Blockchain This Week: TRAI Seeks Blockchain Support, Indian Govt To Power 50 Mn Rural Jobs With ImpactPPA And More

Blockchain This Week: TRAI Seeks Blockchain Support, Indian Govt To Power 50 Mn Rural Jobs With ImpactPPA And More

SUMMARY

A Curated Rundown On Important And Related Developments On Blockchain Frameworks [24 - 30 May]

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a draft proposing the introduction of blockchain to curb pesky calls and texts.

Marking the importance of blockchain and similar technologies, Nasscom Chairman Rishad Premji has stated that the industries, enterprises and their leaders today do not have the luxury of getting the time to wait and learn before modernising IT landscapes for being ready for the future.

Premji, at the day-long NASSCOM Summit in New York, further stated that the modernisation agenda is not only about technologies such as cloud, Application Programme Interface (API), Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain but it is as much about “culture, change management, about fundamentally revisiting the ways of working and about talent”.

Let’s take a look at this week’s blockchain-related developments!

TRAI To Adopt Blockchain To Enforce Regulatory Compliance

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has published the draft of The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 introducing the adoption of blockchain, a distributed ledger technology to curb pesky calls and text messages.

The TRAI has marked the adoption of Distributed Ledger Technology (or blockchain) as the RegTech to enforce regulatory compliance while allowing innovation in the market, as one of the important features of the regulation.

Speaking to Inc42, Dr Pandurang Kamat, Chief Technologist, Persistent Systems stated, “It’s heartening to see TRAI recognise the gaps in compliance and enforcement of the current DND system. Blockchain technology, if applied correctly, can put telecom subscribers truly in control of their privacy and provide an elegant technology solution to the regulatory compliance and enforcement of unsolicited communications.”

“Proving the unsolicited nature of a call or SMS will be speedy and unambiguous, offenders across multiple telecom carriers can be detected more efficiently and regulatory oversight can be automated driving cost down,” he added.

NewsDog Launches Beta Version Of Blockchain On Its App

Tencent-backed Chinese content aggregator NewsDog has announced the beta launch of blockchain technology on its app for android users, aimed at steering the news reading experience towards usage of cryptocurrency. It has partnered with a Singapore-based blockchain company, CNN (Content Neutrality Network), for migrating features that enable users to receive ‘cryptocurrency’ by engaging with different types of content on the app.

The mobile-based news app generates a cryptocurrency called CNN tokens for users that can be cultivated by interacting with the app content — upvotes, sharing, commenting, etc. NewsDog believes these features will add more engagement to the platform and cultivate user habits.

Broadridge Gets Blockchain Patent

US-based fintech firm Broadridge Financial Solutions with development centres in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Delhi, has been granted a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office for Blockchain technology developed by it that “enhances the processes for proxy voting and repurchase or repo agreements,” reported BL.

Commenting on the development, V Laxmikanth, Managing Director of Broadridge India stated, “Building upon Broadridge’s successful Blockchain-based bilateral repo pilot with two global investment banks, the patent demonstrates how Broadridge’s technology can streamline reconciliation processes, improve data management and reduce non-value added costs.”

Indian Government Likely To Power 50 Mn Rural Jobs Jointly With ImpactPPA

Ethereum-based blockchain platform ImpactPPA has been selected as the blockchain technology provider for a major economic development project in India. The government initiative, Bhartiya Harit Khadi Gramodaya Sansthan (BHKGS), which loosely translates to the “Indian Green Cotton Textile Village Development Organisation,” aims to employ up to 50 Mn women from various states in India.

The project, supported by the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), will install looms for textile work in women’s homes starting in Khanwan Village of Bihar. ImpactPPA will manage the engagement of a strategic partner’s technology to power the entire project using renewable energy, and then integrate and manage the supply chain with ImpactPPA’s blockchain technology.

Dan Bates, CEO of ImpactPPA stated, “It’s an honour to work with the government of India to deploy out technology solutions. A project of this scope clearly demonstrates that the use of renewable energy and blockchain technology has reached the mainstream. This partnership perfectly aligns with our fundamental mission to help improve the quality of life with energy as the engine for social good and greater economic justice.”

The programme enables women to generate over  $135 working from their homes. The MSME states that this will raise the average family income by 60% in some of the poorest villages of India where the minimum wage is less than INR 7,000.

News From Across The World

DataBlockChain Releases Its MVP

Cayman Islands-based blockchain firm DataBlockChain.io has officially announced the release of its MVP.

Commenting on the launch, DataBlockChain.io CTO Jesse Brown stated, “It’s a truly exciting breakthrough for our project and the data industry as a whole. It gives prospective data source vendors and data purchasers, the opportunity to see how our platform is truly changing the data marketplace. We believe that this will demonstrate to our community just how committed we are to providing real and tangible value to the global data ecosystem.”

Launched on May 23, the alpha version will allow for a selection from 100+ Mn records out of a pool of an already existing 3+ Bn records with valuable demographic and psychographic attributes being available for access in seconds. The data payment transaction will be conducted on the Blockchain in minutes in both an efficient and transparent manner, says the company.

Back to India. While blockchain is aimed to become one of the essential IT platforms in the future, sadly, most of the leading Indian universities are yet to adopt the same in their curriculum. As a result, India despite having a huge pool of coding talents scores poorly on blockchain-based talent scorecard.

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