Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Blockchain Academy (KBA) of the state-run Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala (IIITM-K) has become the first Indian institution to be granted membership by Hyperledger project hosted by Linux Foundation.

With this, the city-based KBA has become an associate member along with Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, of the University of Cambridge, in the Hyperledger ecosystem, which was launched in 2016 with a technical and organizational governance structure and 30 founding corporate members.

An open source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies and achieve global collaboration of leaders in finance, banking, internet of things (IoT), supply chain, manufacturing and technology, Hyperledger aims to enable organizations to build robust, industry-specific applications, platforms and hardware systems to support their individual business transactions by creating enterprise-grade, open source distributed ledger frameworks and code bases.

The KBA, the first of its kind in the country is a joint initiative of the IIITM-K and the global Blockchain Education Network (BEN) and seeks to explore the possibilities of leveraging blockchain technology for public good, capacity building initiatives, promoting disruptive innovations and entrepreneurship.

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Bengaluru (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Bengaluru and neighbouring Chikkaballapura district for the Lok Sabha poll campaign on Saturday.

He will address mega rallies both in Bengaluru and Chikkaballapura.

Modi held mega rallies in Kalaburagi and Shivamogga last month. On April 14, he addressed a rally in Mysuru, during which he shared the dais with JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, and later held a roadshow in Mangaluru.

According to the state BJP, the Prime Minister is scheduled to address a mega public meeting at Chokkahalli village in Chikkaballapura district at 2 PM, covering Chikkballapur and Kolar Lok Sabha constituencies, and later at 4 PM he will participate in a massive rally in Bengaluru's palace ground, covering Bangalore North, Bangalore South, Bangalore Central and Bangalore Rural segments.

Bangalore -North, South and Central have been BJP's bastions, while Rural is represented by Congress' D K Suresh, brother of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

Former Minister K Sudhakar is the BJP candidate from Chikkballapur, its alliance partner JD(S) has fielded M Mallesh Babu from Kolar Lok Sabha segment.

BJP's sitting MPs Tejasvi Surya and P C Mohan are candidates from Bangalore South and Central respectively. Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje is in the fray from Bangalore North. In Bangalore Rural Deve Gowda's son-in-law and eminent cardiologist Dr C N Manjunath is contesting on a BJP ticket as per the arrangement with alliance partner JD(S).

Karnataka is going for polls in two phases. While14 Lok Sabha segments in the southern part of the state are going for election on April 26, in the second phase voting for the northern districts will be held on May 7.