Recently, 61 winners of the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (PMRBP) 2021 and 2022 got digital certificates, that use blockchain-driven technology.

Highlights

• The blockchain-driven technology has been developed under the “National Blockchain Project”, by Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur).
• On the occasion, Director of IIT Kanpur Abhay Karandikar noted that, this technology can also be used to grant all certificates and degrees in the future.

Digital certificates

The digital certificates, provided using blockchain technology, will be stored on digital wallets installed on mobile devices of the recipients. Certificates cannot be forged and are verifiable worldwide, selectively disclosable as well as sensitive to user content.

Background

On December 28, 2021, PM Modi had launched the blockchain-based digital degrees at IIT Kanpur, during a convocation ceremony.

Who is implementing this technology?

The digital technology is being implemented by CRUBN. CRUBN is a firm that offers blockchain solutions. It was founded by 4 IITians namely,

1. Nilesh Vasita, IIT Kanpur
2. Ras Dwivedi, IIT Kanpur,
3. Tanmay Yadav, IIT Kanpur and
4. Mukul Verma, IIT Bombay.

The technology was developed under the mentorship of Padma Shri Prof. Manindra Agrawal and Prof. Sandeep K Shukla, who are the joint coordinators of National Blockchain Project under National Security Council Secretariat.

National Blockchain Project

The National Blockchain Project is being funded by National Security Council Secretariat for developing e-governance solutions using blockchain technology. The project involves a three-month feasibility study to decide on use of blockchain technology and outline its research & validation as well as incubation plan. Under the first phase, two e-governance applications were identified, to demonstrate the utility of blockchain.

National Blockchain Strategy

It was proposed by Ministry of Electronics and IT in December 2021. It has adopted multi – institutional approach. The strategy involves National Informatics Centre (NIC), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C – DAC) and National Informatics Centre services Inc (NICSI) to offer blockchain as service. It seeks to provide trusted digital platform for providing e – governance services by means of blockchain technology.