A draft data policy has been published by the central government. This policy states that all data collected, maintained, and generated, by every government ministry and agency shall be open and shareable. The government could also monetize and earn from detailed datasets that have undergone value addition.

Overview:

The policy has been named “Draft India Data Accessibility & Use Policy 2022.” It states that the Indian Data Council (IDC) and the India Data Office (IDO) will be in charge of forming metadata standards and enforcing them. IDC will act as the regulatory authority.

The IDC will be made up of the IDO and data officers from five government departments, while the IDO will be set up by the Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology (MeitY) to streamline data sharing and access sharing across the government and other stakeholders.

Tasks of the Indian Data Council

The IDC will be tasked with developing frameworks for defining high-value datasets, finalizing metadata standards and data, and monitoring policy implementation. The various State Governments and Departments will be nominated to the IDC on a rotating basis, with each department having a two-year term.