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Workshop on Open Data for Human Development - Sessions Report
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/workshop-on-open-data-for-human-development-2015-06-report
<b>CIS facilitated a workshop on open data policy and tools for government officials from Sikkim, Meghalaya, and Tripura, and those from Bhutan and Maldives, in June 2015. The workshop was co-facilitated with Akvo, DataMeet, and Mapbox, and was supported by International Centre for Human Development of UNDP India. Here we share the workshop report and other related documents. The report is written by Sumandro, along with Amitangshu Acharya of Akvo.</b>
<p> </p>
<h2>Day 01, June 03, 2015</h2>
<p>The first day of the workshop began with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prem_Das_Rai"><strong>Mr. Prem Das Rai</strong></a>, Honourable MP, Loksabha, Sikkim, briefly addressing the participants. He contextualised the workshop against the background of technological changes and emerging opportunities of governance through effective usages of data. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._K._Shiva_Kumar"><strong>Dr. A.K. Shiva Kumar</strong></a>, Director of the <a href="http://www.undp.org/content/india/en/home/operations/projects/human-development/the-international-centre-for-human-development.html">International Centre for Human Development (IC4HD)</a>, UNDP India, welcomed the participants and initiated a panel discussion on data, ICTs and governance. The panel had three speakers: <a href="https://twitter.com/SrivatsaKrishna"><strong>Mr. Srivatsa Krishna</strong></a>, IAS and Secretary, <a href="https://www.bangaloreitbt.in/">Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology, and Science and Technology</a>, Government of Karnataka; <a href="http://www.cgg.gov.in/adg_profile.html"><strong>Dr. B. Gangaiah</strong></a>, Additional Director General, <a href="http://www.cgg.gov.in/">Centre for Good Governance</a>, Hyderabad; and <a href="https://twitter.com/sunil_abraham"><strong>Sunil Abraham</strong></a>, Executive Director, <a href="http://cis-india.org/">the Centre for Internet and Society</a>, Bengaluru and Delhi.</p>
<p><strong>Mr. Krishna</strong> spoke about the strategies adopted in setting up IT and ITES clusters in Cyberabad, Andhra Pradesh and in Bengaluru, Karnataka. He noted that tax cuts and accelerated land allocation are key to incentivising the private sector to set up IT and ITES units. Another major concern is that of ensuring supply of good quality IT workers. He also emphasised on the need for governments to build effective public facing electronic services - either in the form of Nemmadi Kendras, where people can physically go to access various government services, or in the form of mobile applications that bring different civic services into one digital interface, like <a href="https://www.bangaloreone.gov.in/public/default.aspx">Bangalore One</a> and <a href="https://www.mobile.karnataka.gov.in/goken/login.aspx">Karnataka Mobile One</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Dr. Gangaiah</strong> gave an extensive overview of the idea and applications of open data in the contexts of governance and development. He noted that government data (in India) often suffers from criticisms related to quality, as well as the lack of availability of the same in public domain. The key problems, he identified, for opening up government data in India are that most often the data is collected by a government agency for a very specific purpose, and the steps required to ensure wider circulation and use of the same is not taken (such as lack of documentation and interoperability of data); and that the government agencies most often consider the collected data as a source of power, and hence as something to be retained and not disclosed in full details. The slides from Dr. Gangaiah’s presentation can be accessed <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7xi0bhhq-OxcGs3UndvWDZJMlk/view?usp=sharing">here</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Mr. Abraham</strong>’s presentation highlighted several areas of concern when deploying data-driven techniques and solutions for human development challenges. He described how the current phase of open data discussions by central and state governments in India represent the third phase of ‘openness’ in governance in India. While the first phase focused on usage of Free/Libre Open Source Softwares in building electronic governance applications and information systems, the second phase involved embracing of open software standards and formats across government information systems and IT solutions. It is very important to note that with the third phase of openness focusing on opening up of data and information, both of these earlier foci of free and open source softwares, and open standards and interoperability are returning as complementary components to ensure seamless publication of open government data. However, he argued, when deploying data-driven techniques and solutions for human development challenges, it is imperative to remember three things: 1) collection of data is a time- and effort-consuming task, and hence must be optimised so as to not to take away time and effort from actual developmental interventions, 2) bad quality of development data is a structural problem, often emanating from the data being not useful to the person actually collecting it, and 3) availability of data does not automatically change or open up the process of decision-making.</p>
