In this document, we present our response to the policy document on DHRUVA (Digital Hub for Reference and Unique Virtual Address): The Digital Address DPI, hereafter referred to as the ‘policy document’, published by the Department of Posts in May 2025.
The policy document sets out the vision for a DPI for address management in India. It establishes the need for a DPI approach to address management, based on concerns that the current addressing system is fragmented and relies on narrative conventions, causing disrupted and inefficient service delivery across public and private sectors. A set of potential use-cases from the perspectives of citizens, governance administrators, and the private sector are discussed. The document also lays out an envisioned institutional and legal framework for the DPI.
We divide our recommendations in two sections. Section A offers recommendations for the design and functionality of the DHRUVA database. Section B provides recommendations on the institutional design and the supporting legal framework.
Recommendations for the functionality and design of the DHRUVA database:
- We request a detailed consideration of how the DHRUVA database may be used for collective-level decision making, given its federated, data blind nature and the need for user-consent;
- We recommend that the use of DHRUVA for social protection be limited to geospatial governance at the collective-level, rather than for personalised and targeted service delivery;
- The system may benefit from harvesting a suite of channels to collect address information such as in-person surveys, using current data available with different public and private institutions. Instituting protocols to periodically check data quality and accuracy will also be crucial to the functioning of the database.
Recommendations for the institutional design and supporting legal framework:
- Supporting the DHRUVA framework through an enabling legislation by the Parliament that provides the aims, objectives, legality, necessity, proportionality and other provisions needed to pass the constitutional muster to create a digital address.
Read the full response here.
