Open data, open government

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 Open data, open government

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• Data Driven government : The author feels that big steps are now needed to build a data-driven governance architecture. He makes the case for "audacity of hope" by saying that mere pure data collection or access to consumer behaviour won't change India. What will change is the ability to solve social and governance problems using that data.
• AI + open data = Paradigm Shift : Data driven innovation can bring big changes. Businesses are witnessing "Datafication". That brings with it data management, storage and privacy laws. The EU has enacted its GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and became a pioneer. India too is in the process of collaboratively developing the data protection laws. (How?)
• Open Government Data (OGD) : It is a silent, powerful worldwide movement. More than 100 governments have already signed a charter to proactively share data collected by govt. departments, for public consumption. Accountability and transparency grow through collective problem-solving.  CONCEPT
• OGD : Open Govt. Data means entire data collected by a government is published, including budgets, spendings, healthcare, climate records, agri production stats etc. This is a 'pot of gold', a national asset, that is sadly under-utilised in India.
• Three reasons for hurrying up now : (1) This data is for citizen welfare so let them benefit from the info., (2) Such data (subsidies, welfare schemes) increase transparency and build trust, and (3) It gives the path to create technology led innovations unlocking economic value, helping the poorest.
• How exactly? Regular data on annual crop production + soil data health cards + meteorological data can help proper and customised crop insurance solutions (with risk-based pricing). There are endless use cases.
• What has India done? The MeitY has built a policy. India has 1.6 lac data sources and 100 departments have 4015 APIs. But execution is not good. Hence final consumption by data scientists is minimal, so solutions are few.
• 5C framework for India : If we want to double farmers' incomes by 2022, provide universal healthcare and SME micro loans properly, here is a framework - (1) Ensure completeness of data stacks alongwith tech integration (like blockchain or IoT), (2) Comprehensiveness of data will provide end to end picture (not the scene today), (3) Clustering of data sets and APIs, to help build applications, (4) Build Anchor-Cases, an example being Aadhar (for financial inclusion), and (5) Comprehensive governance framework to regulate OGD use.
• Summary - If the multiple data sets collected by government regularly are neatly published for common use, huge economic value can be unlocked. That is the global open government data concept also.

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