<p>The second session of the day started with a detailed presentation by <strong>Mr. T. Samdup</strong>, Joint Director, Department of Information Technology, Government of Sikkim, on the context, the making, and the salient features of the <a href="http://www.sikkim.gov.in/stateportal/Link/SODAAP%20Policy%20Document.pdf">Sikkim Open Data Acquisition and Accessibility Policy (SODAAP)</a>, 2014. He explained that the Policy mandates setting up of an online state data portal that will host all data sets generated by various agencies of the Government of Sikkim, and making such data available, subject to concerns of privacy and security, across all state government agencies and the citizens in general. The key needs driving this Policy have been that for availability of accurate and timely data on various aspects of human development in the state, as well as for reducing expenses and confusions due to duplication of data collection efforts. The slides from Mr. Samdup’s presentation can be accessed <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7xi0bhhq-OxcktuMm0tTGFMWHc/view?usp=sharing">here</a>.</p>
<p>The presentation by <strong>Mr. Samdup</strong> was followed by one by <a href="https://twitter.com/ajantriks"><strong>Mr. Sumandro Chattapadhyay</strong></a> of the Centre for Internet and Society on an initial set of questions and concerns that should be addressed by the implementation plan of the SODAAP. He took a detailed look at the four objectives mentioned in the Policy document, and discussed what tasks, decisions, and deliberations are needed to achieve each of those. In conclusion, he listed a set of core components of the implementation process that must also be discussed in the implementation plan document, namely: 1) governance and oversight structure for implementation, 2) incentivising government personnel for opening up data across departments, including financial support for the same, 3) metadata, documentation of data collection process, and implementing unique identifiers, and 4) developing processes of sharing of data between the Union and the state government, especially in reference to national Management Information Systems. The slides from Mr. Chattapadhyay’s presentation can be accessed <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7xi0bhhq-OxNUVGM1ZqcGhiUUU/view?usp=sharing">here.</a></p>
<p>These presentations were followed by a general discussion on various aspects of the SODAAP and the challenges to be overcome during its implementation. This session provided a general introduction to the SODAAP, especially for workshop participants who are not from Sikkim, and also set up the key questions to be discussed and answered while preparing the first draft of the SODAAP implementation plan.</p>
<p>After the second session ended, the participants were asked to individually write down the key challenges they identify for the implementation process of SODAAP. These responses were compiled by Sumandro and made available as a reference document for the implementation plan. The chart below summarises these responses.</p>
<p><iframe src="http://ajantriks.github.io/cis/charts/2015.08_sodaap-challenges/index.html" frameborder="0" height="400" width="700"></iframe></p>
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<p>In the third session of the day, <a href="https://twitter.com/joycarpediem"><strong>Joy Ghosh</strong></a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/amitangshu"><strong>Amitangshu Acharya</strong></a> of <a href="http://akvo.org/">Akvo</a> talked about the challenges of collecting structured born-digital data from the grassroots level, and how using mobile-based applications, like <a href="http://akvo.org/products/akvoflow/">Akvo FLOW</a>, can address such challenges. Akvo FLOW runs on all Android-based smartphones, and allows ground level development workers to directly feed data into the phone, as well as collect related materials like GPS location and photographs, based upon a form that is centrally designed and downloaded into their phones by the development workers. The data is then kept in the phone till it is sent back to the main server, where data coming from all different surveyors using the same form is shown on a map-based interface for easy navigation of the data across space and time. In this session, Mr. Acharya first introduced the participants to the issues around digital data collection, touching upon issues of ethics, capacity, prioritisation of data collection process along with tools. Mr. Ghosh then took over to describe the functioning of the tool, and then distributed several smartphones, pre-loaded with Akvo FLOW, among the participants for an applied data collection exercise where the participants walked around the NIAS campus and collected data using the FLOW interface. They returned to see their data mapped and analysed on the online dashboard. Their presentation can be accessed <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0kFsiLLpy0XdDM2TE5tckE5Zlk/view?usp=sharing">here</a>.</p>
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<h2>Day 02, June 04, 2015</h2>
