Blockchain-based caste certification of 65,000 tribals featured in NITI Aayog and UNDP's report

NITI Aayog, India’s apex public policy think tank, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have featured the pilot project that issued 65,000 caste certificates of the tribal population of Etapalli, Gadchiroli on the blockchain, making it one of the first projects involving blockchain to be officially recommended by a government body.

In the Best Practices 2023 compendium, Niti Aayog and UNDP have noted: “The district administration of Gadchiroli has launched a programme to issue caste certificates which are cryptographically anchored on polygon POS blockchain. This enables anybody to instantly authenticate certificates with the help of uncensorable, publicly auditable data stored on-chain (on public blockchain). The project is being piloted in the Etapalli sub-division of gadchiroli district, catering primarily to the 70 per cent Scheduled Tribe population, including many particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) such as Madia, Gond.”

In 2022, IAS Shubham Gupta, Assistant Collector Etapalli, Gadchiroli Maharashtra worked with Neil Martis, co-founder of Zupple, to issue 65,000 caste certificates of Gadchiroli’s tribal population on the blockchain, as previously reported by Business Today. 

By NITI Aayog and UNDP’s assessment, this project can “drastically reduce fraudulent benefit/incentive claims” and will prevent “malicious de-platforming of a person who legitimately belongs to a caste and is entitled to the government aid.”

Martis noted that the NITI Aayog’s recognition of this project highlights that this system can be scaled up and across sectors.

He told Business Today, “This model can be applicable for the private sector for use cases such as purchase orders, invoices, etc., whereby a robust invoice discounting/credit system can be built on top of it. System can also be extended for insurance policy documents which can be easily collateralised for taking loans.”

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