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The Kerala Government will roll out Kerala Sarathi Scheme to unify driving licences across India. The Sarathi Scheme is an initiative by the Government of India, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways to simplify drivers licence applications and to increase the safety of the driving licences. They issue unified driving licence which is valid in all the states and union territories across India.
The Kerala Sarathi Scheme will be launched from 31st December 2018 and is expected to curb malpractices and need to go to the RTOs for driving licence applications. With Sarathi Scheme drivers can apply for the drivers licence online. As of now paper laminated driving licences are issued in Kerala. With paper based licences it is very difficult to verify the authenticity of the licences. Moreover they are not durable. The unified driving licences issued are made of plastic with security features. They are durable and their authenticity can be verified online. Kerala has issued 1.5 crore driving licences so far. Every year 6 to 8 lakh new licences are issued by the Kerala transport department. Each of the district offices in Kerala issues approximately 40,000 driving licences every year.
Kerala Sarathi Scheme: Unified Driving Licence Scheme
Smart card driving licence will be issued in Kerala to the drivers. These smart cards has security features such as QR code and hologram. The security features makes it difficult to forge. With Kerala Sarathi Scheme the driving licences will be unified across the state. They all will be printed on the centralized printing system to make sure the uniformity of the design.
Smart Card Unified Driving Licence Features:
- They will be of the dimensions similar to credit and debit cards
- They will have micro text, UV text, 3D hologram and QR code based security features
- The QR codes can be decoded using an app on the mobile phones
- RTO inspectors will be able to verify the authenticity of the drivers licence with the smart phones
VAHAN & SARATHI Schemes:
- Guidelines by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
- The guidelines are created in such as way that all the state can adhare to the Central Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 and State Motor Rules
