&w=3840&q=100)
Your home to get its own Aadhaar? Why India's plan for digital address system is significant
The Centre is now working on providing every address with its own digital identity, after the introduction of Aadhaar for digital ID and UPI for digital payments. With the growth of online shopping, courier services, and food delivery apps, having an accurate address has become more crucial than ever. However, India's current address system faces several challenges. This is why the Centre is aiming to introduce clear regulations read more
The government wants to make sure that address details are shared only when a person clearly agrees to it. Image: News18/File Photo
After bringing in Aadhaar for digital ID and UPI for digital payments, the Centre is now working on giving every address its own digital identity.
The main idea is to treat 'address information management' as 'core public infrastructure'. Right now, this area is not regulated in India, even as digital use keeps growing.
The government also wants to make sure that address details are shared only when a person clearly agrees to it.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
ALSO READ | Now, ChatGPT is generating Aadhaar, PAN cards: Here's what you should watch out for
In this explainer, we look at what this plan is all about, why it is being done now, what Digipin is, and what steps will follow.
Let's take a look:
What is the plan?
The Centre is looking to include addresses as part of India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).
At present, there is no proper system or rule to manage address details in the country. Many companies collect people's address information and may share it without asking.
In order to prevent this, the government wants to make sure that address data is shared only when a person gives clear permission.
The plan has two main goals: one is to set up systems that make sure people's consent is taken and their address data is shared safely across government and private platforms. The second is to help the government deliver services to the right address quickly and accurately, The Economic Times reported.
The Centre is looking to include addresses as part of India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). Image: News18/File Photo
The draft framework for this new digital address system, which will include uniform 'addressing standards', is being prepared by the Department of Posts. The Prime Minister's Office is closely following the work.
The draft will be opened for public feedback within a week, and a full plan is expected to be in place by the end of the year, the report said.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Things are moving quickly. A new law may be brought in during the winter session of Parliament to set up a digital address-DPI authority.
This body would be responsible for putting the system in place and keeping a check on its use, according to ET.
ALSO READ | All you need to know about new Aadhar app with face ID, QR code features
Why is it needed now?
With the rise of online shopping, courier services and food delivery apps, having the right address has become more important than ever.
But India's current address system has several issues. Many addresses are hard to understand, incomplete, or written in different ways. Often, they rely on landmarks instead of proper location details. This makes them hard to use in digital systems and delays service delivery.
Government studies suggest that wrong or incomplete address information may be costing the economy nearly $10-14 billion, around 0.5% of the GDP, according to the ET report.
To deal with the issue, the government formed a special working group in December 2023 under the National Geospatial Policy to work out clear 'addressing standards'.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Another problem is that address data is sometimes passed on to other organisations or sold, often without the person's consent.
This is why the Centre is looking to bring in proper rules that will ensure address data is used safely and only when people give their permission, the report said.
Enter 'Digital Address' system and Digipin: What are they?
The government is working on a new system called the 'Digital Address' framework.
This setup will include clear rules on how addresses should be written and shared safely. It will let digital platforms access address details securely, but only if the person gives permission.
It is being developed by the Department of Posts and is under close watch by the Prime Minister's Office.
Having the right address has become more important than ever. Image: News18/File Photo
A draft of the plan will be released soon for public feedback, and the final version is expected by the end of the year, according to reports.
Now, what exactly is Digipin?
A key part of the Digital Address system is the Digipin, short for Digital Postal Index Number. It is meant to play a big role in improving how public services are delivered.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Unlike normal postal codes, Digipin will be linked to the exact location of a place using map coordinates. It will be a 10-character alphanumeric code that points to the exact spot of a home, shop or building, India Today reported.
This makes address handling much easier by offering accurate, location-based identification.
It is especially helpful in places where standard addresses are not reliable, like villages, slums, forest areas or hilly regions.
With Digipin, even homes in far-flung or hard-to-reach areas can get a unique digital address.
