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Emerging Applications of Blockchain Technology in India

Dr. Anshuman Kalla, @CGPIT, Uka Tarsadia University, Gujarat, India

Mr. Raaj Anand Mishra, @Dell Technologies, Bangalore, India

Mr. Megh Naik, @CGPIT, Uka Tarsadia University, Gujarat, India

Mr. Priyanshu Kapadia, @CGPIT, Uka Tarsadia University, Gujarat, India

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Agenda of the Tutorial

DLT, Blockchain, and Smart Contracts

Salient Features of blockchain and smart contracts enabled system

Trends and Domains Leveraging Blockchain Technology

Overview of India’s Strategy on Leveraging Blockchain

Preliminaries and Background: Creation of smart contracts in Ethereum and use of remix tool for cost computation

Demo of DApp using Flutter and Ganache Blockchain

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Anshuman Kalla

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Introduction to DLT, Blockchain Technology, and Smart Contracts

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Traditional Centralized System

Easy monitoring, maintenance, and controllability

No need for multiple infrastructure facility

High physical security since housed at fixed locations

Supports closed markets and businesses

Established legal frameworks for auditing and compliance

Anshuman Kalla

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Issues with Traditional Systems and Database

Third Party Invocation

Centralized in Nature

Loss of ownership
Single point-of-failure
Not open and limited access
Availability issue due to down time

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Issues with Traditional Systems and Database

Third Party Invocation

Centralized in Nature

Loss of ownership
Single point-of-failure
Not open and limited access
Availability issue due to down time

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Issues with Traditional Systems and Database

Third Party Invocation

Authoritative entities
Processing delay
Fee
Privacy Issue

Centralized in Nature

Loss of ownership
Single point-of-failure
Not open and limited access
Availability issue due to down time

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Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)

What is this hype?

Anshuman Kalla

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Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)

Definition by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), UK:

“A set of technological solutions that enables a single, sequenced, standardised and cryptographically-secured record of activity to be safely distributed to, and acted upon by, a network of varied participants.”

Source: Discussion Paper on Distributed Ledger Technology, 2017 https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/discussion/dp17-03.pdf

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Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)

Definition by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), UK:

“A set of technological solutions that enables a single, sequenced, standardised and cryptographically-secured record of activity to be safely distributed to, and acted upon by, a network of varied participants.”

Digital ledger that is distributed across all the nodes in a decentralized P2P network

Source: Discussion Paper on Distributed Ledger Technology, 2017 https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/discussion/dp17-03.pdf

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Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)

Definition by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), UK:

“A set of technological solutions that enables a single, sequenced, standardised and cryptographically-secured record of activity to be safely distributed to, and acted upon by, a network of varied participants.”

Digital ledger that is distributed across all the nodes in a decentralized P2P network
The ledger is

Immutable
Shared
Synchronized
Cryptographically sealed and secure

Source: Discussion Paper on Distributed Ledger Technology, 2017 https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/discussion/dp17-03.pdf

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Different Types of DLT

Are there other types of DLT then Blockchain?

Anshuman Kalla

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Different Types of DLT

DLT

Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)

Tempo

Hashgraph

Blockchain

Hash-based chain of blocks and was launched in 2008

Data structure follows directed graph data where each transaction exists independently and launched in 2017.

Global distributed ledger of objects called as atoms and launched in 2018.

Uses the mechanism called gossip about gossip and virtual voting. Launched in year 2018

Source:

1. Atlam, Hany F., and Gary B. Wills. "Intersections between IoT and distributed ledger." Advances in Computers. Vol. 115. Elsevier, 2019. 73-113.

2. https://101blockchains.com/blockchain-vs-hashgraph-vs-dag-vs-holochain/

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What is Blockchain?

Anshuman Kalla

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?

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What is Blockchain?

Set of Transactions

Block

Blockchain

Blocks connected using logical hash-based chain

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What is Smart Contract?

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What is Smart Contract?

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One of the most utilized software concepts used in conjunction with blockchain in the current times

The concept of smart contracts was conceived by Nick Szabo in 1994 (long before blockchain)

Computer program that encodes all terms & conditions of a legal agreement and runs on top of blockchain

Once pre-defined state is reached, the smart contract executes itself to produce the output.

