The Hon’ble Union Minister of Law & Justice, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated the Centre of Excellence in Blockchain Technology at Bengaluru, Karnataka on 18th January 2020 digitally from Delhi through video conferencing. Shri T M Vijay Bhaskar, Chief Secretary to Government of Karnataka, Shri P Ravi Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary to Government of Karnataka, Shri Rajeev Chawla, Additional Chief Secretary to Government of Karnataka, Shri S Gopalakrishnan, Additional Secretary, MeitY and Chairman NICSI were the guests of honour. A white paper on “Blockchain for Government” was released by the dignitaries. Blockchain technology has drawn significant attention from the Government due to the pain areas that it promises to address. Several schemes of the Government require the verification of the documents / facts to ascertain the eligibility of the applicants which is a time consuming process. Although some of the departments use the electronic data available with other agencies to verify the applicant’s claim electronically, Government has started to look at alternatives such as blockchain to provide enhanced level of confidence, immutability and provenance. Although the decision makers in the Government are enthusiastic, the following challenges deter the adoption of Blockchain Technology: • The technology being nascent, the departments do not have a facility to perform PoCs as they need to build the infrastructure which is quite expensive. • The expertise required to build these solutions is not available with all the system integrators. • The cost of setting up blockchain network and its management is high and this would also require frequent up-gradation as the technology evolves. • Identification of the areas where blockchain can be implemented and the collaboration required by the various departments. Centre of Excellence in Blockchain Technology established by NIC with a vision to build niche applications using Blockchain technologies, is a step in the direction to overcome the above challenges and accelerate adoption of blockchain technology in Government. The CoE is expected to provide a platform that the Government departments can look to for consultancy, capacity building and as an incubation centre where they can perform PoCs, evaluate different platforms etc. and move on to production with confidence. The Centre of Excellence will facilitate development of applications in close coordination with the Government, for rolling out across the country. Departments could leverage on the services and the infrastructure provided by CoE to develop and deploy blockchain applications. During the inauguration of CoEBCT, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, in his address said that NIC is the backbone of India’s Digital Governance.
- With inputs from NIC Karnataka State Office
Blockchain technology will open up new frontiers in the area of governance, treasury management, excise operations etc. Would like to see its use in the field such as agriculture, health and primary education. Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad Hon’ble Union Minister of Law & Justice, Communications and Electronics & IT Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Minister of Electronics and Information Technology inaugurating the Centre of Excellence in Blockchain Technology virtually through video conferencing Dr Neeta Verma, DG NIC lighting the lamp during the inaugural ceremony held in Bengaluru Release of the whitepaper on Blockchain for Government (L-R) Shri B Vinaya, Shri Rajeev Chawla, Dr Neeta Verma, Shri T M Vijay Bhaskar, Shri P Ravi Kumar, Shri S Gopalakrishnan, Shri Nagesh Shastri Dr. Neeta Verma addressing the audience of the event A view of the Lab of NIC Centre of Excellence in Blockchain Technology, Bengaluru Organizing officers of the inaugural event along with DG, NIC in front of CoEBCT lab graffiti backdrop