The Indian government’s National Power Training Institute (NPTI) has organized a program entitled “Blockchain Technology” to take place at various NPTI locations. Three of them have already been scheduled.
One will be on Jan. 6 -10 in Nangal, followed by one on Feb. 17 – 21 in New Delhi, and then on March 16 – 20 in Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh.
The National Power Training Institute, under India’s Ministry of Power, is offering blockchain training in multiple cities throughout the country. Participants will learn about blockchain technology, its use cases, smart contracts, Ethereum, cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, and even mining.
National Training Institute’s Blockchain Program
“The widespread popularity of digital cryptocurrencies has led the foundation of blockchain, which is fundamentally a public ledger to share information in trustworthy and secure way”, the program’s overview reads. “Blockchain technology is an emerging technology suitable for decentralized and transactional sharing of data across a large network of untrusted participants. By using this technology one can maintain continuously-growing list of records called blocks and link them in a distributed manner (blockchain), potentially in such a way that these are secured against tampering.” The description continues:
Considering the growing importance of blockchain technology and its potential in different sectors, this five-day training program is planned and sessions would be delivered by experts from the Industry.
The five-day program consists of 14 sessions, a lab, hands-on experiments, and open discussion. Among the topics attendees will learn are blockchain, its use cases, smart contracts, ledgers, the Ethereum framework, the concepts and applications of cryptocurrency, the integration of crypto and blockchain, Bitcoin, and mining.
The Blockchain Technology program timetable showing topics that will be covered.
Registration is free and each course can have up to 50 participants. The program is organized by NPTI and sponsored by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Training and Learning (ATAL) Academy. The target audience for the blockchain program is postgraduate students, faculty members, and Ph.D. researchers of AICTE-affiliated educational institutions. Prior to the three scheduled courses, the NPTI organized two-day workshops and a five-day blockchain technology program in September at its headquarters in Faridabad, its website details.
The NPTI is a national apex body for training and human resources development under the Indian government’s Ministry of Power. It currently has nine locations throughout the country – in Faridabad, New Delhi, Nangal, Neyveli, Durgapur, Guwahati, Nagpur, and two in Bengaluru. Two more locations are being established in Alappuzha and Shivpuriand, which will soon be operational.
The Power Ministry was where Subhash Chandra Garg was assigned to after he left the Department of Economic Affairs. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi reshuffled his cabinet soon after Garg’s interministerial committee submitted a draft bill to categorically ban cryptocurrencies, except state-issued ones. Garg has since resigned from the Power Ministry.
Growing Number of Blockchain Courses
According to the list of programs on the AICTE website, there are many other crypto and blockchain-related courses organized by various educational establishments throughout India. The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Puducherry, for example, is hosting a five-day national workshop from Dec. 27 to 31 on “Blockchain Application Development Using Hyperledger and Ethereum.” Among the topics covered in this workshop are cryptocurrencies and exchanges.
Other educational establishments offering blockchain programs include JNT University, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering, and Bangalore University. A number of institutes in the state of Kerala also offer blockchain-related programs including the Government College of Engineering, Adi Shankara Institute of Engineering and Technology, and Cochin University of Science and Technology. Kerala’s Information Technology Secretary Shri. M Sivasankar recently said that the state plans to produce 20,000 blockchain experts in the next two years.
The Indian government-backed learning platform Swayam also offers courses on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, one of which is scheduled to start in February.
