Maharashtra Government is using LegitDoc, a blockchain application on Polygon blockchain to issue caste certificates.
The Maharashtra Government seems to be quite bullish on the potential of blockchain as it has begun issuing caste certificates over the Polygon Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchain to the residents of Etapalli village, Gadchiroli district, as a part of the Digital India campaign.
The initiative is in partnership with LegitDoc, a blockchain-based application. During the initial phase, 65,000 caste certificates will be issued on the blockchain which will make the process of authentication seamless.
The blockchain system consists of an Issuance DApp (Decentralized Application) and a Verification DApp. Issuance DApp is installed on the SDO’s (Sub Division Officer) system, where blockchain-enabled caste certificates are generated. It uses the SHA-256 algorithm to hash the important details of a document, highlighted in red in the image.
The verification DApp is hosted on the Gadchiroli district administration website. It points directly to a smart contract. Any interested verifier with the caste certificate (either printed or digital) can head over to the verification portal on the district website and scan the QR code. In a matter of 10 seconds, verification can be done.
This initiative is in line with the Government’s vision of ‘E-Governance’, which requires the delivery of mass citizen services online. E-governance stems from the notion that “code/computers are better at driving trust rather than humans, and that reduction of human influence on citizen service delivery is the ultimate north star.” Well, this isn’t the first time Maharashtra Government is using a public blockchain. Last year it began issuing Covid test certificates on the same Polygon blockchain.
The expected benefits of the initiative are open verification, reduction in fraud, improvements in privacy, deplatformation resistance, and open innovation due to open-source technology.
As cited by Mr. Shubham Gupta, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Gadchiroli district, in the era of deplatforming, E-Governance will provide open and neutral systems sources where the citizen data can be committed and verified. Public blockchains are the tools that can achieve this goal.
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