The new DigiLocker app for Android aims to digitize driving licenses and registration certificates by allowing users to carry a soft copy, instead of physical ones. Here’s how to sign-up for the service and use it.
As a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India project, the government announced DigiLocker, an online locker facility last year. Available for Android OS, the app lets you upload and save all your government-issued documents including PAN card, Aadhar Card, college certificates, property documents and more online. Earlier today, the government announced that users will be able to upload their driving license and vehicle registration papers on DigiLocker. With this integration, users will not longer need to carry around their original documents all the time.
The government will also work on issuing digital formats of the Driving Licenses and Vehicle Registration documents directly to DigiLockers, this saving the paperwork. The traffic police and other law enforcement agencies will have the required apps for spot verification of your documents. “This platform is a major step forward towards ensuring greater transparency and cutting down corruption and red-tapism. The move will benefit a large number of people by facilitating ease of access to the documents,” Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said.
“The integration will bring a paradigm shift in the vision of paperless governance. It will serve to bring agility and efficiency to the entire process of issuance of driving licenses and vehicle registration certificates through IT enablement,” Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a press note. DigiLocker currently has 21,26,332 registered users having 24,11,702 uploaded documents. The system also makes more than 19 crore vehicle registration certificates and over 9 crore driving licenses available in users digital lockers.
To avail the benefits of online digital locker, you’ll have to download the DigiLocker app on your Android smartphone or tablet. As a part of registration process, you’ll have to link your mobile phone number to use the service. The app also offers you with 1GB of cloud storage space, allowing you to store all your documents – It will allow for easy storage, retrieval and verification of certificates as and when required. Now, let’s take a look at how to use the DigiLocker app.
How to register and setup DigiLocker app
Step One: The setup process is pretty simple. Download the ‘DigiLocker’ app from the Play Store and open it after installation is complete.
Step Two: You’ll see two options on the welcome screen – Sign In and Sign Up. If you have already created an account, click on Sign In and login with your credentials. However, if you’re using it for the first time, click on Sign Up.
Step Three: You’ll have to enter your mobile number after which an OTP will be sent for verification. Once OTP verification is done, the app will ask you to create a user name and password for accessing the app.
Step Four: In the next step, you’ll also have to link your Aadhar number for accessing the DigiLocker service. Tap on ‘Link Aadhar’ tab at the bottom right corner, enter your 12-digit Aadhar number and tap on continue. Once again the OTP will be sent to confirm your mobile number to complete the verification process. That’s it; you can now start using the DigiLocker service to store all your documents safely and securely. ALSO READ: Union Budget 2016-17 live: Government announces digital depository for school, college certificates
DigiLocker: App interface and working
The app interface is plain boring and simple. On the top left corner, you have the hamburger menu to access options such as upload documents, look for issued documents, profile, Scan QR code and logout. The top right corner has quick buttons for uploading documents, creating a folder and to refresh account / sort folders.
The center of the interface shows all your folders and uploaded files. However, I’d like to highlight the fact that the app is in beta phase and filled with bugs. It took me three attempts to create two folders, with each time the app throwing an error – unable to create folder. Also, once the folder was created, it wasn’t showing up on the home screen, until I logged out of the app and signed in again. However, considering that the app is in beta, issues are bound to be there, and we can only expect to get them fixed over the coming updates. ALSO READ: Aadhaar platform gets e-sign service with legal portal
The coming version of the app is likely to gain support to let you link your existing driving license, vehicle registration. The hamburger menu has an option called ‘Issued Documents,’ which does not function yet, but when the feature arrives, you will be able to fetch details and virtual copy by entering the driving license number and vehicle registration number.
Final words
The DigiLocker app is a part of India’s Digital India push, which could soon do away with the need of carrying the physical documents all the time. In the longer run, it can also help the government agencies and other departments to avoid paper wastage and time required for attesting documents. With growing number of people using smartphones in India, it remains to be seen if DigiLocker can get a wider acceptance.