New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS): With a view to bring more transparency and efficiency in issuing merit and participation certificates to sportspersons in the country, the Sports ministry has directed all National Sports Federations (NSFs) to embrace technological advancements by releasing the certificates through DigiLocker, a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology initiative.

"From June 1 this year, only certificates issued by the Federations through Digilocker shall be valid and no physical certificates issued will be recognised for Government and other benefits. We have advised the Federations that their affiliated units must also start issuing the certificates through the DigiLocker from January 1 next year," said Sports minister Anurag Thakur.

Anurag Thakur also added that issuing sports certificates through DigiLocker will have many benefits, including access to and sharing of certificates, eliminating the need for physical copies, providing a secure environment for storing and verifying documents, ensuring their integrity and authenticity.

He said such a method of streamlining the certificate issuance process would reduce administrative burden and minimise the time taken to deliver certificates to deserving athletes and would demonstrate India’s commitment to the use of technological advancements, to eliminate the scope for malpractice.

The Union Minister pointed out that nearly all educational and governmental certificates are currently issued through DigiLocker seamlessly. Therefore, it is only natural that the Sports Merit and Participation Certificates issued by the Federations and their affiliated units are accessible to athletes and other stakeholders through DigiLocker, he said.

"These certificates are proof of the athletes' commitment, effort, and accomplishments in their respective sports, and are currently distributed through outdated and inefficient, conventional methods," he said, adding that Federations must put in place technology-based tools and solutions to serve the interest of sports, especially athletes.

He said the Ministry would facilitate the use of DigiLocker by getting them to integrate their Information Technology system with the infrastructure developed for the purpose by April 30 and would organise workshops to train the respective officials from the National Sports Federations from May 1 to 31 besides completing test runs of the system.