<p>The second day started with two consecutive presentations by <a href="https://twitter.com/thej"><strong>Mr. Thejesh GN</strong></a> of <a href="http://datameet.org/">DataMeet</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/Sramach9"><strong>Mr. Sivaram Ramachandran</strong></a> of <a href="http://mapbox.com/">Mapbox</a> on the tools and techniques for working with statistical data and with geospatial data, respectively. The former presentation took the participants through the stages of working with statistical data: from collecting and finding data, to cleaning and validating, and finally analysing the data. Various free and open source tools for each of these stages were also discussed in brief, such as <a href="https://pdftables.com/">PDF Tables</a><a> and </a><a href="http://tabula.technology/">Tabula</a> for converting PDF tables to spreadsheets, <a href="http://openrefine.org/">Open Refine</a> for cleaning data, and <a href="http://app.raw.densitydesign.org/">RAW</a> and <a href="https://datawrapper.de/">DataWrapper</a> for generating web-based dynamic charts. The latter presentation explored the various ways in which geospatial data can be used to inform and support decision-making, and the tools that can be used to render and present geospatial data in forms that are accessible for decision-makers within government and also for individual users. Mr. Ramachandran presented the various free and open source tools available for working with geospatial data, such as <a href="https://www.mapbox.com/mapbox-studio/">Mapbox Studio</a>, <a href="http://qgis.org/en/site/">Quantum GIS</a>, and <a href="http://leafletjs.com/">Leaflet JS</a>. He also gave a brief introduction to <a href="http://openstreetmap.org/">OpenStreetMap</a>, the wiki-like user-contributed global map data platform. Both the presentations can be accessed <a href="http://thejeshgn.com/presentations/Data_Journalism_Workshop.html">here</a> and <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7xi0bhhq-OxQTB3eVpjNmtTUDg/view?usp=sharing">here</a>, respectively. After this session, the participants were divided into two groups. One group engaged further with tools and techniques of working with statistical and geospatial data. The second group took part in a series of exercises to identify and document the current data flows and bottlenecks thereof across several key departments of Government of Sikkim.</p>
<p>The group engaging in applications of various software tools for working with statistical and geospatial data was facilitated by <strong>Mr. Thejesh</strong> and <strong>Mr. Ramachandran</strong>. This group worked with a sample statistical data set, taking it across the stages of finding, cleaning, analysing, and visualising as discussed earlier. The participants used the online version of <a href="http://www.tableau.com/">Tableau</a> to create dynamic charts. Afterwards, they were introduced to various methods of contributing and downloading data from the OpenStreetMap, including directly adding data points through the online editor named <a href="http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/ID">iD</a>. The participants went out in the NIAS campus to collect geospatial data about various natural and human-made features of the campus, such as trees, pathways, etc.</p>
<p>The second group working on documenting data flows and identifying bottlenecks was facilitated by <strong>Mr. Chattapadhyay</strong>, <strong>Mr. Acharya</strong>, and <strong>Ms. Rajashi Mukherjee</strong> from Akvo. The group was further divided into department-wise teams, one each for the Department of Health, the Department of Economic Statistics, Monitoring, and Evaluation (DESME), the Human Resource Development Department (HRDD), and representatives from Gram Panchayat Units. The exercise began with each of the teams discussing and drawing the flow of data for one of the major data set maintained by the agency concerned. The data flows were drawn by identifying key moments of its processing (such as primary collection, verification, digitisation, analysis, storage, reporting, etc.), the actors involved in that moment, the tools and data formats relevant for each moment, and which agency finally stores and uses the data. Once these processes were described on paper, the next part of the exercise focused on identifying which challenges exist at which part of these data flows. This was followed up by a ranking of all these challenges, in terms of how critically they affect the ability of the agency concerned to use and share the final data. All the teams worked separately, and conversed with the facilitators as needed, to develop the data flow diagrams and identify the key challenges.</p>
<p>The major common challenges noted by these teams were: <strong>1)</strong> delays in collection, verification, and digitisation of data, <strong>2)</strong> inability of state government agencies to access data collected as part of centrally-funded welfare schemes, and <strong>3)</strong> parallel systems of data collection employed by different departments leading to duplication of efforts and data.</p>
<p>Several interesting insights came through in this exercise. For example, data related to education is collected both by the HRDD, and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA). However, SSA data is not shared with the HRDD. Also, the HRDD publishes all its data, including the name of students, on their <a href="http://sikkimhrdd.org/Home.aspx">website</a>, making it publicly available. One of the data challenges identified by the HRDD was their difficulty in tracking if scholarship money is reaching the suitable students. When a student moves from one school to another, the records do not get updated easily. This leads to different schools continuing to receive funds for the same scholarship. Aligning school records is important to prevent such leakages.</p>
