What is DigiLocker, the storage of soft copies of key official documents?

For those who often feel nervous over misplacing their identity proofs while travelling on a train, putting the journey in jeopardy, the Indian Railways has come up with a solution. It has said that it will accept soft copies of Aadhar and driving licence provided they are stored in one's DigiLocker, a digital storage service operated by the Government of India for the benefit of the citizens.

The railways, accordingly, has informed the zones that the two abovementioned identity proofs will be accepted as valid evidence of one's identity as a passenger. However, it has also mentioned that the same documents, if uploaded by the passenger himself in the 'uploaded documents' section, will not be considered a valid proof of the identity.

The concept of DigiLocker

DigiLocker is a digital locker service launched under the Narendra Modi government's flagship 'Digital India' campaign which enables users to store certain official documents/papers. The cloud-based platform allows 10MB of free space to store these documents issued by the government.

It helps the users to avoid carrying hard copies while on the move and yet produce them when required to make things hassle-free and without worry. DigiLocker is particularly helpful for students who need to carry a whole lot of certificates and documents during admission procedures.

How to sign up for DigiLocker?

To use DigiLocker, the users need to have Aadhaar Card. For those who are using DigiLocker (https://digilocker.gov.in/) for the first time, a one-time password (OTP) will be sent to their mobile number registered on their Aadhaar database. The OTP, along with the Aadhaar card number, would have to be used for the log-in purpose. For subsequent uses, the users can set their own password or link the account to Facebook or Google logins.

On uploading documents in DigiLocker

Here is the procedure to upload documents in DigiLocker:

• Log in into your account using the username and password you set
• Click on the upload icon and upload document files from your system.
• Click 'select doc type'. This will lead to a pop up with a drop-down selection of documents of various types. Choose the right document and click 'save'. You can only upload files in pdf, jpeg and png formats.

Issued documents versus uploaded documents

In DigiLocker, there are two types of official records. Issued documents are those that are directly stored in the account by government departments where they are registered.

Also, a number of documents can be downloaded in the account like Aadhaar, PAN, vehicle registration number, driving license, LPG connection subscription vouchers, school certificates, etc.

Uploaded documents, on the other hand, can be added manually by the users, like driving licence, LPG connection vouchers, school certificates, etc.

How to download, say, driving licence in DigiLocker account?

For downloading an official document like driving licence, here are the steps:

• Login to DigiLocker account
• Click on 'issued documents' on the left-hand side
• There is a hyperlink on "Pull documents". Click on it
• Select 'Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways'
• Click 'Driving Licence'
• Enter your licence number
• You will get the document once you allow
• Similarly, if you are trying to download your Aadhaar card, log in and then see a dialogue box saying 'Get your e-Aadhaar'. Get the OTP on your mobile number and once you enter it, you will be able to download the card in your DigiLocker account.