India to Verify Diploma Certificates Using Ethereum Blockchain

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There has been an increase in the adoption of blockchain technology and Ethereum seems to be leading in this regard. There is currently a new partnership that will make India use the Ethereum blockchain to verify diploma certificates.

In a report credited to Cointelegraph, the Government of Maharashtra has announced a partnership with an India-based blockchain platform, LegitDoc, to implement a credentialing system using Ethereum blockchain to produce tamper-proof diploma certificates.

The process by which the certificate will be issued using Ethereum blockchain:

MSBSD Certificate PDFs are hashed to find unique, irreversible digital fingerprint.
Digital fingerprints are digitally signed by MSBSD and published onto Blockchain.
Unqiue blockchain proofs are computed and attached to Certificate PDF to form Certificate_legitdoc.zip file. This certificate zip file is issued to students.

The next step is certificate verification:

Verifier uploads Certificate_legitdoc.zip to MSBSD verification portal.
Verification portal parses and splits the uploaded zip file into Certificate PDF and Blockchain proof.
Verification portal calculates PDF fingerprint; Compares fingerprint and Blockchain proof data with the data put on the Blockchain for verification.

Targeted At Waging War against Document Forgery

According to the report, the partnership is targeted at waging war against the widespread document forgery, and this is the major reason why the Maharashtra State Board of Skill Development (MSBSD) refused to support India’s crypto ban narrative, which could bar them from leveraging Ethereum-based public blockchain.

Speaking with Cointelegraph, Neil Martis, the CEO of LegitDoc, said the manual method of verification will still be used by MSBSD until next year when all verifications will go digital.

According to Martis, a number of other local government authorities are currently showcasing interest in the nascent initiative:

“We have an active work order from the Govt of Karnataka (Dept of Information Technology and Biotechnology). We are in talks with the Government of Telangana (school education dept) and Higher & Technical education dept of Maharashtra to implement LegitDoc for their student community.”

National Institute of Technology and Ashoka University Are Also Showing Interest

The report further stated that mainstream institutions, including the National Institute of Technology (Surathkal) and Ashoka University, are also sternly interested in implementing a similar solution to fight against document forgery.

Highlighting the potential of blockchain technology in reducing frauds related to document forgery, Anil Jadhao, Chairman of MSBSD, said:

“In the last 10 years, there has been a rampant increase in forgery of government-issued documents which have caused huge financial & reputational losses to the stakeholders involved.”

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Tobi Loba

Tobi Loba is a passionate writer with a vast interest in the stock market. She joined the crypto ecosystem about three years ago and has written lots of ebooks and articles in relation to cryptocurrency and blockchain projects. Tobi Loba earned her degree at the University of Ibadan.