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Agenda of the Tutorial

DLT, Blockchain, and Smart Contracts

Salient Features of blockchain and smart contracts enabled system

Trends and Domains Leveraging Blockchain Technology

Overview of India’s Strategy on Leveraging Blockchain

Preliminaries and Background: Creation of smart contracts in Ethereum and use of remix tool for cost computation

Demo of DApp using Flutter and Ganache Blockchain

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What are the salient features of Blockchain?

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If I use Blockchain, what are the advantage?

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Fast Overall Processing Time

Transparency With Pseudonymity

Immutability

Consensus Based Validation

Non-repudiation

Enhanced Security

CIA

Smart Contract based Automation

Decentralization

sSSalient Features of Blockchain Technology

Decentralization ensures …………no central control ………which implies ………any node in network ………can create new content ……… (i.e. block) …. and send it to other nodes.

In turn ………the other nodes independently decide to add that content in their local copy of digital ledger.

Enhanced security comes from the underlying Cryptography techniques and mechanisms.

Immutability…….is very unique feature of blockchain…….because blockchain does not allow deletion operation by design…….as new transactions are pushed into a blockchainized system…..they are verified and bundled together…….to form new block…….This new block gets appended to the …….existing blockchain database

Next…….since all the participating nodes or members…….in the blockchain network…….can see the transactions present in the ledger…….thus the system is transparent.

Nevertheless…….thanks to the use of asymmetric key cryptography…….all the peers…….are assigned a public private key pair…….The public address……derived from…….public key…….is assigned…….to every user…….Thus…….even though…….public addresses and related transactions…….visible…….no one knows…….the real life identities of anyone.

Fast processing…….results from disintermediation of third parties

Non-repudiation comes from the fact that…….all the activities made by any entity…….in blockchain-based system…….are digitally signed….using private key…..so that later…….one one can deny…….saying that…….it is not me.

Consensus based validation…….implies that…….a new block…….can be added…….to blockchain…….only if…….the majority of the nodes in the network…….agrees upon……. So…….it prevents…….the system…….from single point of control .

Last but not the least…….use of smart contracts…….allows…….high level of autonomy…….and creation of decentralized applications.

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Agenda of the Tutorial

DLT, Blockchain, and Smart Contracts

Salient Features of blockchain and smart contracts enabled system

Trends and Domains Leveraging Blockchain Technology

Overview of India’s Strategy on Leveraging Blockchain

Preliminaries and Background: Creation of smart contracts in Ethereum and use of remix tool for cost computation

Demo of DApp – Flutter and Ganache Blockchain

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Rising Trends and Domains for Blockchains

Anshuman Kalla

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Agenda of the Tutorial

DLT, Blockchain, and Smart Contracts

Salient Features of blockchain and smart contracts enabled system

Trends and Domains Leveraging Blockchain Technology

Overview of India’s Strategy on Leveraging Blockchain

Preliminaries and Background: Creation of smart contracts in Ethereum and use of remix tool for cost computation

Demo of DApp – Flutter and Ganache Blockchain

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India’s Strategy on Leveraging Blockchain

Source: NITI Aayog, “Blockchain: The India Strategy - Towards Enabling Ease of Business, Ease of Living, and Ease of Governance”, (Draft Discussion Paper), Part 1, January, 2020.

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Four Directions Chosen by NITI Aayog, India

Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

Fertilizer Subsidy Supply Chain

Immutable and Verifiable University Certificates

Land Record Management

Anshuman Kalla

Source: NITI Aayog, “Blockchain: The India Strategy - Towards Enabling Ease of Business, Ease of Living, and Ease of Governance”, (Draft Discussion Paper), Part 1, January, 2020.

