Paper-free record-keeping: Mandaviya launches Digilocker for athletes

New Delhi: With an aim to ensure hassle-free record-keeping, Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya launched the Digilocker facility for athletes, saying it would be mandatory for national federations to digitise certificates and other essential documents of sportspersons within the next one year.

Mandaviya formally launched the initiative in the presence of representatives from 40 National Sports Federations, and some athletes, including Tokyo Olympics silver-winning weightlifter Mirabai Chanu and hockey player Jarmanpreet Singh among others.

"An athlete, a young girl, had once to me with tears in her eyes to say that she missed a job opportunity because her certificate was considered unverified and she failed to obtain an original from the national federation," Mandaviya recalled.

"This should not happen. I want to tell everyone that Digilocker is compulsory. I won't allow exploitation," he said.

Mandaviya formally launched the cloud-based platform for storage, and verification of documents and certificates that has been developed by Digital India Corporation (DIC), which falls under the Ministry of Electronics and IT.

"When we train and go abroad, we need these documents, and it is always not possible to carry them. Digilocker solves a lot of logistical issues. We stay away from home and have to call for certificates (participation and merit) at times. I am very happy with this initiative," said diminutive Chanu, visibly excited about the technological advancement.

The ministry has asked National Sports Federations (NSFs) to digitise all past certificates, right down to the district level, by the end of this year.

"The planning for Digilocker started two years back. Certificates are invaluable and not all federations are functioning as well as they should. Record-keeping is a problem," outgoing sports secretary and Director General of the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Sujata Chaturvedi said.

"Digilocker solves this. Athletes can keep their certificates safe and don't need anyone for record-keeping," she added.

The Digilocker was earlier launched by Mandaviya's predecessor Anurag Thakur last year and he had set the beginning of this year as the deadline to go fully digital in record-keeping.

Joint Secretary (sports) Kunal said physical certificates will not be verifiable after one year.

"A lot of times we face legal hassles because of unverified documents, with Digilocker, that problem will be taken care of as only digital documents would be considered valid," he said.

Olympic medallists shouldn't have to verify documents

Mandaviya said he wants the digitisation process to be so successful that an Olympic medal winner does not have to fill an application form to claim financial benefits after a gruelling campaign to finish on the podium.

"I was told they have to fill application forms. I thought why should it need an application? The world has seen them win a medal, why should that need a verification?" he wondered.

"I want athletes to come to my office and go back with the prize money in their bank accounts. We have to reform," he said.

Jobs are meant to facilitate sports careers

The minister also had a message for aspiring athletes, many of whom take up sports in search of a secure job.

"Over 25,000 sportspersons are currently employed in state and central level jobs. This is to ensure that they are able to train well. The job is meant to help the sports career, not the other way around," he asserted.