<p>After these two grouped exercises, all the participants gathered back so that the data flows diagrams and identification of key challenges documented by departmental teams could be presented to the entire group. Each team presented their data flow diagram, and discussed challenges and opportunities. This created a context for different departments to discuss what kind of data they often needed from each other, and how there was neither a platform for inter-departmental discussion on such issues, nor systems that facilitate the same. There was an agreement that an open data platform could address this issue to a great extent. The discussion also highlighted that the most significant data collecting government agency in Sikkim is DESME, however, it does not publish any data in machine-readable formats, and does not even have a website.</p>
<p>This data flow and bottleneck exercise made it very clear that there are several data production and collection processes in place in Sikkim, and also systems that are digesting, processing, and reporting data. Hence, implementing the open data policy will need to negotiate with such complexity.</p>
<p>In the final session of the day, <strong>Dr. Shiban Ganju</strong> made a presentation on applications of open data in healthcare. His talk focused on how converting medical information about a patient being stored at various locations to a combined and shareable Electronic Health Record can save the patient as well as the medical practitioners from duplication of medical tests, easier mobility from one medical institute to another, and a clearer macro-level understanding of key public health indicators. Dr. Ganju discussed the open health data initiatives in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and in Sweden, before discussing the challenges faced in implementing interoperable standards for open health data in India. The slides from Dr. Ganju’s presentation can be accessed <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7xi0bhhq-OxTTczUTY3MWZFbG8/view?usp=sharing">here</a>.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Day 03, June 05, 2015</h2>
<p>The final day started with a set of presentations from <strong>Mr. Garab Dorji</strong>, Deputy Chief IT Officer, Office of the Prime Minister, Thimphu, Bhutan of the Government of Bhutan, <strong>Mr. Birendra Tiwari</strong>, Senior Informatic Officer, Department of Information Technology, Government of Meghalaya, and <strong>Mr. Milan Chhetri</strong> of Melli Dara Paiyong Gram Panchayat Unit, Sikkim, on various technological solutions being explored, implemented, and practiced by the respective governments and administrative units.</p>
<p><strong>Mr. Milan Chhetri</strong>’s presentation was on the operationalisation of Cyber Villages in Sikkim, which had been initiated in 2013 with support from the Honourable Chief Minister of Sikkim, <strong>Pawan Kumar Chamling</strong>. Cyber Villages aim to address digital divide, by empowering local village units with handheld data devices to collect data from every household and connect the same to a real time dashboard. All village related data is expected to be available in one place. At the same time as part of e-governance initiative, SMS based updates on Government programmes and services will be sent to all villagers. Mr. Chhetri ended his presentation with a short promotional video of the concept, which is embedded below.</p>
<iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ZOqAl8kDwKY?rel=0" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe>
<p> </p>
<p>The second session of the day started with a presentation from <a href="https://twitter.com/DurgaPrMisra"><strong>Mr. D. P. Misra</strong></a>, National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy - Programme Management Unit (NDSAP-PMU), National Informatics Centre, Government of India. The presentation focused on the process of implementation of the <a href="http://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP.pdf">National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy</a> approved by the Government of India in 2012. Mr. Misra has played a key role in the NDSAP-PMU that was trusted with development of the national open government data platform of India and in setting up the procedures and standards for publication of government data by various central and state government agencies through that Platform. His talk described the technical solutions designed by the NDSAP-PMU to make data accessible for the end-users in various file formats, to make visualisation of available data easy, and to make it possible for users to comment upon existing data and to request for data that is unavailable at the moment. Further, he emphasised the need for outreach initiatives by the government so as to build awareness and activities around the available open government data. The slides from Mr. Misra’s presentation can be accessed <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7xi0bhhq-OxZjZrc0c4cmxpZFk/view?usp=sharing">here</a>.</p>
<p>The presentation by Mr. Misra was followed by a group exercise where various teams, self-selected by the participants, worked on different sections of the SODAAP implementation plan to put together ideas and plans for the first draft of the document. Five groups were formed and each of them worked on a separate section of the implementation plan: <strong>1)</strong> Governance Framework and Budgetary Support, <strong>2)</strong> Data Inventory and Negative List, <strong>3)</strong> Data Acquisition and Open Standards, <strong>4)</strong> Data Publication Process, Licenses, and Timeframes, and <strong>5)</strong> Awareness, Capacity, and Demand of Data. The initial section titled ‘Introduction to the Policy and its Principles’ was put together by Vashistha Iyer on the basis of the SODAAP document. The technical section on the ‘Sikkim Open Data Portal’ was left out of this drafting exercise, as it was decided that the representatives of the Department of Information Technology will prepare this section on the basis of their interactions with the NDSAP-PMU later in June.</p>
