Big Data for Better Governance

What is the issue?

• Collaborative federalism with focus on balanced regional development is a prime objective of the Niti Aayog.
• Effective use of big data analytics is called for, for making this developmental objective more meaningful.

What is the need?

• There is a notable information asymmetry at various administrative levels.
• This is evidently hampering the targeting of various government measures and keeps the outcomes largely undermined.
• There are entities that have outlived their utility and others that use outdated systems and processes.
• This has to be eliminated and existing legacy systems need to be analysed with clear data points.
• The UN, by a resolution on official statistics, expects India to produce quality statistics.
• The purpose is to shed enough light on the true picture of material and human resources and the needs and demands of the societies.

What should be done?

• Data - Statistics must be offered as a public good for the government, enterprises and the general public.
• The big data analytic centres do have micro data, geo-coded, along with tools for extraction of relevant information.
• There has to be a quantitative analysis on all these.
• There is also the need for devising a formula for aggregation of data to enforce a code of practice.
• Area of focus - Health, education and demography are the significant and demanding areas in this regard.
• Web-based reporting for timely collection, collation and dissemination should be taken up.
• Segregating the data under different socio-economic heads would facilitate making appropriate response for concerns in each of them.
• Localisation - Data at the district level would enable understanding the true picture at the ground level.
• The impact of developmental schemes gets captured at the smallest administrative level.
• This would be supportive for better implementation of policy initiatves and making course corrections.
• Organisation - Establishing such a massive data pipeline is indeed highly challenging.

• It should thus be ensured that data once captured are handled in an organised fashion.
• These are essential for making the developmental initiatives meaningful.

Source: Business Standard