Go minimal with virtual digital miracle

Harvinder Khetal

It was such a liberating feeling. It made me feel so light. My colleagues in the newsroom too broke into smiles as I read out the headline of the breaking news. I'm talking about last week's announcement concerning the DigiLocker. Everybody went vocal about the digital miracle. It is indeed incredible that we can now safely drive around with our driving licences and vehicle registration certificates securely stored digitally in the government's Android app called DigiLocker.  The digital virtual format renders inessential the physical presence of the vital credentials. Digilocker is your personal electronic space to securely store e-documents linked to your Aadhaar number.

Before narrating why everybody was unequivocally vocal about the new application, let us first know what exactly digit is. It would have been unthinkable for fifteenth century Latin people to ever predict that their word digitalis, from digitus, meaning 'finger, toe' or any of the numerals from 0 to 9 (from the practice of counting on fingers), would five centuries down the ages be capable of becoming the basis of technological advancement. With the digital revolution taking over every manual activity, today the word digital relates to using, or storing data or information in the form of digital signals (as in digital TV or computer). And, the whole game is played around the use of just two digits: 1 (positive) and 0 (negative).

The news took me to that moment in 2012 when we were crossing the US border over to Canada in Niagara in my Canadian-citizen cousin's car. While I had to go through the cumbersome process of rummaging through my bag and fishing out my passport for scrutiny by the Customs officials at the Immigration counter on the bridge, my cousin just flashed the image of his passport saved in his mobile phone to get the green signal. 

“Hmm….So, now we can also do the same with our traffic cops,” chuckled a colleague. With most of us having had a run-in with traffic policemen who invariably first bark 'licence dikhao!' and then talk to you, we all joined in the new-found feeling of fun and liberty. 

“Hey, now no fear of losing documents to robbers….I remember the ordeal I went through when I had to get my DL and RC made again after my wallet containing them was robbed. I quickly forgot the misery of losing Rs 10,000, which I had withdrawn that very day. I had to sweat it out before my documents were verified and declared authentic. It's very good.” declared another with glee. 

“I have also heard that our children are going to get digital degrees from next year. Isn't that so convenient? Specially since scores of students are seeking studies overseas. Now with the universities downloading the degrees online, authentication would not be a problem. The CBSE issued NEET-2016 rank letters digitally via DigiLocker. The candidates got the certificates instantly,” said a senior sub-editor, supplying some succour to a sub with a scholar sibling.

In walked a reporter cynical about digital. “The online processes are full of technical snags and glitches. Do you know that the Haryana Government has been put in an embarrassing position because of the discrepancies resulting from the online transfers of doctors? It has had to revisit the transfers effected by some software,” he informs us.

So, ditch physical driving licences and degrees for the digital format. You can store documents such as DL, RC, degrees, insurance, medical reports, PAN card, passport, marriage certificate, school certificate in the DigiLocker, a cloud-based platform. They can be used at all places, including airports. The DigiLocker accounts and the digitally signed accounts make it easier to validate the authenticity of documents as they are issued directly by the issuers.

“I think all this digital-shigital is too abstract for me. I still operate in the old-fashioned way with wads of notes in my wallet,” broke in the guy with the bulgy purse. He lightened the atmosphere by adding: “It reminds me of little Johnny who was always teased by other boys for being stupid. Their favourite joke was to offer Johnny a choice between a nickel and a dime. Little Johnny always took the nickel. One day, a neighbour took him aside and said, “Johnny, those boys are making fun of you. Don't you know that a dime is worth more than a nickel, even though the nickel's bigger?” Johnny grinned and said, “Well, if I took the dime, they'd stop doing it, and so far I've made $20!”

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