Karnataka to expand DigiLocker project for rural SC/ST people

Bengaluru: In a pilot project across two gram panchayats, the government has enabled over 28,000 citizens belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) to access a dozen key documents via DigiLocker, with plans to scale it up statewide.

DigiLocker is a federal government-run, Aadhaar-based online platform allowing citizens to store their digital documents, negating the need for physical copies. 

In 2024-25, the government announced the ‘Nanna Gurutu’ (My Identity) project to issue key documents to SC/ST citizens in 1,000 gram panchayats of the Kalyana Karnataka region. It was piloted in the gram panchayats of Huskur (Bengaluru Urban) and Biligiriranganabetta (Chamarajanagar). 

The government decided to issue 13 documents and services via DigiLocker: Aadhaar, birth/death certificate, caste and income certificate, ration card, voter ID, a personal bank account, social security pension, Ayushman Bharat ID, health insurance, labour cards, ID for the physically-challenged, Bhagya Lakshmi enrolment and MGNREGA job card. 

Based on a door-to-door survey, the government identified 35,795 SC/ST citizens in the two gram panchayats - 18,246 in Huskur and 17,549 in Biligiriranganabetta. 

According to Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister Priyank Kharge, 32,152 SC/ST beneficiaries in Huskur and Biligiriranganabetta have been issued documents physically. A total of 28,983 of them now have documents on DigiLocker -- 14,885 in Huskur and 14,098 in Biligiriranganabetta. The remaining beneficiaries have yet to receive physical and digital copies.

“Chief executive officers of all zilla panchayats have been directed to implement the ‘Nanna Gurutu’ project across the state,” Priyank said. 

Further, the department has prepared a proposal - Nanna Gurutu: Innovation in strengthening Gram Panchayat Governance and Service Delivery - seeking Rs 55 crore from the Union government under the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan. 

Karnataka has an estimated 2.75 crore DigiLocker users. There are 225 issuers of documents in the state, which include government departments and educational institutions. There are 512 requesters, which include several private companies that use DigiLocker to ascertain the authenticity of documents submitted by job aspirants.