Leveraging Blockchain technology to help administration stressed

Hyderabad: National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) organised the first in the series of seminars on the usage of Blockchain Technologies in government applications.

According to the NIRDPR officials, the first session began on Saturday with " 'Introduction to Blockchain Technologies and Government Applications' for the Central and State government employees.

Underlining the importance of the initiative, W R Reddy, Director General, NIRDPR said the seminar was part of the institute's continuous efforts to innovation and leadership in the capacity building at NIRDPR.

In her inaugural address, Radhika Rastogi, IAS, Deputy Director General, NIRDPR, highlighted the importance of leveraging Blockchain Technology to improve implementation of government-run programs as it has tremendous potential in rural development schemes such as MGNREGA and Social Audit. Samir Goswami, Director (Management Information System), NIRDPR, said NIRDPR is always keen to explore and leverage technology to support our major objective of rural development. The Seminar was one such step in that direction.

He said that the use cases of the Blockchain technology may be different but the benefits derived from using the technology remains unchanged, as it provides a solution to the commonly faced problems in terms of transparency, redundancy and security of data and systems, he added.

Dr Ajay S Singh, Chief Controller of Accounts, Union Ministry of Rural Development, said one of the main hurdles facing large-scale adoption is the lack of awareness among various stakeholders.

He made a detailed presentation with use cases for the Blockchain Technology to be integrated in a phased manner and with developing a mechanism which is both enabling and self-regulatory.

He also emphasized on creating a node at NIRDPR to harness the potential of blockchain application in rural development.