UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

A digital signature is created using cryptographic techniques that bind an individual’s identity to an electronic document. It allows recipients to verify that the message has come from a genuine sender and has not been altered during transmission. In e-governance, this supports legal validity and trust in online transactions. Therefore, authentication and integrity are the central functions of digital signatures.

Option A:
Physically signing printed documents is a traditional practice unrelated to digital cryptographic signatures. While both serve to indicate approval, the technologies and verification methods differ. Hence, this statement does not describe digital signatures.

Option B:
This option correctly points out that digital signatures provide assurance about who signed a document and whether its content remains unchanged. Verification uses public key infrastructure, which checks the signature against the signer’s certificate. Such mechanisms are vital for electronic forms, tax filings and other e-governance applications.

Option C:
Increasing file size is not a goal of digital signatures and, in fact, larger files may be less efficient to store and transmit. Signatures add a small amount of metadata but are designed for security, not for consuming storage space.

Option D:
Converting documents into audio is a feature associated with text-to-speech tools or accessibility services. Digital signatures do not change the media format of a document; they add verifiable security information.