Maharashtra govt to use blockchain technology for vehicle registration, supply chain and more

While cryptocurrency is still a banned entity in India, the technology underlying it, ie Blockchain, still has some buyers. Government bodies have been open to the idea of using blockchain technologies in various sectors. Andhra Pradesh has already started the pilot program backed by blockchain technology in two departments last year and plans to expand it to the entire administration. Maharashtra could be the next state in line to implement the technology in various fields.

According to a report in DNA, the Maharashtra government is planning to deploy blockchain technology in the areas of vehicle registration, agriculture marketing, supply chain and document management system. The Maharashtra Information Technology Directorate will be the nodal agency responsible for the implementation.

To this effect, the government of Maharashtra has approved Rs 4 crore for the adoption of blockchain technology of the Rs 10 crore which has been earmarked for these projects. The idea is to improve efficiencies in government tasks.

According to the state information technology department principal secretary, SVR Srinivas, “Already the government has completed its first blockchain pilot in the fields of health, supply chain, documents and SSC certificates. A detailed report has been prepared to go in for extensive use of blockchain technology in various government departments.”

Srinivas said that a regulatory sandbox which is expected to be a common framework for adopting blockchain technology will be ready in the next 5-6 months. Just like the Andhra Pradesh government, Maharashtra also wants to first try out blockchain implementation on a handful of departments first, before expanding it to every department.

What is blockchain?

A blockchain is an open and distributed ledger. It uses an append-only data structure, which means that only new transactions can be added to this ledger, existing transactions cannot be tampered with or erased. This results in a verifiable and permanent record of data and transactions between two or more parties.

Blockchain has the potential to increase transparency and accountability, and positively enhance our social and economic systems. A blockchain is built by running software and linking several nodes together.