<p>The drafting session was followed by presentations by each team working on a separate section, and quick feedbacks from all the participants. These drafts, along with the feedbacks, have been compiled together by Mr. Chattapadhyay, and is shared with the officials from the Government of Sikkim for their further discussion and eventual finalisation of the SODAAP implementation plan document.</p>
<p>The workshop ended with a round of final words and sharing of learning by the participants, and a vote of thanks on the behalf of the organisers.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/workshop-on-open-data-for-human-development-2015-06-report'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/workshop-on-open-data-for-human-development-2015-06-report</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroOpen DataOpen Government DataFeaturedSikkim Open Data Acquisition and Accessibility PolicyOpenness2015-08-28T08:16:09ZBlog EntryThe Government’s Increased Focus on Regulating Non-Personal Data: A Look at the Draft National Data Governance Framework Policy
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/national-data-governance-framework-policy
<b>Digvijay Chaudhary and Anamika Kundu wrote an article on the National Data Governance Framework Policy. It was edited by Shweta Mohandas.</b>
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Non Personal Data (‘NPD’) can be <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429022241-8/regulating-non-personal-data-age-big-data-bart-van-der-sloot">understood</a> as any information not relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. The origin of such data can be both human and non-human. Human NPD would be such data which has been anonymised in such a way that the person to whom the data relates cannot be re-identified. Non-human NPD would mean any such data that did not relate to a human being in the first place, for example, weather data. There has been a gradual demonstrated interest in NPD by the government in recent times. This new focus on regulating non personal data can be owed to the economic incentive it provides. In its report, the Sri Krishna committee, released in 2018 agreed that NPD holds considerable strategic or economic interest for the nation, however, it left the questions surrounding NPD to a future committee.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">History of NPD Regulation</h2>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify; ">In 2020, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (‘MEITY’) constituted an expert committee (‘NPD Committee’) to study various issues relating to NPD and to make suggestions on the regulation of non-personal data. The NPD Committee differentiated NPD into human and non-human NPD, based on the data’s origin. Human NPD would include all information that has been stripped of any personally identifiable information and non-human NPD meant any information that did not contain any personally identifiable information in the first place (eg. weather data). The final report of the NPD Committee is awaited but the Committee came out with a <a href="https://static.mygov.in/rest/s3fs-public/mygov_160922880751553221.pdf">revised draft</a> of its recommendations in December 2020. In its December 2020 report, the NPD Committee proposed the creation of a National Data Protection Authority (‘NPDA’) as it felt this is a new and emerging area of regulation. Thereafter, the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 (‘JPC’) came out with its <a href="http://164.100.47.193/lsscommittee/Joint%20Committee%20on%20the%20Personal%20Data%20Protection%20Bill,%202019/17_Joint_Committee_on_the_Personal_Data_Protection_Bill_2019_1.pdf">version of the Data Protection Bill </a>where it amended the short title of the PDP Bill 2019 to Data Protection Bill, 2021 widening the ambit of the Bill to include all types of data. The JPC report focuses only on human NPD, noting that non-personal data is essentially derived from one of the three sets of data - personal data, sensitive personal data, critical personal data - which is either anonymized or is in some way converted into non-re-identifiable data.</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify; ">On February 21, 2022, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (‘MEITY’) came out with the <a href="https://www.meity.gov.in/content/draft-india-data-accessibility-use-policy-2022">Draft India Data Accessibility and Use Policy, 2022</a> (‘Draft Policy’). The Draft Policy was strongly criticised mainly due to its aims to monetise data through its sale and licensing to body corporates. The Draft Policy had stated that anonymised and non-personal data collected by the State that has “<a href="https://www.medianama.com/2022/06/223-new-data-governance-policy-privacy/">undergone value addition</a>” could be sold for an “appropriate price”. During the Draft Policy’s consultation process, it had been withdrawn several times and then finally removed from the website.