Blockchain can transform e-governance: Maha CM

February 14, 2018 12:19 pm

Blockchain has the potential to transform the e-governance, says Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. While inaugurating the Maharashtra Technology Summit (MTECH) jointly organised by FICCI and Maharashtra government in Mumbai he said, “Its right time for governments to start interacting with technology providers to find solution to put them to the best possible use to make Public delivery of goods and public delivery of services transparent. This will reduce the trust deficit between businesses and citizens with government departments.”

He adds, “Communication technologies over the years have changed the world, first we connected places, then people and now we are connecting things, but Blockchain is one level up and it’s not just Internet of Thing (IoT) but, it is Internet of trust, Internet of values and it is going to change the entire space of governance said the chief minister while putting emphasis on the importance of the Blockchain technology.”

Government of Maharashtra, for the past three years, has been trying to create an ecosystem for adopting technologies into governance. “We feel that technology brings, efficiency, transparency, accountability and accessibility and that is why we have been trying to assimilate the newest technologies into all our governance. Smart cities, which needs smart and accountable governance, require strong technology backbone to provide all services and activities in an accountable and transparent manner,” said the Chief Minister in his inaugural address.

Fadnavis also informed that Maharashtra has unveiled its public Cloud policy, which will allow all government departments to have access to public Cloud.  This is expected to accelerate e-governance and open up entire new area for investment by the private entrepreneurs to make available newest technologies for all the departments as government not only is the biggest data creator but also consumer. He invited start-ups to come up with proper solutions on governance and state government will be happy to make it part of its governance delivery systems.

Earlier in his opening address, SVR Srinivas, Maharashtra’s Principal Secretary for IT said that Blockchain is a Tsunami coming up and it’s not just some regulations, therefore we should be prepared for it. To apply Blockchain, Maharashtra government intends to work with POC and use cases, where Blockchain can be actually used such as, identities, movement of assets, transactions or otherwise, wherever data has to be distributed.

Rashesh Shah, President, FICCI in his welcome remarks said that since Blockchain is a new upcoming technology, industry needs supportive policies framework to bring focus on growth and development of this emerging area. He also expressed FICCI’s enthusiasm to collaborate more with the government.

N Venkatram, MD and CEO, Deloitte India, the knowledge partner of the summit said that Blockchain is a technology that allows people, who don’t know each other to trust a shared record of events, essentially resolving uncertainties and building trust and we have embarked upon a very important journey through today’s initiative.

Also present at the occasion, Estonia’s Ambassador to India, Riho Kruuv shared that Estonia has been implementing Blockchain solutions within government sectors such as healthcare, financial services beginning from 2008. Today, the Estonian digital society offers more than 3,000 public services open to not only Estonian citizens but to foreign citizens through the e-residency program. E-residents can establish and administer a company online, conduct banking online, have access to international payment service providers, digitally sign document, file taxes online. With over 950 e-residents from India, Estonia would offer platform for Indian entrepreneurs to get access to EU and other international markets.

A FICCI – Deloitte report on Blockchain in Public Sector – Transforming government services through exponential technologies was also released by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra along with dignitaries attending the summit.

Themed Digital transformation through Blockchain, the summit saw a participation of over 600 delegates and more than 50 CEOs joining for the deliberations to chalk out a roadmap for implementing Blockchain technology and policy support required to do it quickly and efficiently.