India's Blockchain Platform

India has recently made various attempts to transform into a digital society by creating a sizable digital public infrastructure that is accessible to all citizens with strong government support.

Public Digital Infrastructure

It alludes to technological advancements that enable the collaboration, trade, and governance that are fundamental to the delivery of public and private services.

Initiatives by India:

To speed up interactions between people, markets, and the government, the Indian government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have been pushing for simplification and openness.

Since the launch of the Digital India project in 2015, modular applications based on Aadhaar, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and the India Stack have altered the payment system, provident fund, passports, driving licences, crossing tolls, and verifying property record

Limitations Of Digitalization:

Not Connected:

• The various digital infrastructures now in place are not designed to be connected.

Not Interoperable:

• To make them conversant and interoperable, technical integration is necessary.

Inefficient:

• Information is currently distributed over a number of systems, most of which rely on small private databases. As a result, the network becomes more complex, which raises the cost and leads to inefficiency.

Other Efficient Digital Systems

Web 3.0

• Web 3.0, which would be distinct from the current Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 versions in use, is a decentralised internet to be powered by blockchain technology.
• In Web 1.0, most of the internet's content consisted of static web pages that users would visit, read, and interact with.
• Users can create content on Web 2.0, which is mostly a social media type of engagement.
• In contrast to today, when tech corporations dominate the platforms, Web 3.0 will give people ownership stakes in platforms and applications.

Significance

• The Web 3.0 architecture introduces a new Internet protocol that includes decentralisation, transparency, and token-based economics.
• NFTs, also known as non-fungible tokens, which stand in for tangible assets or digital twins, are also included.
• Using a distributed token, a user can access all ecosystem advantages and provide ownership proof, tax information, and payment methods.
• The regulators may view, assemble, and audit the blockchain records in real-time.

Blockchain Technology

• A blockchain is a database that holds encrypted data blocks and connects them together to create a single source of truth for the data that is chronological.
• Digital assets are distributed rather than duplicated or transferred, resulting in an immutable record of the asset. The asset is decentralised, allowing for complete public transparency and real-time access.
• The integrity of the document is maintained via a transparent log of changes, which fosters confidence in the asset.
• The public ledger and built-in security features of blockchain make it a top solution for practically every industry.

Blockchain-based digital governance

• In addition to improving data security, streamlining procedures, and reducing fraud, waste, and abuse, a blockchain-based digital government can also boost accountability and increase confidence.
• Individuals, companies, and governments all share resources on a distributed ledger that is encrypted using cryptography in a blockchain-based government model.
• This design removes a single point of failure and automatically safeguards private information belonging to citizens and the government.

Applications

• They are reputable platforms for decentralised finance (DeFi) that rely on blockchain technology.
• These platforms are present and used in numerous countries, and they are not subject to any specific regulatory framework.
• Users of DeFi are able to borrow and lend cryptocurrency on a short-term basis at rates set by an algorithm.
• Tokens that grant governance rights—which are comparable to positions on the protocol's board—are given as rewards to Defi users.

For example:

• For those who are interested in crypto wallets, Web3, and NFTs, the blockchain service provider Solana has released a prototype smartphone with hardware and security that can handle decentralised apps

Advantages:

The following benefits could be enabled by a blockchain-based government in addition to the potential for resolving legacy issues:

• Reduced use of labour-intensive processes and secure data storage for the government, citizens, and businesses
• lowering the exorbitant costs of managing accountability
• decreased risk of corruption and abuse
• increased faith in civic systems online and in the government

• Banking central:

• The real-time gross settlement, as opposed to settlement at the end of each day, is the ongoing process of recording interbank payments in central bank records.
• Blockchain helps central banks to handle RTGS at a faster rate with greater security because it increases transaction volume and network resilience significantly.

Challenges of integrating blockchain technology with Digital Public Infrastructure

• Lack of knowledge:
• The main issue with blockchain is a general lack of knowledge of how it operates and a lack of awareness of the technology, particularly in industries other than banking.
• Investment and idea exploration are being hampered by this.
• Support for blockchain-based technologies is currently lacking on end-user devices like cellphones, therefore the final mile is always outside the network.
• Though it won't be long before smartphone makers offer blockchain-compliant products by adding extensions.
• Decentralized governance:
• Even for sectors that have already seen significant change as a result of digital technologies, a blockchain signifies a complete shift away from the conventional ways of doing things.
• Instead of a strong central institution, it gives authority and trust to a decentralised network.
• And most people may find this loss of power to be extremely frightening.

Global adoption of blockchain infrastructure

• A private study predicts that 35% of enterprise blockchain applications would be connected with decentralised services and applications by 2023.
• The architecture and policies for several nations' blockchains have already started to be developed.
• All e-governance services made available to the general public are verified and processed utilising blockchain infrastructure in Estonia, the world's capital of blockchain technology.
• China: To facilitate the rapid deployment of blockchain applications in the cloud, China introduced an initiative in 2020 called BSN (Blockchain-based Service Network).
• Britain: To promote cooperation between owners and developers of digital twins in the built environment, the National Digital Twin programme (NDTp) is run by the Centre for Digital Built Britain, a collaboration between the University of Cambridge and the UK government's Department for Business, Energy, and Business Strategy.
• Brazil: To bring participating institutions in governance and the technology framework that promotes the implementation of blockchain in solutions for the general good, the Brazilian government recently launched the Brazilian Blockchain Network.

Way forward

• Even if it takes years to build and implement, working on an indigenous solution of the people, for the people, and by the people—an India Blockchain Platform—is urgently required.
• The digital ecosystem in India will change as a result of a blockchain-based digital infrastructure that will also pave the way for future digital services, platforms, applications, content, and solutions.
• One can reasonably conclude that we are at the beginning of the curve given the current state of circumstances around the world, but the days are not far away.

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