Maharashtra first in country to adopt next-gen tech for crime record maintenance

Maharashtra has become the first state in the country to implement the next generation technology named XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) for maintaining its crime records. In the first phase of the project, the state CID used the technology to generate its annual publication 'Crime in Maharashtra'.

The project was implemented by IRIS Business Services Limited, a Mumbai-based company having vast experience in XBRL.

According to a company spokesman, with this initiative, Maharashtra will become the first state to automatically generate its book 'Crime in Maharashtra' from next year, while others still struggle with a manual process. He added that once the taxonomy is finalised, the state can actually help other states with their own initiatives in this respect.

Explaining XBRL in layman's language, an official said: "In simple words, it's an information standard that is used for exchange of information. If two departments using XBRL want to pass on any information, that can be sent through XBRL."

"XBRL ensures that the surrounding information related to the topic will also be sent across. Like, if any information about a criminal is sent to some department, other peripheral information about the accused, like number of cases against him, his DNA details, etc, can be sent," he added.

"XBRL has built-in validation rules and this year NCRB has changed its format heavily, due to which we could not use the old technology. That's when XBRL came to our help," said Brijesh Singh, special inspector general of police, state CID.