Makkal Peryedu (People’s Ledger)

Self-sovereign digital identity for the citizens of Puducherry.

In developing countries like India, identification plays a key role in achieving inclusive development as it enables effective and targeted identification of poor and vulnerable sections of the society. While Aadhaar provides biometric-based Unique Identification Numbers (UIDs), it does not authenticate personal data related to socio-economic status of an individual. Currently, multiple agencies within government certify different pieces of personal data for targeted identification using paper-based certificates and centralised databases.

This system offers no data privacy, poor data protection, no control over personal data and imposes heavy transaction costs on all stakeholders. A study in November 2018 showed that the annual cost to Government of Puducherry to issue four basic certificates (birth, community, residence, income) was USD 602,256 while the opportunity cost to people was USD 885,055 per annum.

‘Makkal Peryedu’ is a blockchain-based digital identification system that can be embedded into Aadhaar in a practical way, and aims to pseudonymize G2C interactions while ensuring effective and targeted identification. The solution plans to capture basic identity details from key data sources such as UIDAI and builds upon it by gathering more data from centralised digital databases of various departments, thus creating a ‘personal data wallet’ for an individual.

The use of a permissioned blockchain combined with Aadhaar based authentication enables privacy by design, control over personal data, tamper-proof audit logs and end-to-end organizational accountability. With smart contracts feature built into the blockchain protocol, the solution maximises governance efficiency while minimising government intervention in ensuring accuracy of data. With an API based integration system, the solution is scalable both horizontally and vertically and will be made accessible both over internet and USSD to work in low connectivity environments.

The estimated cost of the proposed solution is USD 842,721 including capital cost and O&M cost for a period of 5 years. The estimated net savings to the Govt. of Puducherry for the 5 year period is USD 1,206,376 and the estimated total savings including the opportunity cost to the people is USD 5,645,670 for a period of 5 years. The net present value for the total savings generated would be USD 4,217,833. The Social Welfare Department has already committed to spend USD 280,879 on the project to finance the component of community certificates. The remaining cost of project is expected to be met through internal resources, central government aid and from funding agencies.

Recently, the solution has been shortlisted under the AFD (Agence Française de Développement) sponsored CITIIS Challenge being implemented by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Govt. of India, for financial (USD 421,500) and technical assistance.

Key impediments to project include lack of available digital databases, legacy errors in socio-economic identification of people, inadequate client infrastructure and upfront high investment cost etc. 

Pseudonymizing G2C interactions and yet ensuring effective and targeted identification for service delivery and social safety nets is the most innovative element of our solution. Using blockchain technology, our solution provides consent-based, purpose specific disclosure of information that can affirm the identity of a citizen in a pseudonymized manner. 

For example, eligibility of a person for a scholarship based on income, age and community can be authenticated with a YES/NO, without revealing the actual income, age and community of the individual. The consensus offered by blockchain also eliminates the need for third party storage of personal data. 

Digital signing ensures only authorised functionaries can record personal data on blockchain, while Aadhaar based authentication ensures purpose-specific disclosures with consent, except where otherwise permitted by law. The tamper-proof audit logs provided by blockchain technology ensure end-to-end organizational accountability. Collection, usage, retention and disclosure of personal data shall be strictly lawful and shall be managed by Smart Algorithms running on Smart Contracts that would decide data access conditions based upon pre-defined criterion. 

Beyond what is legally permitted, collection of any personal data shall be strictly on the basis of consent, for a specific-purpose, which can be securely destroyed after serving the purpose. The blockchain’s distributed and decentralised architecture, with the nodes on GI Cloud of NIC (National Informatics Centre) offer high degree of security and data protection while smart contracts and advanced name matching algorithms ensure accuracy of the personal data. 

Interoperability of the solution with use of API based integration, and accessibility over both internet and USSD ensures access for all individuals to inspect, update and disclose personal data. Required changes to the laws and rules, standard operating procedures, widespread information and awareness campaigns for public shall ensure openness, transparency and organizational compliance.

‘Makkal Peryedu’ aims to create a ‘personal data wallet’ that will be integrated with birth and death registration system, and the system of issuing community, income and residence certificates in Puducherry. The personal data wallet captures socio-economic parameters from the above databases which an individual can inspect and share by giving consent using Aadhaar based authentication, thereby catering to low literacy populations with limited digital skills.

The solution is scalable in future both horizontally and vertically to be integrated with any number of digital databases like educational records, health records, driving licences etc., which are currently existing in silos. All this would be done in such a manner that the confidentiality of the personal data is maintained. 

Users of the solution would be able to access their personal data wallet using Aadhaar across multiple devices of various form factors like desktops, tablets and mobile phones as well as in local languages.

The solutions is developed in a ‘plug and play model’ with its communication channels in open formats. These channels can connect, authenticate and fetch the required information of a citizen from multiple datasets. Standardized data sets that are developed over JSON files along with their schemas are published, that can be used to translate and transform heterogeneous data sources into an acceptable form.

The solutions makes use of API based integration for connecting with various public data sources for obtaining information directly from them, thus ensuring faster integration for authentication. Secure data portability is ensured with the use of REST APIs, that use JSON as well as XML based communication. The integration architecture is designed using Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) principles. 

The system shall also make use of advanced algorithms such as Name Matching Technologies that would ensure that the citizen names are matched across multiple databases followed by other verifications to identify inter-relationships between such databases thus building larger identity data structure.

In order to minimize the risk of network connectivity failure, the solution shall be accessible both over Internet as well as USSD, for providing uninterrupted service delivery. While primary data recording would require dedicated internet connectivity, citizens will have option to manage their personal data either over internet or USSD using normal feature phones, or even via mediated / managed service delivery centres. Citizen interfaces shall be available in local languages and interactive voice response to ensure that even people with low literacy levels can be catered.

Our vision is to cover the entire population of Puducherry under the self-sovereign digital identification system by creating a decentralised and distributed identity database in place of silos of databases with multiple departments. Also to ensure that all government certificates be attested through this system. 

The solution has been shortlisted by AFD (Agence Française de Développement) under the CITIIS Challenge (City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain) for technical and financial (USD 421,500) assistance.

Our team has program management and IT skills. We need to hire expert service providers to develop and deploy the solution for which the cost is included in the project budget. 

As a Government-led initiative, the goal is not to seek profitability but to ensure long-term sustainability by bringing efficiency in governance. The estimated cost of the proposed solution is USD 842,721 which includes capital cost and O&M cost for a period of 5 years. The estimated net savings to the Govt. of Puducherry for the 5 year period is USD 1,206,376 and the estimated total savings including the opportunity cost to the people is USD 5,645,670 for a period of 5 years. The net present value for the total savings generated would be USD 4,217,833 considering a discounting rate of 10%.

World Bank’s Principles of Identification 2017 served as a guiding framework for conceptualising ‘Makkal Peryedu’. We believe that participation in Mission Billion Challenge would help us network with global experts and forge collaborative partnerships in further development and deployment of the solution for Puducherry. 

Lack of available digital databases of existing personal data with the Government, no standardization of data structures from disparate data sources, inadequate client infrastructure, lack of awareness and digital skills among the field level functionaries and lack of legal framework for organizational accountability and grievance redressal are some key barriers for the solution to succeed.

Digital databases shall be created simultaneously with the implementation of the project and cost of client infrastructure is incorporated into the project cost. Capacity building measures and necessary legal amendments shall be made to ensure organizational compliance.