New Delhi: It is next to impossible to access any kind of service without an Aadhaar card. This unique 12-digit identifier is linked to almost every aspect of our public lives- our bank accounts, mobile phone connections, train tickets and now even passport applications. Now that the government knows who you are, they want to identify where you live.
The Department of Posts, in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad and ISRO, has released a policy document for DHRUVA (The Digital Hub for Reference and Unique Virtual Address), outlining the framework for a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for a unique code for every address.
This will pave the way for a standardised guideline to replace PIN codes, which are now quite inefficient today, as its primary motive was to simplify sorting mail in the Indian postal system. Your address is currently determined by over 19,000 PIN codes, each one may represent a wide area of about 170 sq km on average. Over the years, this has resulted in disputed property records, failure of deliveries and undue confusion due to vague addresses. DHRUVA aims to solve this by introducing the Digital Postal Index Number (DIGIPIN), which will be a unique 10-character alphanumeric code based on an accurate 4 m x 4 m grid using latitude and longitudinal coordinates.
Although this will solve many issues —easier identification of addresses, especially in the case of disasters, and deploying drones for emergency services, allowing for faster response times—this system will also come with a fresh set of challenges. As the DIGIPIN is based on land-based latitude and longitude coordinates, this could pose a challenge in densely populated areas which have dozens of illegal and unregistered houses.
This system could generate approximately 205.4 billion DIGIPINs, enough to assign a unique code to every apartment, home, office, public infrastructure, and much more. All of this will make identifying addresses way easier, just as we do with a pin on Google Maps. Additionally, the government is considering a human-readable, customizable address, similar to our UPI handles.
Globally, the US, Australia and UK have developed a similar system to standardize address locations. Although most of us use Google Maps for navigating, this system would offer something much more than that. This would be a valid address proof, similar to Aadhaar’s identity proof, while allowing you to keep your address details confidential as required.
For the government, this offers far greater implications than Aadhaar that can help boost law enforcement, disaster management, deploy public services and digitize legal records much more efficiently. Though nothing more has been revealed yet, many are looking at this as the next big reform after Aadhaar. This will make registering for any government service, as easy as quoting your DIGIPIN online eliminating the need for unnecessary paperwork. The first Aadhaar card was issued in 2010, and the government took almost 7 years to register 99% of Indians for their unique card. Currently, the government has launched a portal to generate DIGIPINs voluntarily through India Post although there isn’t much clarity about how this will be implemented in future. With this initiative, the government aims to rollout its IT2.0 plan for India Post, which will allow it to integrate postal, financial and insurance transactions on a single platform.