Once fully rolled out, this system could become as much a part of daily life as Aadhaar or UPI.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
37 minutes ago
- India Today
AI's dirty secret: How your chatbot is draining Earth's water and energy
Every time you ask a chatbot for help or generate an AI image, somewhere a vast facility hums to life. It's easy to forget that each 'effortless' AI interaction leans on gigantic data centres -- buildings full of servers running nonstop, devouring electricity and gulping is World Environment Day, so it feels fitting to pull back the curtain on AI's unseen carbon footprint, even as we keep creating content with the help of AI, like the images used in this very POWER BEHIND THE MAGIC: WHY AI NEEDS HUGE DATA CENTRESAI models like ChatGPT and sophisticated image generators don't float on dreams. They rely on colossal data centres packed with racks of servers that rarely sleep. IAD71 Amazon Web Services data centre (as on July 17, 2024 in Ashburn, Virginia) () In 2024, global data centres -- including those powering AI -- used around 460 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity. That's roughly equal to Sweden's entire annual power consumption (International Energy Agency, 2024).Forecasts suggest this figure could double to 1,000 TWh by 2026, which would almost match Germany's yearly electricity per the US Department of Energy, a single data centre can draw over 100 megawatts (MW) of power -- enough to run 80,000 average American homes at now you can begin to see why AI has become a 'sizable' contributor to global emissions. AI's rapid expansion is a big driver behind this surge. CARBON COST OF CHATBOTS: ENERGY USED PER PROMPTTraining a large language model isn't a weekend project -- it's an electricity instance, powering up OpenAI's GPT-3 used about 1.3 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity, enough to supply roughly 120 average American homes for a year (ScienceDirect, 2023).Once the model is live, every single prompt you send to GPT-4 still sips power -- about 0.0003 kilowatt-hours (kWh). That's like leaving a 60-watt light bulb on for 20 seconds (Epoch AI, 2025).Now imagine this at scale: ChatGPT answers over 1 billion queries a day. If every Google search worldwide -- around 9 billion a day -- were replaced with a ChatGPT query, global energy use would spike by an extra 10 TWh per year. That's enough to power all the homes in a city the size of San Francisco for a year (Hugging Face and Carnegie Mellon University, 2024).advertisementGenerating a single AI-created image isn't free either. It can use as much energy as fully charging your smartphone once. THE WATER-COOLING FACTOR: HOW AI IS DRAINING RESOURCESElectricity tells only half the story. Those thousands of servers run hot, and cooling them eats up alarming amounts of 2024, Google's data centres consumed nearly 6 billion gallons (22.7 billion litres) of water -- about one-third of Turkey's drinking water for an entire year, as per its 2024 Environment model training, every 10-20 prompts to Google's Bard chatbot reportedly required about 500 ml of water -- mostly for average, data centres use about 1.8 litres of water per kWh of electricity consumed (Meta Platforms, 2023). Put another way, a single large data centre can guzzle as much water in 24 hours as a small that thirst is rising -- industry water consumption grows by 8-20% each year, thanks to AI's surging role and stiff competition (University of California, Riverside, and University of Texas at Arlington, 2025). advertisementWHO'S DOING IT BETTER: GREEN AI INITIATIVES AND THEIR LIMITSSome big names in tech are trying to curb AI's environmental chew. Microsoft, for instance, has cut its water use per computing unit by 39% since 2021, saving about 125 million litres per data centre annually by using reclaimed water and smarter cooling methods (Meta Platforms, 2023).Alternative cooling strategies -- like air cooling or immersing servers in liquid -- are also under the microscope. But these options come with their own cooling cuts water use but can drive up energy needs for pumps or special fluids. Air cooling can be less water-dependent, yet efficiency dips when temperatures climb (Meta Platforms, 2023).Switching to renewables helps, but even 'green' electricity can't keep pace with AI's relentless demand. A recent MIT Lincoln Laboratory report warned that global demand for clean power is lagging far behind AI's growth many companies still don't fully share their energy or water metrics, making it near impossible to verify progress. advertisementTHE BOTTOM LINEAI's magic comes at a genuine cost. Data centres powering our digital conversations and image creations now rival entire nations in electricity use. They swig water comparable to small as AI continues its meteoric rise, this environmental toll only grows World Environment Day, it's worth asking: how can we keep enjoying the convenience of AI without letting it swallow our planet?'Green AI' efforts -- more efficient hardware, smarter cooling, renewable electricity -- are steps in the right direction. But the gap between AI's hunger and our ability to supply green power remains we don't face this challenge head-on, our planet will bear the brunt. Every prompt you send, every image you generate, leaves an unseen footprint that's getting harder to Watch
The Print
an hour ago
- The Print
Govt jobs aspirants can apply for SSC recruitment tests through dedicated mobile app
'All candidates applying for recruitment exams conducted by SSC can fill the entire application form through the application itself,' SSC Chairman S Gopalakrishnan told PTI. He said the upgraded 'mySSC app' will be of great help to job aspirants, especially those from rural areas. New Delhi, Jun 5 (PTI) Government jobs aspirants can now apply for recruitment tests conducted by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) through an upgraded mobile application developed by it, a top official said on Thursday. He said there is no specific need to go to any computer centre or depend on any other operator in order to fill up and submit applications. 'The candidates can also identify themselves through Aadhaar OTP and face authentication on the same app,' Gopalakrishnan said. He said the application developed for SSC by Cubastion Consulting firm is going to be a big boon for the candidates and would add to ease of dealing with the Commission throughout the exam cycle from applying till joining. 