Open data, broadly refers to publicly available data that can be freely reused and redistributed, argue that open data allows citizens to hold governments accountable and thereby drive better service delivery. It is often heralded as a game-changer for transparency and government accountability. Research by PwC in Australia estimated that open data can add an additional 1.5% to the country’s GDP. In the Indian context, this could conservatively translate to about $22 billion.

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Open data and Government accountability and transparency:

• Governments across the world are increasingly sharing data with the public. For instance, the government of India’s open data initiative, data.gov.in, regularly publishes data released by different government ministries.
• In a new World Bank study, Michael Jelenic suggests that this type of open government data could improve both government accountability and service delivery.
• Such data collected by governments are for citizen welfare; hence they have an implicit right to benefit from the information
• Data sets such as government budget usage, welfare schemes and subsidies increase transparency and thereby build trust
• It paves the way to develop technology-led innovations which can unlock massive economic value, thereby benefitting even the poorest of poor, the under-represented and the marginalised
• Countries with more open data have higher levels of accountability (which includes less corruption and greater transparency in government work).
• Though Open government data is only associated with greater accountability when there is political agency for citizens to act on the data (e.g. free and fair elections).

Benefits of Open Data:

• Availability of data on yearly produce of crops, soil data health cards and meteorological data sets can help companies develop customised crop insurance solutions with specific risk-based pricing
• Data points around progress in literacy rates, demographic data and density of educators can help develop customised solutions for villages
• Information on the availability of facilities in public hospitals, current occupancy rates, hospital and demographic data can pave the way for curated health-care applications

Conclusion:

Since open data is a relatively new phenomenon, more research is needed as open data expands to explore its effects on service delivery. The time is now ripe for the government to create a data-driven governance architecture by building digital trust in the economy and its intent.