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Immutable and Verifiable University Certificates

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Educational Credentials and Certificates - Issues

Students’ credentials like transcripts, letter of recommendation and all kinds of certificates are important documents

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Educational Credentials and Certificates - Issues

Students’ credentials like transcripts, letter of recommendation and all kinds of certificates are important documents
Secure sharing is an integral part of education ecosystem and recruitment processes of companies

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Educational Credentials and Certificates - Issues

Students’ credentials like transcripts, letter of recommendation and all kinds of certificates are important documents
Secure sharing is an integral part of education ecosystem and recruitment processes of companies
Such credentials need to be

Carefully created and issued by organization and individuals
Securely shared by the recipients (i.e., students) and
Relevant data must be preserved for future use by the issuers

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Educational Credentials and Certificates - Issues

Students’ credentials like transcripts, letter of recommendation and all kinds of certificates are important documents
Secure sharing is an integral part of education ecosystem and recruitment processes of companies
Such credentials need to be

Carefully created and issued by organization and individuals
Securely shared by the recipients (i.e., students) and
Relevant data must be preserved for future use by the issuers

Dedicated department within educational institutes for managing educational credentials and certificates

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Educational Credentials and Certificates - Issues

Students’ credentials like transcripts, letter of recommendation and all kinds of certificates are important documents
Secure sharing is an integral part of education ecosystem and recruitment processes of companies
Such credentials need to be

Carefully created and issued by organization and individuals
Securely shared by the recipients (i.e., students) and
Relevant data must be preserved for future use by the issuers

Dedicated department within educational institutes for managing educational credentials and certificates
Numerous techniques to make credential legitimate and tamper proof.

Such as …..assigning a unique number, …….putting a hologram, ………affixing a student’s photograph, ………inscribing all the possible details of the students

like. ……date of birth, ……place of birth, ……parents’ name, ………and registration/enrollment number, …………on the credentials itself

Over the year the process has become quite complicated and time-consuming…

Even after issuing the credentials, ……..similar level of complexities arises ……..for the ones who are dealing with such credentials….for instance……companies, professors or research and development labs.

When a candidate applies for a job, …….the company carefully checks the authenticity of the received credentials. …………………If required, the company may contact the host institution……………. by phone-call or email to endorse the validity of the credentials.

In spite of following such a tedious process, the overall system is insecure, and is facing difficulty to deal with tampered and fake credentials……this can be seen in the next slide.

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Issues with Existing Certificate Issuance and Sharing

Source: NITI Aayog, “Blockchain: The India Strategy - Towards Enabling Ease of Business, Ease of Living, and Ease of Governance”, (Draft Discussion Paper), Part 1, January, 2020.

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Source: Mishra, Raaj Anand, Anshuman Kalla, An Braeken, and Madhusanka Liyanage. "Privacy protected blockchain based architecture and implementation for sharing of students’ credentials." Information Processing & Management 58, no. 3 (2021): 102512.

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Land Record Management

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Issues with Land Records and Registry System in India

Anshuman Kalla

Purchaser has responsibility to check and ensure the ownership
Poor maintenance of land records with multiple authorities involved

Registrars, patwaris, and revenue officers

Majority of pending court cases are pertaining to land disputes

Two-third of the pending cases as mentioned in source below.

Land registers are updated by multiple authorities asynchronously

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Blockchain for Land Record Management in India

NITI Aayog, Union Territory of Chandigarh, and its technology partner ventured to gauge the applicability of blockchain

Anshuman Kalla

Source: NITI Aayog, “Blockchain: The India Strategy - Towards Enabling Ease of Business, Ease of Living, and Ease of Governance”, (Draft Discussion Paper), Part 1, January, 2020.

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Blockchain for Land Record Management in India

NITI Aayog, Union Territory of Chandigarh, and its technology partner ventured to gauge the applicability of blockchain
The land records are digitized and immutably stored as a transaction on blockchain
Any change in the ownership gets registered and is trackable
Multiple entities identified for blockchain based land management system

Title holder of property, purchaser, govt. registrar, Government revenue office, Land survey office, Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), Financial Institutions, Financial Regulatory Authority (for monitoring purposes), Real Estate Companies or Appraisers, and Insurance Providers.

What all can be tracked?

Purchases and sales of land titles, mortgages and rentals, and notary services

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Agenda of the Tutorial

DLT, Blockchain, and Smart Contracts

Salient Features of blockchain and smart contracts enabled system

Trends and Domains Leveraging Blockchain Technology

Overview of India’s Strategy on Leveraging Blockchain

Preliminaries and Background: Creation of smart contracts in Ethereum and use of remix tool for cost computation

Demo of DApp using Flutter and Ganache Blockchain

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