Maharashtra Begins Issuing Caste Certificates on Polygon Blockchain Under ‘Digital India’ Initiative

Certain regions in Maharashtra, India, are pioneering the issuance of caste certificates on the Polygon blockchain. Notably, residents in Etapalli village and Gadchiroli district are benefiting from this innovative approach facilitated by LegitDoc, a Polygon blockchain platform ensuring instant verification of these certificates. The initiative, part of the ‘Digital India’ campaign, specifically targets the economically disadvantaged and tribal populations in central India.

Under this program, a total of 65,000 caste certificates will be issued on the Polygon blockchain in Maharashtra, aiding underprivileged individuals in accessing government welfare programs. The move aims to bring a Web 3 transformation to documentation processes, serving the dual purpose of preventing forgeries and ensuring the accurate identification of eligible beneficiaries for government schemes.

According to Maharashtra authorities, adopting a Web 3 approach in this critical documentation process is crucial for combating forgery and ensuring that government benefits reach the intended recipients. The initiative not only modernizes record-keeping and identity management but also aligns with the principles of decentralization and resistance to censorship, offering an alternative to digital tech stacks dominated by American and Chinese platforms.

Shubham Gupta, Assistant Collector of Etapalli, highlighted the significance of this implementation in a LinkedIn post, emphasizing its potential to position India at the forefront of building tech stacks on neutral Web 3 platforms. Gupta noted that the use of public blockchains introduces a new dimension to the internet, enabling openly shareable and unfalsifiable information. This approach not only disrupts traditional methods of societal record-keeping but also has implications for identity management, payments, remittances, accounting, and fundraisers.

The adoption of Polygon for this blockchain initiative by the Maharashtra government is attributed to the platform being an India-based Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development solution. This move aligns with broader efforts by Indian authorities, including the Reserve Bank of India’s exploration of a blockchain-based Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to introduce Indians to the digital assets category while mitigating risks associated with volatile cryptocurrencies.