The key initiative under Digital India, DigiLocker has now been integrated with UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), as a registered issuer. Registered Issuers are the entities who are authorised to issue e-documents to individuals in a standard format, making them electronically available, e.g. CBSE, Registrar Office, Income Tax department, etc.
This integration will enable more than 1.09 Bn (INR 109 Cr) people in India to access their digital Aadhaar through the DigiLocker desktop and mobile applications, as the DigiLocker Blog.
DigiLocker is a platform for issuance and verification of documents and certificates in a digital way, thus eliminating the use of physical documents. Citizens who sign up for a DigiLocker account, get a dedicated cloud storage space that is linked to their UIDAI number. It provides citizens a shareable private space on a public cloud, making all documents/certificates available on it.
Earlier, UIDAI issued all Aadhaar card holders a digitised version of the card called eAadhaar which can be downloaded from the UIDAI website after entering relevant details and authenticating oneself. But now with the DigiLocker-UIDAI integration, users can get a digital copy of Aadhaar directly in their DigiLocker accounts. For this, the users need to sign up for a DigiLocker account and sync it with Aadhaar. After doing that, the digital Aadhaar automatically shows up in their issued documents section which can be shared and used like any other DigiLocker document.
290 Mn driving licenses and vehicle registration certificates, issued by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, 150 Mn LPG records, issued by Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, 10 Mn CBSE marksheets and certificates are few other national digital documents apart from Aadhaar that are already available in DigiLocker.
Government of India has been actively pursuing the project of issuing and syncing Aadhaar with various services and policies in the country. To further that aim, In September 2016, the Indian Railways has mandated Aadhaar card for booking train tickets throughout the country. Aadhaar card has already been linked with LPG and passport services. In same month, Paytm, Noida-based mcommerce company introduced Aadhaar-based eKYC(electronic Know Your Customer) to make customer verification a real-time, paperless process.
