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In 2017, The Economist published a story titled, "The world's most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data.” While the private sector realised this long back to improve efficiency, the governments are following suit to use ‘data’ for better governance. After Punjab, the Tamil Nadu government announced a Data Policy last week to enable all government departments to harness data for effective decision making in the State. The soul of policy is to use ‘data’ for the public good, said a Government Order.
“While Punjab announced the data policy in 2020, ours is very comprehensive,” said a senior Tamil Nadu government official.
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Data policy
The proposed data use policy is good on intent but lacks clarity on critical aspects of privacy and transparencyThe use of data in governance was one of the commitments made by the DMK government on assuming office last year. Chief Minister MK Stalin, Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and Information Technology Minister T Mano Thangaraj strongly advocated the use of ‘data’ in governance for better administration and transparency.
State-level data policies
The State-level data policies in India have been formulated primarily to improve quality and governance, prompting all departments to publish data in a machine-readable form. While the intentions are laudable, it is not easy to quantify these goals and benchmark where the State stands. The policy said that the Tamil Nadu government aims for outcome-based objectives to improve public service delivery and enabling evidence-based policy formulation, while maximising data sharing to enhance transparency.
Transparency in decision making
The use and sharing of open data will improve transparency. The government has committed to using data to improve decision-making, transparency and provide services to the citizens proactively, said Stalin.
Information Technology Secretary Neeraj Mittal tweeted that State’s Data Policy is the first for smart governance, and the Chief Minister has mandated its use for good governance.
Data-driven governance
IT Minister Thangaraj in November told BusinessLine that the contribution of the IT department to the Chief Minister’s ambitious target of TN becoming a $1 trillion economy is to play a vital role by helping in data-driven governance, transparency in governance and bringing investment.
Welcoming the data policy, Satyakam Arya, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu and Managing Director/CEO at Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt Ltd said Tamil Nadu’s Data Policy is a great milestone in the journey of good governance. The assurance of data integrity is the need of the hour and will help the business and government to take accurate decision.
Echoing a similar view, S Chandrakumar, Immediate Past Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu and Founder of Kauvery Hospital, said that high-quality data embedded in the government’s policy framework will help businesses innovate and grow.Through improved management of data, the recent policy can achieve the high-quality data needed to deliver better outcomes for society, he said.
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