As the government of India moves towards implementation of Web3.0 technology, it seems ‘e-governance’ is one such area of focus, with it reframing policies around it. Recently, the government of Maharashtra led by the Gadchiroli district administration(Etapalli subdivision) issued caste certificates to its citizens which are cryptographically anchored POS blockchain via LegitDoc, a software which works over a blockchain-based system preventing it from security breaches and budget constraints. “India is moving towards originality and authenticity regarding information and data. The district has an overall population of over 1.1 million. ). The percentage of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes community population that resides in the district is 11.25 % and 38.7 % respectively ( as per Census 2011),” Shubham Gupta, assistant collecter, Etapalli (Gadchiroli)”, told FE Digital Currency.
The Internet has evolved from Web 1.0 to 3.0 and this technological advancement allows the use of semantics but also space, images, and traditional static web transformed into an interactive one. “The sub-division office Etapalli has taken up the task of running 65,000 caste certificates through the blockchain system. This was a pilot project for blockchain adoption. The caste-based certificates are mandatory to access government-funded schemes,” Gupta stated.
As per industry experts, blockchain allows the secure transfer of information, assets, and money without a third-party intermediary. In that perspective, it is believed that blockchain is vital in strengthening the image of legal framework of e-governance.
“Social benefits and opportunities of participating in the Web3.0 ecosystem are starting to crystalise. The blockchain system consists of an Issuance DApp (decentralised applications built on top of public blockchains) that combines all the hashes belonging to a certificate together to make a single hash which is stored on the Polygon POS blockchain. Upon the successful upload of the final hash (for each certificate) on the blockchains returns transaction data. The caste certificates can be issued to citizens via common service centres,” he added.
The term, ‘Web3.0’ was coined in 2014 by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, and the idea gained interest in 2021 from cryptocurrency enthusiasts, large technology companies, and venture capital firms.