Digital Address ID: The government is creating a new framework called ‘Digital Address’, which will decide how the address should be written, how it should be shared and under what conditions it should be used. Through this system, if any digital platform wants your address, it will have to take your permission.
After making identification easy through Aadhaar Card and digital payments easy through UPI, the government is now preparing to take another big step. Now every address can get a unique digital ID. Just as Aadhaar number became necessary for the identification of every citizen, similarly this digital address ID will help in making the identification of every house and place in the country easy and accurate.
According to media reports, the government is planning to introduce a system in which every address will be given a unique digital ID so that government services and deliveries like parcels can be done quickly and accurately.
Preparations to make the address system a part of DPI
After Aadhaar and UPI, the government is now preparing to make the address system a part of the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). Currently, there is no fixed system or format for addresses in the country. Nor is it decided who is keeping someone’s address data and what is it being used for. Many times companies share this information without people’s consent. To stop this, the government is now creating a system where no one can use your address without your permission.
Why has this change become necessary now?
As fast as online shopping, food delivery and courier services have grown, wrong or incomplete address has become a big problem. Be it a village or a city, in many places the address is written with a landmark or local name, which is neither standard nor clear. This causes delay in delivery and confusion. According to a study, due to this problem in the address system, the country loses about 10 to 14 billion dollars i.e. about 0.5% of GDP every year.
What will change with the advent of digital address?
The government is creating a new framework called ‘Digital Address’, which will decide how the address should be written, how it should be shared and under what conditions it should be used. Through this system, if any digital platform wants your address, it will have to take your permission.
The postal department is working on this entire plan and the PMO itself is monitoring it. A draft plan will be released in the next few days to seek suggestions from the public and its final version may come out by the end of the year. A new law may also be introduced to implement this system in the winter session of Parliament.
What is DIGIPIN?
The most important thing about this system is DIGIPIN i.e. Digital Postal Index Number. This will be an alphanumeric code of 10 characters which will tell the location of any place very accurately. The current PIN code system covers a large area, but DIGIPIN will be specific to the place where you live or have a shop or building. This will be very useful in those places where normal addresses do not work – like villages, slums, forests or hilly areas. With DIGIPIN, every corner of the country will now be able to get a unique digital address.
The draft related to the standard of digital address will be released within a week and after this the final plan will be decided by the end of the year. If everything happens on time, then in the coming time the digital address system can also become a part of our daily life like Aadhaar and UPI.