<a href="https://www.meity.gov.in/writereaddata/files/Draft%20India%20Data%20Accessibility%20and%20Use%20Policy_0.pdf"> The National Data Governance Framework Policy</a> (‘NDGF Policy’) is a successor to this Draft Policy. There is a change in the language put forth in the NDGF Policy from the Draft Policy, where the latter mainly focused on monetary growth. The new NDGF Policy aims to regulate anonymised non-personal data (‘NPD’) kept with governmental authorities and make it accessible for research and improving governance. It wishes to create an ‘India Datasets programme’ which will consist of the aforementioned datasets. While MEITY has opened the draft for public comments, is a need to spell out the procedure in some ways for stakeholders to draft recommendations for the NDGF policies in an informed manner. Through this piece, we discuss the NDGF Policy in terms of issues related to the absence of a comprehensive Data Protection Framework in India and the jurisdictional overlap of authorities under the NDGF Policy and DPB.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify; ">What the National Data Governance Framework Policy Says</h2>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify; ">Presently in India, NPD is stored in a variety of governmental departments and bodies. It is difficult to access and use this stored data for governmental functions without modernising collection and management of governmental data. Through the NDGF Policy, the government aims to build an Indian data storehouse of anonymised non-personal datasets and make it accessible for both improving governance and encouraging research. It imagines the establishment of an Indian Data Office (‘IDO’) set up by MEITY , which shall be responsible for consolidating data access and sharing of non-personal data across the government. In addition, it also mandates a Data Management Unit for every Ministry/department that would work closely with the IDO. IDO will also be responsible for issuing protocols for sharing NPD. The policy further imagines an Indian Data Council (‘IDC’) whose function would be to define frameworks for important datasets, finalise data standards, and Metadata standards and also review the implementation of the policy. The NDGF Policy has provided a broad structure concerning the setting up of anonymisation standards, data retention policies, data quality, and data sharing toolkit. The NDGF Policy states that these standards shall be developed and notified by the IDO or MEITY or the Ministry in question and need to be adhered to by all entities.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify; ">The Data Protection Framework in India</h2>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify; ">The report adopted by the JPC, felt that it is simpler to enact a single law and a single regulator to oversee all the data that originates from any data principal and is in the custody of any data fiduciary. According to the JPC, the draft Bill deals with various kinds of data at various levels of security. The JPC also recommended that since the Data Protection Bill (‘DPB’) will handle both personal and non-personal data, any further policy / legal framework on non-personal data may be made a part of the same enactment instead of any separate legislation. The draft DPB states that what is to be done with the NDP shall be decided by the government from time to time according to its policy. As such, neither the DPB, 2021 nor the NDGF Policy go into details of regulating NPD but only provide a broad structure of facilitating free-flow of NPD, without taking into account the <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/cis-comments-revised-npd-report/view">specific concerns</a> that have been raised since the NPD committee came out with its draft report on regulating NPD dated December 2020.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify; ">Jurisdictional overlaps among authorities and other concerns</h2>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify; ">Under the NDGF policy, all guidelines and rules shall be published by a body known as the Indian Data Management Office (‘IDMO’). The IDMO is set to function under the MEITY and work with the Central government, state governments and other stakeholders to set standards. Currently, there is no sign of when the DPB will be passed as law. According to the JPC, the reason for including NPD within the DPB was because of the impossibility to differentiate between PD and NPD. There are also certain overlaps between the DPB and the NDGF which are not discussed by the NDGF. NDGF does not discuss the overlap between the IDMO and Data Protection Authority (‘DPA’) established under the DPB 2021.</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify; ">Under the DPB, the DPA is tasked with specifying codes of practice under clause 49. On the other hand, the NDGF has imagined the setting up of IDO, IDMO, and the IDC, which shall be responsible for issuing codes of practice such as data retention, and data anonymisation, and data quality standards. As such, there appears to be some overlap in the functions of the to-be-constituted DPA and the NDGF Policy.</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify; ">Furthermore, while the NDGF Policy aims to promote openness with respect to government data, there is a conflict with <a href="https://opengovdata.org/">open government data (‘OGD’) principle</a>s when there is a price attached to such data. OGD is data which is collected and processed by the government for free use, reuse and distribution. Any database created by the government must be publicly accessible to ensure compliance with the OGD principles.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify; ">Conclusion</h2>
