[OKFN-IN] Government data portal set for take-off

[Pranesh Prakash]

I don't think this has been posted on this list yet.

<http://goo.gl/789OF>

Government data portal set for take-off
T. Ramachandran
KOCHI, October 1, 2012


The site is in testing phase now; full-fledged data uploading may begin a 
couple of weeks

Government portal data.gov.in, which will be used to share official data 
with the public, is set to be fully functional soon.

Now in beta or testing phase, the site has technically gone “beyond it,” 
and full-fledged data uploading could begin a couple of weeks after an 
official workshop scheduled for next month, CEO of the National Spatial 
Data Infrastructure R. Siva Kumar told The Hindu.

With this, India joins the rank of a growing number of nations that plan to 
use open data as a tool to promote transparency and efficiency in government.

The National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP), which provides 
the framework for official data-sharing, will apply to all “non-classified 
data collected using public funds held by various Ministries/ Departments 
/Subordinate offices.”

The NDSAP is intended to open up public access to such data “through 
established procedures and defined norms.”

An Open Government Partnership launched by the United States and seven 
other governments, and supported by many countries, acknowledges the 
“right” of citizens to seek information on government activities. Though it 
is not part of this initiative, India has collaborated with the U.S. in 
developing the Open Government Platform (OGPL) used for setting up this 
data portal.

The site that harbours the code for the Platform states that it will enable 
governments worldwide to create web and mobile applications to view, use 
and merge various data sets, provide online citizen services through forms, 
registrations and applications, and publish links to regulatory, 
statistical, and other information compiled by government agencies, among 
other things.

The open source architecture of the OGPL, based on content management 
system Drupal, will make it possible for developers to create applications 
fast and make use of the data in different ways.

It is raw data that will be uploaded on the portal, which citizens and 
organisations can put to diverse uses. Most of the data is expected to be 
available free of charge. And, certain categories will not be shared, for 
which negative lists will be drawn up, subject to a periodic review by an 
‘oversight committee.’

A few datasets from certain government departments have already been 
uploaded to the site, which also features some mobile apps.

The government has chosen ‘data controllers’ from different Ministries, 
Departments and organisations to oversee data access and a workshop is 
being conducted for them next month.

Open data activist Nisha Thompson described the launch of the beta site as 
“an incredible first step,” but noted, “The restrictions and limitations in 
its governing policy, the NDSAP, will prevent the creation of a true open 
data site and be a challenge that the growing community of open government 
proponents will have to take up.” She hoped that the government would 
interact with open data groups around the country “in order to really 
understand that this site is something that people want and will use,” and 
that high-value datasets would be made available in due course.

The NDSAP has set the ground rules for sharing government data in both 
human and machine readable forms through the portal. Various government 
departments and organisations are to upload a certain number of datasets on 
the portal, and deadlines have been set for this process.

The portal will list three catalogues — a dataset catalogue featuring 
platform-independent, machine readable data in various file formats and 
other technical information associated with these, including the data 
source. The tools catalogue will include a list of tools available to 
access the data. The apps catalogue will detail the apps available.

The portal also showcases a Developers’ Corner, where agencies, 
organisations, or individuals could share mash-ups created with the data 
sets. Programmers and developers will be encouraged to review the datasets 
and create applications or programmes to add value to the data.

The policy provides for open, registered and restricted access to data. 
While the open category will include a data-sharing process that is “easy, 
timely, user-friendly and web-based without any process of 
registration/authorisation,” data in the registered access category will be 
available only through a process of registration/authorisation by the 
respective Departments/organisations and only to “recognised 
institutions/organisations/public users, through defined procedures.” Data 
categorised as ‘restricted’ will be available only “through authorisation.”

-- 
Pranesh Prakash
Policy Director
Centre for Internet and Society
T: +91 80 40926283 | W: http://cis-india.org
PGP ID: 0x1D5C5F07 | Twitter: @pranesh_prakash

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