Government Of India Launches Vishvasya-Blockchain Technology Stack to Boost Digital Trust and Transparency

In a significant move to enhance digital trust and transparency, the Government of India a day back launched the "Vishvasya-Blockchain Technology Stack," a comprehensive initiative to offer Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) through a geographically distributed infrastructure. The Vishvasya-Blockchain Technology Stack is designed to support various permissioned blockchain-based applications, providing a secure and transparent platform for digital services.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) organised the launch event on September 4, led by Shri S. Krishnan, Secretary of MeitY. Alongside this launch, other key components were unveiled, including "NBFLite," a lightweight blockchain platform, "Praamaanik," an innovative solution for verifying the origin of mobile apps, and the "National Blockchain Portal."

During the launch event, MeitY, underscored the potential of blockchain technology to revolutionise governance by making public services more transparent, efficient, and accountable. It called for the scaling up of blockchain applications across various states and departments, suggesting the exploration of onboarding new applications, platforms, and innovative components onto the NBF stack.

A Strategic Step Towards a National Blockchain Framework

The National Blockchain Framework (NBF), envisioned by MeitY, aims to establish secure, trusted, and transparent digital platforms for citizen-centric applications. The NBF technology stack is built with a distributed infrastructure incorporating core framework functionalities such as smart contracts, an API gateway, security, privacy, interoperability, and application development, all provided as Blockchain-as-a-Service.

Currently, the framework supports two permissioned blockchain platforms and is designed to be extensible. The technology stack is hosted across geographically distributed NIC data centres located in Bhubaneswar, Pune, and Hyderabad.

Vishvasya Blockchain as-a-service (BaaS)

Vishvasya, the National Blockchain Technology Stack, facilitates enabling trust by developing new types of distributed software architectures capable of finding consensus on their shared states and providing a single source of truth. Through its BaaS architecture, Vishvasya will provide security and assurance of various Blockchain components across the stack. It envisions reducing the need for skills from human resources by offering technological support to organisations in building Blockchain-based applications.

Blockchain Sandbox for Startups and Academia

The NBFLite platform under the Blockchain Technology Stack will offer a blockchain sandbox environment tailored explicitly for startups and academic institutions, facilitating rapid prototyping, research, and capacity building. These technological advancements have been made possible through the collaboration of C-DAC, NIC, IDRBT Hyderabad, IIT Hyderabad, IIIT Hyderabad, and SETS Chennai, under MeitY's support.

During the launch event, Shri S. Krishnan emphasised that the National Blockchain Framework would play a crucial role in enhancing security, trust, and transparency in various citizen-centric applications. He urged stakeholders to position India as a global leader in blockchain technology and to promote the developed solutions for worldwide adoption, leveraging blockchain to drive economic growth, social development, and digital empowerment.

Addressing Challenges and Paving the Way for Innovation

Ms. Sunita Verma, Scientist G and Group Coordinator, R&D in Electronics & IT, MeitY, highlighted the NBF's objective to develop an extensible framework with a blockchain technology stack on a distributed infrastructure. She opinioned that this initiative addresses challenges such as the need for skilled manpower for building blockchain-based applications, vendor lock-in, and research challenges related to security, interoperability, and performance.

Shri Magesh E, Director General of C-DAC, noted that the NBF is a collaborative effort to address research challenges and harness the benefits of blockchain technology to develop applications in association with government organisations. This initiative has already generated numerous patents and research publications.

The launch of the Vishvasya-Blockchain Technology Stack marks a significant milestone in India's digital transformation journey, positioning the country at the forefront of blockchain innovation and adoption.

Read More: NATIONAL BLOCKCHAIN FRAMEWORK BROCHURE