<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify; ">Streamlining datasets across different authorities is a huge challenge for the government and hence the NGDF policy in its current draft requires a lot of clarification. The government can take inspiration from the European Union which in 2018, came out with a principles-based approach coupled with self-regulation on the framework of the free flow of non-personal data. The <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52019DC0250&from=EN">guidance</a> on the free-flow of non-personal data defines non-personal data based on the origin of data - data which originally did not relate to any personal data (non-human NPD) and data which originated from personal data but was subsequently anonymised (human NPD). The <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52019DC0250&from=EN">regulation</a> further realises the reality of mixed data sets and regulates only the non-personal part of such datasets and where the datasets are inextricably linked, the GDPR would apply to such datasets. Moreover, any policy that seeks to govern the free flow of NPD ought to make it clear that in case of re-identification of anonymised data, such re-identified data would be considered personal data. The DPB, 2021 and the NGDF, both fail to take into account this difference.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/national-data-governance-framework-policy'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/national-data-governance-framework-policy</a>
</p>
No publisherDigvijay Chaudhary and Anamika KunduOpen DataOpen Government DataInternet GovernancePrivacy2022-06-30T13:24:35ZBlog EntrySurvey of Estimates of Economic Value of Open Government Data
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/survey-of-estimates-of-economic-value-of-open-government-data
<b>This is a survey of estimates of economic value of open government data, and public sector information in general, across regions, countries, and sectors offered by several reports published during the last decade. The survey is undertaken by Ömer Faruk Sarı, a student of Business Administration at Koc University in Istanbul, Turkey, and research intern with CIS. </b>
<p> </p>
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p>This is a survey of economic value estimates of open government data, and public sector information in general, by consultancy groups and government bodies across the world. The first part of the post lists estimates from different regions and countries, while the second part collects estimates for different sectors. Major reports surveyed in this study include the 'MEPSIR: Measuring European Public Sector Information Resources' report (2006), 'The Value of Spatial Information' report by ACIL Tasman (2008), 'Review of Recent Studies on PSI Re-Use and Related Market Developments' report by Graham Vickery (2012), 'Market Assessment of Public Sector Information' report by Deloitte (2013), 'Open Data: Unlocking Innovation and Performance with Liquid Information' by McKinsey (2013), 'Big and Open Data in Europe: A Growth Engine or a Missed Opportunity?' by Warsaw Institute for Economic Studies (2014), and 'Open for Business: How Open Data can Help Achieve the G20 Growth Target' report by Omidyar Network (2014).</p>
<p><strong>Note about Exchange Rate:</strong>The monetary values stated in these reports vary by years and currencies. The original estimates are mentioned in the currency concerned followed by the converted amount in US Dollar (using exchange rate of the same year) provided within brackets. The exchange rates concerned are mentioned at the bottom of the post.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Countries and Regions</h2>
<h3>Global</h3>
<p>McKinsey estimates global economic value of open data as USD 3.2 Trillion for seven sectors - Education, Transportation, Consumer Products, Electricity, Oil and Gas, Healthcare, and Consumer Finance. [1]</p>
<h3>European Union</h3>
<p>Pira International Ltd. et al, in 2000, estimated the monetary value of open data for EU countries as EUR 68 Billion (USD 76 Billion). [2]</p>
<p>Zangenberg and Company, estimated this number for EU countries as for minimum EUR 29 Billion (USD 38 Billion) and for an upper limit of EUR 143 Billion (USD 188 Billion). [3]</p>
<p>The Warsaw Institute for Economic Studies (WISE Institute) estimates the economic value of open data in EU, as increase in GDP by 2020, as EUR 206 Billion (USD 253 Billion). [4]</p>
<p>Graham Vickery estimated this number as EUR 200 Billion (USD 264 Billion) in 2012. [5]</p>
<p>In 2006, MEPSIR, in their report for European Commission, mentioned EUR 27 Billion (USD 36 Billion) could be gained by use of open data. [6]</p>
<p>McKinsey, in their report in 2013, estimated the monetary value of open data for EU countries as USD 900 Billion. [1]</p>
<iframe src="http://ajantriks.github.io/cis/charts/2015.08_open-data-value-eu/index.html" frameborder="0" height="300" width="700"></iframe>
<h3>G20</h3>
<p>For G20 countries taken together, Omidyar Network estimates the economic value of open data as USD 2.6 Trillion. [7]</p>
<h3>Australia</h3>
<p>Omidyar Network, in their study on business value of open data, estimated the potential of open data for Australia as AUD 3.4 Billion (USD 2.8 Billion). [7]</p>
<p>In 2008, ACIL Tasman estimated the potential economic value of open data for Australia as AUD 1.4 Billion (USD 938 Million). [8]</p>
<p>John Houghton's estimation for the monetary value of open data is AUD 195 Million (USD 197 Million). [9]</p>
