Maharashtra's Gadchiroli to issue caste certificates via blockchain platform Polygon

In keeping with the times, Etapalli, a subdivision of district Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, will issue caste certificates to its 65,000 residents via LegitDoc — a polygon public blockchain-based platform.

Assistant collector Shubham Gupta announced via a Linkedin post on Monday that the Gadchiroli administration would be issuing caste certificates which will be cryptographically anchored on polygon blockchain via the LegitDoc platform. 

This will enable entities to instantly authenticate the certificates with the help of uncensorable, publicly auditable data stored on the public blockchain.

The bureaucrat also wrote a post on this initiative on LinkedIn in which he highlighted the fact that the Etapalli sub-division comprises villages from Etapalli and Bhamragad. These villages have a large tribal population and frequently require caste certificates to avail of government-funded benefits and subsidies.

He also wrote that the majority of the population in the area hold their caste certificates in paper printouts for convenience but, as it turns out, these documents are challenging to authenticate and verify.

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

Furthermore, these certificates will be issued via common service centres (CSC), which are currently operational across all villages. Subsequently, 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.

Gupta also said that “In addition to supporting the state administration to curb the menace of forgeries, and along with identifying the right beneficiaries for delivery of government schemes/benefits, such an implementation sets a precedent for India to emerge as the frontier in building tech stacks on neutral web3 platforms- decentralization-aligned, deplatformation-resistant alternatives to the censorship-prone US and Chinese dominated digital tech stacks. ”

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