Why Blockchain is a godsend for India
A series of blocks of documentation chained together. A shared digital ledger. An ultra secured, transparent method of documenting that has transcended the original purpose of managing cryptocurrency and spilling over into almost all sections that need security, transparency, and accessibility. We have plenty of ways to look at Blockchain. We will restrict the view it offers for improving a developing nation like India. Where we can make Blockchain work, where the chain will help the country move forward. Fast.
What can blockchain do, specifically for India?
Stretch the supremacy of AADHAR further
Let us take our most precious collective data. AADHAR. Ever since this document was imagined there has been tremendous debate on the risks it possesses. How the national data once breached is a serious threat to the country. How people will be manipulated with the breached data. How this number makes us slaves to data and so on and so forth. With Blockchain at least your data is secured and tamper-proof. Without your consent, no one can even see it. AADHAR by its design is quite up to date in technology. It will not be a problem to implement blockchain in AADHAR. And once that is done, the data can be used extensively without breaching the security. We can expect a broader use, without worrying about the threats. And then.
We can multiply the linked and called out databases in parallel blockchains. Consider AADHAR as the generic, primary database, add to it the medical database of the nation, the financial database of the nation, the legal database, the social database and by their interdependence, be interlinked. Now the parallel blockchains, free to be called out without the obligation of identity will be the real game changer for us.
Let us think the practical results possible
Consider Ramesh, who frequently falls ill. Identity of Ramesh and the total medical processes Ramesh has undergone, with the checkups, treatments, medicines are linked through the medical and AADHAR blockchains. And then when a pandemic hits, the collective database will bring Ramesh forward as a more vulnerable section and accordingly care and security will be established. Rather than doing it en mass with a very fragile resource pool, this way the optimized use of resource is ensured. In this whole process, only the information required is made accessible to the authorities and that too with the express permission of Ramesh.
In another situation, with a strong heat or cold wave the country can identify the affected regions and patients who are most at risk. Again the process of isolating and optimizing resources to provide best support is ensured.
As digital empowerment sweeps the country, forced by the pandemic, with parallel blockchain linked together, providing government aids and monetary support to the needy will be much easier. The bank account details, the financial status, all will be available and it will not even be necessary to access them manually. The program can automatically do this without any human interference. The poor is served, the secret is maintained, the political sharks who prey on those supports are hoodwinked. Many benefits to better the nation.
Corruption plagues India severely. High-value corruption. And once every agreement and deal is blockchain secured, there will still be loopholes. The transactions on cash are invisible. But once the total financial profile and every financial step of a person is secured in Blockchain, it is not hard to find the frequent deal makers and the consequent money trails. There have been some real changes in the real estate sector, considered one of the hotbeds of corruption. Once the personal profile and financial profiles are linked and the net is complete, a transaction is written in stone, address and bank details of the participants of the transaction is also written in stone. Now we can expect the government to multiply revenue through taxes.
Tax evasion is another complication that troubles India a lot. When only 2% of our population pays tax, we are at fault somewhere. Now we have the financial map of every transaction, we know every money trail. It is no more hard to have a complete understanding of the finance around us, monitor them, and tax them accordingly. As the recent discussions indicate, the government can even abolish income tax completely once they have blockchain and digitized the financial aspects completely. The abolished income tax can be replaced by transaction tax only where each transaction is taxed a nominal amount, at a flat rate or in the percentage of the amount transacted.
This is elementary blockchain. Primary tax evasion even today is because of a lack of information. When a person claims tax exemption in sum invested, it is too complicated to figure out if actually, the person is contributing the claimed money in medical or regular insurance or tax-saving investments. Once these branched out trees and loose ends are tied with Blockchain and coupled with multiple data storage and interlinking and the data is processed through artificial intelligence, this will arrest the fault immediately.
How long?
The government is putting resources behinds the idea. There is already enough independent support and research from the government to innovators and startups. There is also rapid progress in building government infrastructure. India chain, the initiative to build the all-encompassing government Blockchain database that will support the multiple utilities is growing fast. AADHAR linked, the work is on to build the primary structure as of now. Another couple of years is the rough estimate one can make to start building services and defenses based on the Blockchain infrastructure.