SME Times News Bureau | 23 Jan, 2020
NITI Aayog released its vision for the National
Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP) today. The platform aims to democratize
access to publicly available government data.
It will host the latest datasets from various
government websites, present them coherently, and provide tools for analytics
and visualization. NDAP will follow a user-centric approach and will enable
data access in a simple and intuitive portal tailored to the needs of a variety
of stakeholders.
NDAP will spearhead the standardization of
formats in which data is presented across sectors and will cater to a wide
audience of policymakers, researchers, innovators, data scientists, journalists
and citizens.
The vision document was released by Dr Rajiv
Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, in the presence of Mr Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI
Aayog, senior officials from various ministries and state governments,
academics and researchers.
In his opening remarks, Rajiv Kumar said, ‘India
has made tremendous progress in generating and using data for policymaking and
programme implementation. It is now time to build on these efforts to further
strengthen the data ecosystem. I am certain that NDAP, with its mission to be a
one-stop and user-friendly data platform, will go a long way in transforming
India’s data ecosystem.’
Mr Amitabh Kant explained the context for the
development of NDAP, ‘NITI Aayog has always promoted and championed the use of
data in all spheres of governance. It is therefore natural that NITI Aayog
takes the lead in providing the nation with a simple and compelling platform
where various datasets can be accessed together.
This has been a longstanding gap in the data
ecosystem, which NITI Aayog is now seeking to try and address.’
Senior Adviser Anna Roy, who is leading this
initiative within NITI Aayog, expounded the need for NDAP: ‘We are seeking to
address three main gaps. One, all datasets are not published in a user-centric
manner that is analyzable and visually presented.
Two, there are a multitude of datasets out there
that is not easily accessible. The NDAP proposes a simple, interactive, visual,
and robust platform that will host various Central and state government
datasets.’
An inter-ministerial committee will oversee the
progress of the development of platform and a group of leading experts have
been inducted into an advisory group to provide technical guidance for the
development of the platform.
The success of the endeavour is dependent on the
cooperation and support of various stakeholders.
The development of NDAP will take place over a
period of one year. The first version of the platform is expected to be
launched in 2021.
The process will follow a user-centric approach,
and will incorporate feedback received from various users and stakeholders
throughout the course of its development.