National Data Governance Framework: Govt To Soon Begin Assembling Anonymised Datasets

The Indian government will soon begin collecting large sets of anonymised databases under the National Data Governance Framework Policy, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.

“As we speak, the Indian government will soon begin to assemble large sets of anonymised dataset, collected and armoured under our National Data Governance Framework Policy,” the minister said at the G-20 Development Working Group event in Mumbai on Tuesday.

“With the vast community of Indian startups researchers and the country, the AI ecosystem, we expect this large database to be increasingly used by companies to train their AI models,” he added.

The government aims to catalyse innovation and create more effective policy and pragmatic solutions. Amongst the use cases for these datasets will be government and governance solutions, he said.

According to Chandrashekhar, applying innovative technologies to datasets will have a far reaching impact on ground development interventions at all levels, including small towns and villages, ushering in a new era of digital government.

The MoS said that the new policy will also have beneficial spillover effects. For instance, it will standardise the management, access, control and security, all digital systems and data on an unprecedented scale, he said.

Earlier this year, the government revealed its plans to unveil the new framework in a bid to set standards for the governance of citizens’ data by authorities. The policy aims to provide an institutional framework for data/ datasets/ metadata rules, standards, guidelines and protocols for sharing of non-personal data sets while ensuring privacy, security and trust, Chandrasekhar had said responding to a question in the Lok Sabha.

The draft National Data Governance Framework Policy, released earlier this year, also proposed establishment of India Data Management Office (IDMO) to oversee the formulation of all specific standards and guidelines on all aspects of data storage and data anonymisation.

Meanwhile, Chandrasekhar also said that the developed and developing nations need to work together for long-term development. It is critical to find the right balance between data sovereignty and protection on one hand, and the notion of a “Data Commons” that could benefit the global community, he added.

It must also be noted that the Centre last month released the much-awaited draft of the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022. The government has proposed creation of an online redressal forum and a Data Protection Board of India, and a fine of up to INR 500 Cr for non-compliance.