Meet the Hyperledger India Chapter community! - Part II – Hyperledger Foundation

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2020 has been a tough year for everyone. The world is now in a new phase, where no one knows when things will return back to normal. It is really bitter and harsh. Yet, despite obvious hardships, the crisis inspired innovations and, yes, encouraged a lot of community contributions.

This Year Saintgits College of Engineering joined hands with Hyperledger India Chapter to organise “Women in Blockchain – a Panel Discussion,” with an objective to accelerate the powerful partnerships of women to lead in the education, development and promotion of blockchain technologies. There has always been a general conception that technology is hostile to women. There are people who believe technology is not feminine. There are people who question the ability of a woman to start a business. They believe women are too risk-averse to start a new business. It’s high time these age-old myths were busted. They need to be busted from their very roots. “Women in Blockchain” was the right platform to bring in amazing women from the field of blockchain technology who have placed their imprints in the technical arena. The event aimed to be a myth breaker demonstrating to the world how successful women have overcome their barriers to be world class leaders in blockchain technology, highlighting their accomplishments in the community and offering actionable tips for “How to start a successful career in Blockchain.“

The following female voices were there on the panel.

• Dr. Jane Thomason, Co-Founder and Chief Inspiration Officer of Fintech Worldwide
• Ms. Shalini Warrier, Executive Director, Chief Operating Officer and Business Head 
• Ms. Nappinai N S, Advocate, Supreme Court of India 
• Ms. Darshitha Gillies, CEO Maanch; Advisor, Impact Investor; Philanthropist 
• Ms. Sosu Alex, Blockchain Technical Architect at Tata Consultancy Services 

In addition, we also had the privilege of organising the Hyperledger Asia Pacific Study Circle for the course “Introduction to Hyperledger Blockchain Technologies” by the Linux Foundation, which is hosted in the edX platform. Since this is an introductory course, we focused on  nontechnical, business-oriented audiences and students so as to equip them with basics of Hyperledger technologies and eventually prepare them to take the certification exam by the Linux Foundation.

Looking forward to contributing more, and I request everyone who is involved in blockchain space to join our journey.

Aneena Ann Alexander
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Saintgits College of Engineering-Kerala

Hyperledger turned five this year, a great milestone for Hyperledger and its community. I started this year by getting acquainted with Hyperledger India Chapter (HIRC) and its first event of the year, “HyperHack 2020.” I participated with my team and won the Hackathon as runner-up. It was a well executed event by the community and saw participation from across Asia Pacific. I had been working on various Hyperledger project implementations, but this event got me and many others like me to connect to the India community.

I also got introduced to the “Hyperledger Noida Meetup Group” and became its co-organizer. 

During the middle of the year, HIRC organized the “Blockchain Stories 2020” event. That saw huge participation by industry and academic experts who shared their blockchain journey, solutions and experiences. I myself participated at the event and shared our product and experience with the community. Along with many enthusiasts, I got the chance to volunteer at the event. It was a great success that helped the community membership grow and achieve 1,000 followers and beyond.

In the last quarter of the year, HIRC organized “Blockchain Techfest,” which allowed the community to know about various Hyperledger projects, connect with their maintainers and learn how we can contribute to them. Volunteering at this event and at the “5th year anniversary” got me connected to many other Hyperledger enthusiasts and various meetup group organizers and gave me the opportunity to work with them to spread the word.

I feel that this journey has just begun. I am looking forward to contributing to the community more actively here in India and abroad; and to a better new year for all who live on this Earth, people, plants, animals and birds alike.

Vikram Sharma
Certified Hyperledger Fabric Administrator
Senior Blockchain Architect,  HCL Technologies Ltd.
Co-organizer, Hyperledger Noida Meetup Group
Member, Hyperledger India Chapter 

Every journey starts with a challenge, and challenges become memories and memories become a service. With that said, my exploration started with the Hyperledger India Chapter, and it’s time to share the memories. The year started with small but committed community members sharing their thoughts and answering questions on Hyperledger projects, helping learners to begin their journey. Fast forward to today, and we see a much larger community of members sharing their thoughts and answering questions brought up by new learners.

Many individuals from the India community do participate in Hyperledger project meetings, working groups and special interest groups. I am proud to be part of the Language Translations WG, Learning Material Development WG and Climate Action SIG, as well as the Besu, Iroha, Sawtooth and Indy projects.  

The members have shared their solutions and tutorials to increase awareness and build community participation. The number of blockchain enthusiasts showing their interest in Hyperledger India Chapter activities is remarkable.

While 2020 turned out to be a milestone year, there is more to achieve in 2021. I wish for and I will make every effort to build an even stronger and better community for Hyperledger.

Ravi Vasagam
Blockchain & DevOps Consultant
CTO, ENACT eSolutions

This blog post concludes our series of blog posts featuring the community. The very first event of 2021 is planned to be held in March. HyperHack 2021 will be organized in collaboration with the Saintgits College of Engineering. Reach out to the co-leads of the Hyperledger India Chapter for more information to know how you or your organization can be part of the event.

Special thanks to Amol Kulkarni for laying the cornerstone to the Hyperledger India Chapter. Also, gratitude to Shon Joseph, Ajay Jadhav, Kiran Kalyan Kulkarni, Ankita Patidar, Lakshay Gaur, meetup organizers across the country, event coordinators, poster masters and many more. They have all been a major part of our journey this year!

We would have loved to hear from all of you in this blog series.

Want to join us? Join the Hyperledger India Chapter mailing list, follow us on LinkedIn, chat with us on Rocket.Chat.