[VOLUME 6 I ISSUE 1 I JAN.

– MARCH 2019] e ISSN 2348 –1269, Print ISSN 2349-5138

http://ijrar.com/ Cosmos Impact Factor 4.236

DIGI-LOCKER – AN OVERVIEW

Merlin Ann George1 & Dr. A M Viswambharam2

1M.phil Scholar, Sacred Heart Autonomous College, Thevara
2Associate Professor, Sacred Heart Autonomous College, Thevara

Received: January 11, 2019 Accepted: February 27, 2019

ABSTRACT: Digi locker (or Digital locker), a key initiative by government of India under digital India
program, was launched in July 2015. Digital locker is a website or a portal where one can upload and store
documents like PAN Card, passport, mark sheets and degree certificates. It aims at eliminating the use of
physical documents and enables sharing of verified electronic documents across agencies. Digital Locker
provides an online personal storage space in the cloud to citizens, linked to citizens Aadhaar number. Citizens
can also upload and securely store the scanned copies of legacy documents in Digital Locker. Sharing
documents with various government and private agencies for different purposes is a tedious task. Government
of India has initiated Digi locker with the aim of minimizing the usage of physical documents and enable
sharing of e-documents across agencies. This paper focus on the awareness level of public towards the digit al
locker A convenience sampling technique was employed to collect data from 50 respondents. The finding
suggests that the awareness level of public towards the digi locker in Cochin City is good.

Introduction
Indian economy is an economy which is focusing on continuous growth and development among the world
economies. There are various significant developments that have been taken place in the Indian economy, in
the recent past. The government was focusing on various digital transaction initiatives so that pace of the
rural and urban development can be improved. The development of a country can be said to be successful
only when the people starts receiving its benefits. The digital development programs has star ted since last
few years but the actual impact of digital payments has started reaching the people recently. The impact of
demonetization has contributed towards digitalization and digital India initiative. It is a concept introduced
by the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, for increasing the digital infrastructure, delivering the services
digitally and for increasing the digital literacy of people on July 2015. It ensures people with all the services
of the government electronically.
Digilocker (or Digital locker), a key initiative by government of India under digital India program, was
launched in July 2015. Digital locker is a website or a portal where one can upload and store documents like
PAN Card, passport, mark sheets and degree certificates. It aims at eliminating the use of physical
documents and enables sharing of verified electronic documents across agencies. Digital Locker provides an
online personal storage space in the cloud to citizens, linked to citizens Aadhaar number. Citizens can also
upload and securely store the scanned copies of legacy documents in Digital Locker. These legacy
documents can be electronically signed using e-Sign facility. A citizen can share these electronic certificates
online with various departments and agencies registered on Digital Locker while applying for the services
provided by them. Thus, Digital Locker brings the citizens, issuers and requestors on one platform.
(Bharathi and Garg). Digi-Locker is a key initiative under Digital India. It aims to transform India into a
digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The main objective of Digi-Locker is paperless
governance. Digi-Locker is a platform for issuance and verification of documents & certificates in a digital
way, thus removing the use of physical documents. Digi-Locker account has a dedicated cloud storage space
that is linked to their Aadhaar (UIDAI) number. Organizations that are registered with Digital Locker can
push electronic copies of documents and certificates (e.g. driving license, Voter ID, School certificates)
directly into citizens lockers. Citizens can also upload scanned copies of their heritage documents in their
accounts. These documents can be electronically signed using the eSign facility. Digi-Locker has many
advantages:
1. Access digital documents anytime, anywhere and share it online.
2. Reduces the administrative overhead of Government departments.
3. Easier to validate the authenticity of documents.
4. Provides the facility of digitally signed using the e Sign facility (which is similar to the process of
self- attestation). (Gupta)
Research Paper IJRAR- International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews 𝗂889
[ VOLUME 6 I ISSUE 1 I JAN.– MARCH 2019] E ISSN 2348 –1269, PRINT ISSN 2349-5138

