India's Maharashtra state eyes blockchain to combat certificate forgery

A widespread diploma forgery has been reported in India in recent times, which has been linked to the intense competition in India’s job market.

To counter the rise in document forgery, the Maharashtra State Board of Skill Development (MSBSD) has launched a new blockchain verification system to ensure transparency for genuine qualifications. The new system is described to be the world’s largest educational blockchain system, and the MSBSD had to proceed despite the union government’s pending position on blockchain technology and digital currency.

The Maharashtra State government recently partnered with LegitDoc, an Indian blockchain startup. LegitDoc is owned by Crossforge Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Their system has facilitated issuing and verifying about one million digital diploma certificates for students of MSBSD across eight academic years.

Legitdoc provides each student with a digital file “certficate_LegitDoc.zip”, containing the original PDF diploma certificate issued by MSBSD and its corresponding blockchain proof file generated by the LegitDoc software. Students can share their individual “certficate_LegitDoc.zip” files with anyone who wishes to verify them, such as employers, universities, etc., and prove their legitimacy. There will be a unique fingerprint assigned to a particular PDF.

For every batch of certificates, the system will generate a “condensed fingerprint.” After completing this process, the certficates will be uploaded on the blockchain, as against the public key, and securely kept with the issuer. LegitDoc will also generate a unique proof file based on the blockchain for every PDF that has been generated.

With the blockchain-powered credential system, the government hopes to gain the following advantages: the certificates authentication process can be done instantly, from anywhere around the globe; only the students will have complete ownership of their certificates; and the system will be a robust and scalable way to stop the menace of forgeries globally, including countries that lack the necessary resources to adapt traditional digital solutions to combat this problem.

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