Govt releases revised Draft National Data Governance Framework Policy

The government has invited inputs on the Draft National Data Governance Framework Policy (NDGFP) that aims to enhance access, quality, and use of data, in line with the current and emerging technology needs of the decade.

The development comes after a strong criticism of the previous ‘Draft India Data Accessibility and Use Policy, 2022’, which was opened for public consultation in February, and had aims to “radically transform India’s ability to harness public sector data”. It proposed to permit the licensing and sale of public data by the government to the private sector.

“The NDGFP standards and rules will ensure data security and informational privacy. This Policy shall be applicable to all government departments and entities and rules and standards prescribed will cover all data collected and being managed by any government entity,” the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said in the latest draft policy.

It also said this policy would be applicable to all non-personal datasets and data and platform, rules, standards governing its access and use by researchers and start-ups; and State governments would also be encouraged to adopt the provisions of the Policy and rules, standards, and protocols as applicable.

“An ‘India Data Management Office (IDMO)’ shall be set up under the Digital India Corporation (DIC) under MeitY and shall be responsible for framing, managing and periodically reviewing and revising the Policy,”the MeitY said.

The IDMO will also be responsible for developing rules, standards, and guidelines under this Policy that will be published periodically, it said.

For instance, earlier, different States would send data through different agencies, so now a single point is being made so that all data come there and quick decisions can be made after collating the data received.

The last date of submission for inputs/ feedback is June 11.

The IDMO will also prescribe rules and standards including anonymization standards for all entities (government and private) that deal with data that will cause every government ministry / department / organisation to identify and classify available datasets and build a vibrant, diverse and large base of datasets for research and innovation.

Private companies can also create datasets and contribute to India datasets programme, it said.

Data anonymisation

For data anonymisation, the IDMO will set and publish data anonymisation standards and rules to ensure informational privacy is maintained, it said.

“The detailed implementation guidelines including the data sharing toolkit, operational manuals, mechanisms for data anonymisation and privacy shall be brought out by the IDMO...The IDMO may decide to charge user charges/ fees for its maintenance/ service,” it added.

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