'We are happy to be a part of this change with SSC,' said Cubastion co-founder and CEO Ravi Kumar. He said India's digital expansion requires trusted platforms and by bringing together biometric identity verification and Aadhaar-enabled services 'we are making mass hiring fairer, more secure, and accessible, particularly for rural candidates'. Until now, many of these candidates relied heavily on common service centres and cyber cafes to fill out their application forms, often at a cost, Kumar said. 'With the new mySSC app, candidates can now complete the entire process – from registration to application – directly on their mobile phones. It removes private middlemen from the system and puts power back into the hands of the applicants. Our future vision is to make this app a one-stop solution for the entire recruitment lifecycle,' he added. In the past, candidates could apply online through the Commission's website and take a live photo via the mySSC mobile app, according to a notice issued by the SSC. 'Starting from June 2025, the entire application process can now be completed seamlessly within the app itself,' said the notice dated June 2, 2025. Candidates will be able to apply for SSC examination using specific android mobile phones through the mySSC mobile app which can be downloaded from Google Play Store, it said. 'This will be applicable for all the exams being conducted June 2025 onwards,' the Commission said. The mySSC mobile app of the Commission has been significantly upgraded which is aimed at enhancing the user experience and expanding the range of services available, it said. The update would include integration of the Aadhaar authentication services, the Commission said. In order to apply through the mySSC mobile app, candidates must first register using their Aadhaar number on the OTR page. The mobile app works only on Android phones with version 11 or higher, the SSC said. Before applying for the examinations candidates must also install the Aadhaar Face RD app on their phone to complete the face authentication form, it said and shared a link to it. In another notice issued on Wednesday, the Commission said that candidates are seeking clarification whether demographic details such as name, date of birth, address etc. from Aadhaar will prevail over the data filled by the candidates in the OTR form. 'In this regard, it is clarified that the information entered by the candidates in the OTR shall be treated as final for all recruitment related purposes and details mentioned in Aadhaar will not override the candidate-provided information in OTR,' the notice said. The SSC had in April this year decided to implement Aadhaar-based biometric authentication in its all examinations in order to verify candidates' identity on a voluntary basis. The Commission is one of the largest recruitment agencies of the central government with its main mandate to conduct selections for non-gazetted posts in various central ministries and departments, among others. The SSC conducts seven mandated all India open competitive examinations, including the Combined Graduate Level Examination (CGLE) besides three limited departmental competitive examinations, according to the officials. PTI AKV ZMN This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
What is Vibe Coding and why are IT professionals talking about it all the time? The new tech trend explained
For a long time, writing code meant sitting for hours in front of a computer, typing out lines and lines of instructions in a programming language. It needed technical skills, a lot of patience, and even more practice. But recently, a new way of writing code has become popular — and people are calling it vibe coding. It sounds like a trend on social media, but it's actually about using AI to build software just by describing what you want in plain, simple language. No need for complex code, no stress — just a simple conversation with your computer that turns into an app, game, or website. Let's break it down exactly is vibe coding?If we have to define vibe coding, you can think of it as a way of creating software without writing all the code yourself. Instead, you just talk to an AI tool — by typing or even speaking — and explain what you want to build. The AI does the heavy lifting and writes the code for don't have to worry about the way code has to be written, or remembering commands, or finding bugs. You just describe your idea clearly, and the AI takes care of the rest. That's why it's called vibe coding — because you're going with the flow and trusting the AI to figure out the did this idea come from? The term vibe coding was made popular by Andrej Karpathy, who has worked with companies like Tesla and OpenAI. He described it as letting go of the old-school way of thinking about code and just focusing on your idea. You don't have to be a pro coder any more. You just need to have a clear picture of what you want, and AI tools will help you turn it into himself said he doesn't even check the code line by line any more — he just describes what he wants, accepts whatever the AI suggests, and moves on. It might sound lazy, but for quick projects or experiments, it works surprisingly does vibe coding actually work?Here's a simple step-by-step example of how someone might vibe code:Pick from the many tools available, like Replit, Cursor, or ChatGPT that can generate you need to type your idea. You might say something like, 'I want to create a calculator app with buttons for plus, minus, multiply, and divide.'After this, the AI will write the code for you. The tool will create the base version of your you need to test and tweak accordingly. If something doesn't work or looks odd, you just tell the AI what to the end, you have a working app that you created without doing any actual traditional coding is being used by both developers and non-developers. People who never wrote a line of code in their life are now able to build apps and vibe coding the same as AI-assisted coding?Not quite. AI-assisted coding still involves a developer writing most of the code, with the AI giving suggestions or helping fix mistakes. Vibe coding, on the other hand, is when the AI takes the lead, and the person mostly just gives we be worried about vibe coding?advertisementSome people in the tech industry are worried that vibe coding might make programmers lazy, or that it could lead to poorly written code, especially if people don't review what the AI creates. There's also concern that beginners might never learn the basics of real others believe it's just a new chapter in how we build software. It doesn't replace serious programming, especially for complex systems — but it does make building simple apps faster and more fun.
