Cryptocurrency is still banned in India but the underlying technology, namely Blockchain, is still used in the country. The government is open to the idea of making use of this technology in various sectors.

Last year, Andhra Pradesh announced Blockchain-backed pilot program for two departments of the authority with plans to expand the program to other parts of the administration. Maharashtra might be the next state to implement this technology.

According to a DNA’s report, the Maharashtra government has plans to use the technology in agriculture marketing, supply chain, document management, and vehicle registration. Maharashtra Information Technology Directorate will be responsible for this implementation.

In the Rs 10 crore approved for the project, Rs 4 crore will be spent on the adoption of this technology. What they aim at is to improve the efficiency of the government’s work.

Here is what SVR Srinivas, state information technology department principal secretary talked about the possibility of applying Blockchain in the Government’s day-to-day tasks:

According to Srinivas, in the next five to six months, the common framework for implementing the technology will be ready. Maharashtra will also try out this new technology in a few departments first before expanding it to the rest of the administration system, just like what Andhra Pradesh government is doing.

What Is Blockchain?

Blockchain is basically a distributed and open ledger which only allows new transactions to be added, the older ones cannot be erased or tampered with. What we can expect from this system is a permanent and verifiable record shared among two or more parties.

With this technology, we may hope for a more accountable and transparent system.