Maharashtra minister launches project to issue caste certificates via blockchain

The pilot project to upload 65,000 caste certificates of the tribal population of Etapalli subdivision, in Vidarbha's Gadchirioli district, on a blockchain-based platform was inaugurated on Wednesday by Maharashtra's minister of urban development and public works, Eknath Shinde. 

Last month, assistant collector of Gadchiroli, Shubham Gupta announced via a LinkedIn post that the district administration would be issuing caste certificates which would be cryptographically anchored on the polygon blockchain via the LegitDoc platform.

The bureaucrat told Business Today, “This will enable entities to instantly authenticate the certificates with the help of uncensorable, publicly auditable data stored on the public blockchain.”

Neil Martis, founder of LegitDoc, the Web3 start-up through which this project is being launched told BT, “Projects like this would support the state administration to curb the menace of forgeries. It would also help in identifying the right beneficiaries for delivery of government schemes and benefits.” 

He also further added, “Such an implementation sets a precedent for India to emerge as the frontier in building tech stacks on neutral web3 platforms, [which are] decentralisation-aligned, deplatformation-resistant alternatives to the censorship-prone US and Chinese dominated digital tech stacks. ”

This new system would cryptographically commit selective details of every caste certificate fetched from the ‘MahaOnline’ portal on the polygon blockchain and generate a unique QR code consisting of blockchain proofs that would be embedded on each caste certificate.

Furthermore, these certificates would be issued via common service centres (CSC), which are operational across all villages. The open verification system would be available on the government website and enable government departments or any other third parties to verify the authenticity of a certificate with the click of a button, making the process more streamline and tamper proof.