Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics and Information Technology, has told the Parliament that the Draft National Data Governance Framework is currently being finalised by the government.
According to the minister, the Centre has prepared the Draft National Data Governance Framework Policy, which aims to ensure safety of non-personal and anonymised data from both government and private entities, besides offering better access to the research and innovation ecosystem.
Chandrasekhar shared this information in a written response to a question about operations of the India Data Management Office (IDMO) in the Monsoon Session of the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
As per reports, the draft includes plans for setting up the IDMO under Digital India Corporation to create, oversee, and reevaluate the policy as needed.
Chandrasekhar explained that the IDMO will work closely with certain ministries and state governments to standardise data management in each ministry in response to the question.
According to him, the regulation would make it safe for the ‘research and innovation ecosystem’ to access non-personal and anonymised data from both public and private sources.
He added that the IDMO would increase each government agency’s capacity and capability to provide more non-personal datasets for public use.
Chandrasekhar stated, “The policy aims to provide an institutional framework for data/datasets/metadata rules, standards, guidelines and protocols for sharing of non-personal data sets while ensuring privacy, security, and trust.”
“…it will accelerate inclusion of non-personal datasets housed within ministries and private companies into the India Datasets program,” the minister added.
According to him, the policy aims to follow a ‘whole-of-government approach’ toward data governance. It was further stated that the development and implementation of the policy would emphasise a collaborative and participatory approach.
Earlier, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) held an interaction with over 250 stakeholders from industry, start-ups, academia, think tanks, international alliances, and government officials on the policy.
While interacting with government representatives, the industry stakeholders requested clarification on the IDMO’s operations. They asked regarding provisions such as access to annotated datasets for AI innovation, collaboration with the private sector and social impact firms to build data capacity, and other things.
The Draft National Data Governance Framework Policy’s key features include modernising government data collection, standardising data management systems, applying to all departments and agencies of the government, non-personal datasets and data, and platforms, and establishing the India Data Management Office (IDMO).
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Additionally, the draft puts the IDM as a key component of the digital government architecture that, in turn, will accelerate Digital Governance to maximise data-driven governance. It shall provide greater scope for better, more informed decision making, enhanced program/scheme evaluation, and more efficient service delivery.
The Framework aspires to standardise the government’s data collection and management while catalysing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data led research and a startup ecosystem. Besides, it looks forward to accelerating the creation of common standard-based public digital platforms while ensuring privacy, safety, and trust.
Moreover, the state governments will also be encouraged to adopt the provisions of the policy and rules, standards, and protocols as applicable.
On May 26, 2022, MeitY released the Draft National Data Governance Framework Policy available for public comment.