Literature Review
(Ashok & Abhishek, 2017) conducted a study on the topic Digital Empowerment of Rural People-Issues and
Challenges. It discusses about the various plans and strategies which were adopted by the government for
empowering the rural people for making them digitally literate. It mainly focuses on digital empowering of
citizens. The empowerment of citizens can be done through various methods like digital India through
which people can be made digitally literate and empowered. The study concludes that digital empowerment
of citizen’s act as a catalyst for the economic development of a country with minimum paper transactions.
(Kaur, et al., 2017): conducted their study to understand the awareness and perception of student
community towards the digital India initiative. They also try to examine the extent to which students are
making uses of these scheme and the barriers they face while utilizing the schemes. They found that the
students are having a very positive outlook towards the initiative and strongly believe that it will lead to
proper governance. The students are also aware about the schemes. Even though the major difficulty faced
by them was the lack of proper knowledge about the computer and the internet. The authors suggest that
students are having knowledge about the schemes from the seminars, newspapers and from the college
workshops. Therefore if more workshops can be arranged it will help the community to develop better
perspective towards digitalization.
(Kumar, 2017): conducted a study on the title transformation through digital India, evaluating the benefits
and importance of moving toward a digital platform. The author says that the digital India initiative will lead
to an overall transformation of the economy particularly in the areas of government, lives of the citizens and
the economy as a whole. The digital transformation of the country will change the pace of growth and it will
result in faster adaptability, response, e-governance and transparency of all activities. The author says that
the India is going to see rapid growth in all the areas in the coming years after the digitalization.
(Midha, 2016) concluded that digital India plays an important role for the digital development of the
country. But there are challenges towards them like inaccessibility and inflexibility which may divert them
to failure. Though there are challenges, if it’s properly implemented it can give great result for the future of
Indian citizens. This paper analyses the vision opportunities and challenges of digital India.
Features of Digital Locker
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.
It is linked to your Aadhar Card Number.
Currently you can store up to 10MB of space. However, later on it will be increased to 1GB.
Objective of the study
The major objective of the study is to evaluate the awareness of general public towards digi-locker facility.

𝗂890 IJRAR- International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews Research Paper
[VOLUME 6 I ISSUE 1 I JAN. – MARCH 2019] e ISSN 2348 –1269, Print ISSN 2349-5138
http://ijrar.com/ Cosmos Impact Factor 4.236
Methodology
The research design of the present paper is mainly descriptive and analytical in nature as the main purpose
of the study is to find out the awareness level of the respondents towards digi locker. While preparing this
paper a sample of 50 respondents was taken from Cochin City to know about actual response of people
towards acceptance of the digi locker.
Awareness of Digi Locker is explained in the below table.
Mean, Standard deviation and z value for Awareness
Variable N Mean Std. Deviation Mean % score CV Z p value

Awareness 50 44.88 12.30 56.10 27.40 6.274 <0.001

The mean percentage score level of Awareness regarding the Digi Locker initiative of the government is
56.10% which indicate that level of Awareness regarding the Digi Locker initiative of the government is
good or medium. To test whether the sample information that we observe exists in the population or to
verify that the level of Awareness regarding the Digi Locker initiative of the government is good or not, the
following hypothesis is framed
H0: The level of Awareness regarding the Digi Locker initiative of the government is average
H1: The level of Awareness regarding the Digi Locker initiative of the government is good
To test the above hypothesis we use one sample Z test. From the above table the p value is less than 0.05
which indicates that the test is significant. So we conclude that the level of Awareness regarding the Digital
India initiative of the government is good and the respondents are aware about the digi locker facility.
Conclusion:
It is found that people are aware to a certain extend about the digi locker facility. But people are faced with
lot of challenges while using the digi locker like lack of IT Literacy, security problems, network problems,
lack of proper rules and regulations etc. and the awareness of people is not fully translating into usage; it
could also be a case of habit and aversion to change. There should be constant pressure from the part of
government to use the digi locker facility, so that people and government can reap maximum benefit from
the digi locker. “Digital Locker scheme launched under the Digital India Campaign is a good initiative taken
by the Govt. of India to ensure safe custody of the important documents such as PAN card; Adhaar Card etc.
which determines the nationality of the Citizens of India electronically. This move would in turn result in
much more transparency, authenticity and eradication of red tapism and corruption to the maximum extent
possible. To conclude the digital India initiative is a flagship programme of the government of India to shape
by connectivity and technological opportunity. It is a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered
society and knowledge economy. Although, digital India programme is facing some barriers, yet it has a
great impact on India to make the best future of every citizen.
References:
1. Bharathi, Jyotsna Sing and Arpit Garg. "HOW USEFUL IS DIGITAL LOCKER?AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN INDIAN
CONTEXT." Indian Journal of Commerce & Management Studies (2016): 8-13.
2. Digital India. <https://visual.ly/community/infographic/business/9-pillars-digital-india-programm>.
3. Digital India Insight. 26 10 2018 <http://digitalindiainsight.com/9-pillars-of-digital-india/>.
4. Dua, Seema. "Digital India: Opportunities & Challenges." International Journal of Science Technology and
Management (2017): 61-67.
5. Gupta, V., & Yogita, S. "Digital India: Initiatives, Modes and Effect in Current Scenario." International Journal of
Innovations & Advancement in Computer Science IJIACS (2017): 39-45.
6. Kumar, A. " Kadam Lagu Karna bhi Aham. ." Dainik Jagran (2017).
7. Midha, Rahul. "Digital India : Barriers & Remedies." ICRISMET (2016): 256-251.
8. Kaur, S., Narang, S., & Mahajan, S. (n.d.). Perception of Student Community on Digital India.
9. Ashok, M.L, K. . A. (2017). Digital Empowerment of Rural People-Issues and Challenges. SESHADRIPURAM
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (SIJSS)., 1(1), 1–9.

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