Centre to monetise data deposited with it; issues draft of 'India Data Accessibility and Use Policy'

Narendra Modi Government has issued a draft of 'India Data Accessibility and Use Policy' to monetise the data deposited with the government of India. The policy aims to radically transform India's ability to harness public sector data for catalysing large scale social transformation. 

See Zee Business Live TV Streaming Below:

With this policy, any data sharing will take place within the legal framework of the country, its national policies and legislation, as well as the recognised international guidelines.

The government will sell the collected and secured data in all departments and ministries for research, and other use, as reported by Zee Business reporter Ambarish Pandey. 

For this purpose, a new department named "India Data Office" will be created under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY).
With the implementation of this policy,  every Ministry and Department will prepare its own meta data and data standards. Furthermore, data can be purchased through the above-mentioned new department.

The MEITY has further highlighted the objectives and purposes of the 'India Data Accessibility and Use Policy'. These are as follows:

1) Maximising access to and use of quality public sector data

2) Improve policymaking, evaluation and monitoring

3) Enhancing the efficiency of service delivery

4) Facilitating the creation of public digital platforms

5) Protecting the privacy and security of all citizens

6) streamlining inter-government data sharing

7) Promoting transparency, accountability and ownership in data sharing and release

8) Building digital and data capacity, knowledge and competency of government officials

9) Promoting data interoperability

10) Ensuring greater citizen awareness with open data

11) Enabling secure pathways

12) Increasing the availability of high-value datasets

13) Improving the overall compliance to data sharing policies and standards

In this context, it can be said that India is accelerating towards an online population and the number of active internet users is expected to rise in the country by 45 per cent in the next few years, as per MEITY. It is also expected that the figures will touch 900 million by 2025 from around 622 million in 2020.

With the increasing digitalisation and engagement, the volume of data is also increasing exponentially, providing opportunities for better governance, service delivery and innovation in sectors critical for societal transformation.