Yogi Adityanath-led UP government will introduce blockchain technology in its Revenue Department to store and protect land-related data in the next six months. Since not many states in the country are focussing on this next-generation technology, the UP government is likely to become the first state to fully adopt it.

A major reason the government is pushing for the use of blockchain in the Land and Revenue Department is that 67 per cent of total 22 crore people in UP, who live in rural areas, are dependent upon the land to earn a living. The department processes scores of land-related documents every day through the manual process, which is vulnerable to manipulation and modification. The use of blockchain technology would eliminate chances of fraud, which could also help in curbing corruption.

So far, only four states -- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka -- are focussing on working towards blockchain, an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently. But unlike the UP government, which has decided to fully adopt the technology, all are still running blockchain pilot projects.

According to a report published in Business Standard, UP Chief Secretary Anup Chandra Pandey has given a six-month time to the senior officials of the department to introduce the technology after building proper infrastructure for the same.

For those unfamiliar with the term blockchain, it is an anonymous online ledger that uses the data structure to simplify the way we transact. It allows users to manipulate the ledger in a secure way without the help of a third party. For example, a bank's ledger is connected to a centralised network but blockchain is anonymous, protecting the identities of the users, making it more secure to carry out transactions. If applied to record and process data in government departments, it can bring efficiency into the system by negating the redundancy. Details put into the system based on blockchain will allow all related departments to see and make changes in real-time in a completely secure environment, thereby improving security and efficiency.

The draft notification in this regard will be prepared in a week before it is to the state Information Technology Department for further implementation. Introducing blockchain technology can ensure the security of land-related data, revenue records, online registration and verification of land records.

After its successful execution in the revenue department, the Yogi Adityanath government plans to introduce the technology in other departments of the state as well.