Yogi Adityanath govt to build blockchain architecture for data security

Joining the league of other progressive states, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has decided to introduce the cutting edge blockchain technology for ensuring data security of land and revenue records in the state.

Only a few states such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka have undertaken the blockchain project on a pilot basis primarily for securing their respective and voluminous revenue records, which are most vulnerable to manipulation and tampering.

UP Chief Secretary Anup Chandra Pandey has directed the senior officials to build a robust blockchain infrastructure within the next 6 months for the safety and credibility of revenue and land records.

The blockchain is basically a decentralised digital ledger or digital archive to store successive transactions in a chronological order, which makes it virtually impossible to hack or manipulate the data for ulterior designs. For example, once a data is fed into the system under the blockchain technology, it is visible to all related departments and as such any fresh changes get recorded, and reflect in all the connected systems. This makes the underlying data secure and the processes transparent.

The draft blockchain notification would be prepared within a week and presented before the state Information Technology (IT) department so that the process of implementation is expedited.

Pandey observed that blockchain system would not only ensure data security of land and revenue records, but also facilitate online mutation, registration and verification of such records, apart from preventing forgery and tempering.

Since about 67 per cent of Uttar Pradesh’s 220 million population live in the rural areas and depend upon agricultural and pastoral land for the livelihood, a secure and robust land record management has always been a critical aspect for the state government. Owing to the bulk of data, the manual processes are vulnerable to manipulation, forgery and breach, which the government wishes to preempt with the help of blockchain architecture.

In fact, the Yogi Adityanath government intends to implement the blockchain technology in other departments as well after its successful execution in the revenue department. While other state governments are still in their pilot project mode, the UP government has decided to fully adopt the still-evolving technology for its revenue department.

Meanwhile, the state has urged its knowledge partner Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) to give suggestions for making the government’s startup policy more focused and productive, so that the same could be incorporated therein.

Recently, R Ramanan, Additional Secretary and Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, had said blockchain had the potential of transforming industry operating models in various sectors, including healthcare, banking and payment systems, insurance, trading, media distribution, identity verification, land records and supply chain management.

The UP revenue department has been zealously introducing new technologies in the management of records and procedures, including digitisation of land records and maps.