Lok Sabha Question No. 2088 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-15
Subject: Use of Data for Apps
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: ANURAG SINGH THAKUR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2088

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 15.03.2017

## USE OF DATA FOR APPS

## 2088 SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR:

Will the Minister of Electronics & Information Technology be pleased to state:-

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  considering  allowing  data  collected  and  generated  by  various  Government  Ministries  and departments to be used by private players for building apps and services for commercial purposes and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government is considering to formulate a policy for the same; and
- (c) If so, the  details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY)

(a):    Yes,    Sir.    The  Government  has  already  decided  to  allow  data  collected  and  generated  by  Government  Ministries  and departments  to  be  used  by  individual  users,  communities  including  various  private  players  for  building  apps  and  services,  which enable  varied  and non-exclusive usages for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. Details are given below:

The Union Government through Ministry of Science and Technology has formulated the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP), while Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) is the nodal Ministry to implement the policy.

The NDSAP had identified MeitY as the nodal Ministry for the implementation of the policy through NIC, while Department of Science and Technology continues to be the  nodal department on policy  matters.  The policy  was notified by the  Department of Science and Technology (Govt. of India Gazette dated 17 th March  2012 ). The policy can be accessed online at https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP.pdf

The objective of the policy is to provide proactive access to Government owned shareable data along with its usage information in open/machine  readable  format,  through  a  wide  area  of  network  across  the  country,  in  a  periodically  updated  manner,  within  the framework of various related policies, rules, and acts of the Government.

Open Govt.  Data:  Potential  Impacts: Transparency,  Accountability,  Citizen  Engagement,  Collaboration,  Data  Driven  Decision Making, Innovation, Good Governance.

## NDSAP is applicable to-

- All sharable non-sensitive data  -- Government Ministries, Departments, & Associated    Offices

In pursuance of the NDSAP- Policy notified by Government of India in March 2012, MeitY through NIC has developed the Open Government Data (OGD) Platform India - https://data.gov.in/ to provide open access by proactive release of the data available with various Ministries/ Departments/ organizations of Government of India. Developed using Open Source Stack, the project is one of the initiatives under Pillar-6 (Information for All) of the Digital India initiative.

At  present,  all  the  Central  Government  Ministry/Departments  have  accepted  the  policy.  As  on  8 th March,  2017,  OGD  India  has 69,360 resources, 4,104 catalogs contributed by  104 Ministry/Departments, 1,026 Visualizations created, 444-Application Programming  Interfaces  (APIs)  created,  111  Chief  Data  Officers.  OGD  India  has  10.07  million  times  viewed  and  4.09  million datasets have been downloaded.

It  is  envisaged  that  Ministries/Departments  would  release  datasets  on  proactive/auto  consumption  basis  through  Application Programming  Interfaces  (APIs)/Web  Services  i.e.  in  line  with  the  principles  of  Open  by  Default  from  all  e-Government  Service Applications particularly from Digital India initiative of the Government.

Open Govt.  Data:  Potential  Impacts: Transparency,  Accountability,  Citizen  Engagement,  Collaboration,  Data  Driven  Decision Making, Innovation, Good Governance.

- (b)  and (c):  Yes,   Sir.  The Government has already formulated a license called Open Government Data License - India to support and compliment National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP) to provide legal backing to access Government owned shareable data.

In pursuance of the NDSAP and access of the Government data/metadata through Open Government Data (OGD) Platform, the Open Government Data License of India has been recently approved by the Ministry (MeitY) to ensure that the data sets released are not misused or misinterpreted (for example, by insisting on proper attribution), and that all users have the same and permanent right to use the data. The said License has been notified in the Gazette of India on 13 th February, 2017 .

https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/Gazette\_Notification\_OGDL.pdf

As per the Terms & Conditions of use of data under this license, 'The user must acknowledge the provider, source, and license of data  by  explicitly  publishing  the  attribution  statement'.  Accordingly,  the  purpose  of  downloading  the  data  by  the  users  against various categories, such as commercial, non-commercial, educational, R&D, social etc. can be captured. It would make the OGD platform more accountable.

Data also is one of the most valuable resources of modern governance, sharing of which enables various and non-exclusive usages for both  commercial  and  non-commercial  purposes.  Licenses,  however,  are  crucial  to  ensure  that  such  data  is  not  misused  or misinterpreted (for example, by insisting on proper attribution), and that all users have the same and permanent right to use the data. As  per  the  norms  of  the  NDSAP  Policy  &  OGD  License,  the  data  users  have  to  acknowledge  the  Data  Provider  by  explicitly publishing the attribution statement.

As on date many APPs have been developed by various communities using the data/metadata published through OGD platform for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.