• This is the first time the awardees are given blockchain-based digital certificates

• The digital certificates are unforgeable and easily verifiable, globally

• Earlier, CRUBN also facilitated first-of-its-kind digital degrees at IIT Kanpur, launched remotely by Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi

Kanpur, January 24, 2022: In a function held today for the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2022, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi gave digital certificates to the 61 winners of PMRBP 2021 and 2022 using a Block Chain and self-sovereign identity-driven technology developed by CRUBN, an IIT Kanpur incubated company, under the National Blockchain Project.

Due to the COVID-19 situation in the country, the event was held virtually on the occasion of National Girl Child Day today and also as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. The Awardees of PMRBP 2021 and 2022 along with their parents and concerned District Magistrate of their respective district joined the event from their district Head Quarters.

Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT Kanpur said, “We are glad to be part of this historic moment where blockchain and Self-Sovereign Identity are being used by the Ministry of Women and Child Development for the first time for digital certificates. On behalf of the institute, I would like to thank Hon’ble Union Cabinet Minister of Ministry of Women & Child Development, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani ji for appreciating our efforts and to Indevar Pandey, Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Child Development and his team for working with IIT Kanpur to successfully implement this project.”

This year, out of 623 participants, 29 Children have been conferred the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, for their exceptional achievements in Innovation, Social Service, Scholastic, Sports, Art & Culture and Bravery categories, belonging to 21 States and UTs. In total, 61 awardees of 2021 and 2022 got the digital certificates.

The digital certificates are stored on digital wallets installed on the mobile devices of the recipients. The certificates issued using the SSI-enabled blockchain driven technology are unforgeable, globally verifiable, selectively disclosable and sensitive to user content.

Earlier, IIT Kanpur became the first institute to launch digital degrees to 1723 outgoing students using this in-house technology at its 54th Convocation. The degrees were launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi as part of the 54th Convocation of IIT Kanpur, on December 28, 2021, with just the click of a button.

CRUBN was founded by 4 IITians, Nilesh Vasita (IITK), Mukul Verma (IITB), Ras Dwivedi (IITK) and Tanmay Yadav (IITK), under the mentorship of Padma Shri Prof. Manindra Agrawal and Prof. Sandeep K Shukla, both joint coordinators of the National Blockchain Project under National Security Council Secretariat.

About CRUBN:

CRUBN is a start-up incubated at C3i Hub, IIT Kanpur. It was founded in March 2020 by 4 IITians, Nilesh Vasita (IITK), Mukul Verma (IITB), Ras Dwivedi (IITK) and Tanmay Yadav (IITK), under the mentorship of Padma Shri Prof. Manindra Agrawal and Prof. Sandeep K Shukla, both joint coordinators of the National Blockchain Project. CRUBN is engaged in developing blockchain-based initiatives in land registry, fertilizer subsidy etc. It teamed up with Centre for Smart Governance, a premier software development agency of the Government of Karnataka, to develop a permissioned blockchain network as a decentralized trust and efficiency layer for all eGovernment Procurement (e-GP) systems across the country.