to inform that digilocker authority provides various facilities to perform the function of digilocker. It provides an application form for digital locker service and grants them a license and subject to eligibility criteria and also identifies the requirement of digilocker for smooth working. It will specify the terms and conditions for the renewal, surrender, and revocation of license that is given to digilocker service provider. Digilocker directory provides registration facilities for issuers, requesters, and repository providers and also issues them issuer ID, requester ID, and repositories ID with name, registration date, and number and contact detail. It approves creating new IDs for new issuers and repositories. It also notifies from time to time regarding various new rules, terms, and conditions that are necessary to know very digilocker users. 

Benefits of Digilocker

The benefits of the use of digilocker are as following:

1. It reduces the paperwork and helps in making a digital India campaign that was started by our prime minister  Narendra Modi.
2. It increases the security of original documents and reduces the fear of loses/ misplace of documents.
3. It eliminates corruption because when our any documents lost we have to do to that particular office and we have to pay various amount while it is the duty of govt. to provide these documents free of cost but they take a bribe. It also reduces the headache of carrying physical documents and reduces the fear of theft of these documents.
4. It will help to reduce the use of fake documents, which are used by people that are not original.
5. It is very easy to verify documents in a few minutes because they are issued by a registered office and make them easier to validate the authenticity. And it is easy to share at any time when required.
6. It helps in saving time, paperwork, and also helps to get their work done without any problems.

Once documents are verified by the concerned authority, it helps the resident get many tasks done.  It is easy to sign the self -uploaded documents with the help of an E-sign facility which is the same as a self-attest process. With the help of Digilocker, we can put our original documents at home for safety and can use E- documents for various propose according to our needs. It also helps the administrative departments by minimizing paperwork and make it environmentally friendly.  According to sec 10 of the IT Act, the contract formed by electronic means will be enforceable by law. When any contract takes place by electronic mode, it will have solid proof and by using these proofs we can make the contract enforceable in court. [4]

Conclusion

Digilocker scheme is a good initiative under the campaign “Digital India” that was started by Narendra Modi. It ensures safe custody of personal documents of every user of Digi locker like PAN card, aadhar card, etc. Digilocker is the platform for the issuance and verification of documents by the electronic mode that is issued by various authorities. This step will bring a big change in the transparency of documents and reduce the use of forgery documents by individuals. It will also help to eliminate corruption.

It is very secure to keep documents and easy to access and share with any other person and institutes. It reduces the paperwork and keeps safe these documents in electronic form. It reduces the headache of moving around the govt. offices for making documents again and again that were lost or destroyed for some reason. It also provides free storage of 1 GB cloud store to the users to store their documents. It also has facilities of E signature and these E- signature will work like the self-attested documents. It is very easy to use.  Increase the safety of documents and save from theft and loss. But it can take some time to work smoothly in the starting. Once it starts working, I hope it will complete the target of paperless governance that is taken by the government of India.

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References:

[1] AIR 2005 Ori. 11 : 2004 CLC 1644 : 2004 (2) Ori LR673.

[2] WP (c) Nos. 34683, 34805 of 2011 and WP (c) No.894 of 2012.

[3] Subs. Act  10 of 2009, sec 2 for digital signature w.e.f. on 27  oct. 2009.

[4] Ins. By Act 10 of 2009, sec 9 ( w.e.f. 27 oct. 2009