Private space on a public cloud

Anurag Chakraborty

We all have that folder stashed away somewhere — an ageing, fading dossier containing the documents of our life. Birth certificate, colourful marksheets, property tax receipts, income tax returns, that one certificate you won at a silly kabaddi competition, and even perhaps, the passport, are all in that folder. Then we have these cards — the driver’s licence, the PAN card, voter ID card and what not. A panic attack and not less than five minutes of rummaging later, you can retrieve any of these precious paraphernalia to proceed to your purpose.

What if there was a way where you could store in these documents in a manner that took out the entire desperation and digging and gave you access to the documents from anywhere? What if there was way you could share these documents with people and offices without queuing up at your slow, lax neighbourhood photocopier?

As with seemingly everything these days, the answer lies in the Cloud; the internet-connected, data centre-powered and universally accessible-kind of cloud. Thanks to a service called DigiLocker, launched by the Indian Government earlier this year, that day when you can simply email a link to some bureaucratic twat instead of submitting to the inversely enjoyable regimen of locating, copying and lots of running around is nearly here.

“The facility is actually useful. It has its share of kinks that need to be ironed out. But for students like us who live away from our homes, the convenience of not having to risk losing important documents and just keeping these online, sounds like a really good idea,” said Radhika Negi, a student at Chandigarh University said.

At digitallocker.gov.in, you can sign up with just your Aadhaar number. Once in, you can easily upload scanned copies of any document from a simple drop-down list. The process is self-explanatory and idiot-proof.

And while space and features are limited, it’s still a commendable start. The project marks a good start for the paperless movement, which ultimately means less hassle for us compulsive misplacers and also less dead trees.

If the 1 GB space offered now on DigiLocker is too measly for you, then you should not be deterred. From Microsoft’s OneDrive to Google’s Drive, Apple’s iCloud and Dropbox, there is no dearth of cloud storage options today.

With the gargantuan capacities and stellar security features, most of these cloud storage options should be your bank for not just important documents but also your photos, music, videos and anything that you fancy. “One of the aims of Digital India is that a person should have private space on a public cloud. It is one of the desirable deliverables of this initiative,” Ram Sewak Sharma, secretary in the Centre’s Department of Information Technology, said.

In future, documents like licences and certificates could be directly issued to your DigiLocker, giving a failsafe way to manage and store your essential papers. Till a headcount last month, the number of people using the government’s DigiLocker, was almost about to touch a million users.