National Strategy on Blockchain indicates GoI’s intention to embrace the new technology: The Tribune India

Despite the crypto market in the embrace of a bear market, I am extremely bullish on the underlying technology – Blockchain. My position is validated not only by increasing scenarios of prototype implementation and pilot implementation for the technology beyond cryptocurrency worldwide, but also by the content of the National Strategy for Blockchain released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Govt. of India.

The policy document touches on broad guidelines, successful usage scenarios, proposed uses, realistic challenges, development framework setup, monetization of said platforms, and concerns such as privacy and scalability.

My view of the GoI’s efforts on technology is further reinforced when I note that the focus is not only broad in scope but also has depth with issues such as interoperability, sandbox environments, consultative development (open APIs) and technology literacy of the workforce.

The view from several quarters that India is slow to adopt emerging technologies may be valid from certain perspectives. However, when I look at the technological infrastructure, technological competence and percolation of internet services in the country, our nation still has some way to go where mass adoption of new technologies can affect a large percentage of the population.

Spread over a vast landmass and requiring incredibly different literacy levels and communication needs, it will always take a gigantic effort to implement new technology.

However, blockchain technology is still at a stage of relative infancy in terms of use case scenarios beyond cryptocurrency. MeitY and GoI are not too late to the party.

Coming back to the document and looking at Section 10 (Feedback and Consultation), the consultative approach to preparing such a document is obvious and we should be quick to update as and when the need arises.

Also when working with documentation, privacy, security and trust become critical factors. In fact, the Vision, Mission, and Goals section of the document has more mentions of the word “trust” and its synonyms than you’d expect from a technology document. Shows a cautious approach to adopting a new technology, which is very welcome, considering the increased incidences of data breaches even at the best internet companies worldwide.

In terms of industries, banking, insurance, governance, legal, supply chain, healthcare and real estate have been highlighted in the document. A successful implementation pilot in Shamshabad District, Telangana – A blockchain based property registration system with the help of C-DAC has also been mentioned.

Here, let’s take a quick look at some key sections without going into excruciating detail:

• Part 2 Provides a quick overview of blockchain technology, laying out the basics along with a list of variants of the technology, its likely applications, and a well-researched SWOT/SWOC analysis for any reader looking for a “why and how” primer.

• Section 4 takes a brief look at mostly government and a couple of corporate-led use-case scenarios from around the world, giving the reader a fair picture of how far the technology has come outside the realm of crypto-currency. It also lists the major development platforms that blockchain technology is developing on today

• Section 5 lists all government (and affiliated) agencies involved in research and application of the technology in our country.

• Section 6.10 in particular is noteworthy as it lays out specific usage scenarios for blockchain technology in our country.

• Section 8.4 shows clearly defined mandates for several entities responsible for building and rolling out the National Blockchain Framework.

Upon careful perusal of the report, the cautious nature of pursuing the goal of Blockchain Technology Deployment and Integration is quite evident. It is also obvious the purpose of using the technology in fields that desperately require transparency and trust. And by taking this approach, GoI has decided to work on reference case studies like FSA in USA, KSI in Estonia and digital IDs in Switzerland and China and have eDocumentation as one of the main targets locked.

I am quite confident that MeitY, C-DAC and other primary stakeholders will be able to develop a successful blockchain implementation environment according to the outlined five-year plan, and issues such as security, standardization, interoperability, scalability and others have been resolved, blockchain technology will snowball into the promised position of critical technology in business and administration.

About the Author: Agam Chaudhary is a serial entrepreneur and investor in the web3 and e-commerce industry. He is the creator of the Two99 tool, which helps brands elevate experience and build contributing communities for their businesses.

He can be reached at [email protected] |

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Disclaimer: The above is a sponsored article and the views expressed are those of the sponsor/author and do not represent the position and views of The Tribune editorial staff in any way.