Blockchain Technology for E-Governance Applications

Blockchain technology or distributed ledger technology since its inception as a cryptocurrency platform has captured the imagination of computer scientists, policy makers, and governments alike. The continuous evolution of blockchain technology from generation 1.0 to 3.0 has brought forth multiple powerful platforms for creating trust among mistrusting entities, the ability to automate transactions through smart contracts, and multiple customized platforms for specific applications by Maesa and Mori (J Parallel Distrib Comput 138:99–114, 2020). This evolution has attracted the attention of policy makers in various countries—they noticed the opportunity to build trust between citizens and governments through the mediation of this technology (International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE) 8(4):5795–5802, 2019). E-Governance solutions with blockchain integrated in the backend or as mediation platforms have received traction as evidenced by multiple pilots by various governments worldwide. The National Blockchain Project at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur has been funded by the Government of India to develop technology and solutions for various E-Governance applications. In this chapter, we discuss the National Blockchain projects and various solutions being worked out by the project team.