<h3>Denmark</h3>
<p>Zangenberg and Company, in 2011, estimated the economic value of open data for Denmark as DKK 520 Million (USD 92 Million). [3]</p>
<h3>France</h3>
<p>SerdaLAB, in 2009, estimated EUR 1.57 Billion (USD 2.3 Billion) can be gained by open data in France. [10]</p>
<h3>Germany</h3>
<p>In 2011, Dr, Martin Fornefeld et al estimated the economic value of open data for Germany as EUR 1.7 Billion (USD 2.2 Billion), only for geo-information. [11]</p>
<p>The POPSIS study estimated this number as EUR 3.2 Million (USD 4.2 Million), in the same year, 2011. [12]</p>
<h3>Norway</h3>
<p>Graham Vickery's report mentions the potential value of open data as NOK 260 Million (USD 43 Million). [5]</p>
<h3>Spain</h3>
<p>The Proyecto Aporta (Spanish open data portal project) study estimated the economic value of the infomediary sector in Spain as EUR 330-550 Million (USD 452-753 Million), in 2012. [13]</p>
<h3>The Netherlands</h3>
<p>In 2011, the POPSIS study estimated the economic potential that can be gained from open data in Netherlands as EUR 78 Million (USD 102 Million). [12]</p>
<h3>United Kingdom</h3>
<p>Deloitte, in their report, estimated the value of open data as GBP 6.2-7.2 Billion (USD 10-11.8 Billion) for United Kingdom. [14]</p>
<p>Rufus Pollock, in 2011, estimated GBP 4.5-6 Billion (USD 7-9.3 Billion) that can be unlocked by use of open data. [15]</p>
<p>Dot-Econ's estimation for monetary value of open data in United Kingdom is EUR 590 Million (USD 778 Million). [16]</p>
<h3>United States</h3>
<p>McKinsey's estimation, in 2013, for the value that can be unlocked by open data in United States is quite remarkable at USD 1.1 Trillion. [1]</p>
<p>Pira International Ltd. et al, in 2000, estimated the value as EUR 750 Billion (USD 838 Billion). [2]</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Data Types and Sectors</h2>
<h3>Consumer Finance</h3>
<p>McKinsey estimates USD 210-280 Billion, globally, for the consumer finance sector. [1]</p>
<p><strong>Based on McKinsey's Report:</strong> The estimate for G20 countries is USD 169 Billion; for Australia, the estimate is AUD 4.2 Billion (USD 4.3 Billion).</p>
<h3>Consumer Products</h3>
<p>Across the globe, with the use of open data McKinsey estimates USD 520-1470 Billion can be generated from services of consumer products. [1]</p>
<p><strong>Based on McKinsey's Report:</strong> G20 countries, in total, have a potential value of USD 419 Billion for this sector; the value is estimated at AUD 10 Billion (USD 10.2 Billion) for Australia.</p>
<h3>Education</h3>
<p>McKinsey estimates that USD 890-1180 Billion can be generated alone in education sector, across the globe. [1]</p>
<p><strong>Based on McKinsey's Report:</strong> Open data in the education sector in G20 countries can generate USD 717 Billion; for Australia, value of open data in education sector is estimated to be AUD 14 Billion (USD 14.2 Billion).</p>
<h3>Electricity</h3>
<p>McKinsey estimates USD 340-580 Billion, across the globe. [1]</p>
<p><strong>Based on McKinsey's Report:</strong> For electricity sector, USD 193 Billion is estimated for G20 countries; estimate for Australia for electricity sector depending on open data is AUD 6.7 Billion (USD 6.8 Billion).</p>
<h3>Geospatial Data</h3>
<p>Dr. Nam D. Pham estimates the potential value of Geo-spatial information in US as USD 96 Billion. [17]</p>
<p>In the report by Pira International Limited et al, the economic value of geo-spatial information in EU estimated as EUR 36 Billion (USD 40 Billion). [2]</p>
<p>Fornefeld et al estimates the value of geo-spatial information in Germany as EUR 1.7 Billion (USD 2.2 Billion). [11]</p>
<p>The POPSIS study estimates the economic value of Meteorological data re-use market in Netherlands as EUR 10 Million (USD 13 Million). [12]</p>
<p>Graham Vickery estimates (in 2012) NOK 72 Million (USD 12 Million) can be generated in Norway through geo-spatial information. [5]</p>
<p>The Proyecto Aporta study estimates potential value of geo-spatial information in Spain as EUR 183 Million (USD 240 Million). [13]</p>
<p>ACIL Tasman in their report, estimated that as a direct result of the uptake of spatial technologies New Zealand’s real GDP increased by NZD 1.2 Billion (USD 670 Million) in 2008 through productivity-related gains as a result of the increasing adoption of modern spatial information technologies since 1995. [8]</p>
<p>In the United Kingdom, a 'supply-side' assessment estimated the market size and growth potential for geographic information (GI) products and services. The market size in year 2007 was estimated to be GBP 657 Million (USD 1.32 Billion). [18]</p>
<p>Based on PwC's study in 2010, John Houghton estimates the value of spatial data in Australia as AUD 25 Million (USD 25.3 Million). [9]</p>
<p>Ordnance Survey of UK estimates the economic value of open data published by the same agency as GBP 2.9-6.1 Million (USD 4.5-9.5 Million). [19]</p>
<iframe src="http://ajantriks.github.io/cis/charts/2015.08_open-geo-data-value/index.html" frameborder="0" height="400" width="700"></iframe>
<h3>Healthcare</h3>
<p>Globally, USD 300-450 Billion is the estimate of McKinsey, depending on open data use in healthcare sector.[1]</p>
<p><strong>Based on McKinsey's Report:</strong> Open data in the healthcare sector can generate USD 242 Billion for G20 countries; estimate for Australia is AUD 5.9 Billion (USD 6 Billion).</p>
<h3>Oil and Gas</h3>
<p>McKinsey estimates USD 240-510 Billion that can be generated through open data for the oil and gas sector, across the globe. [1]</p>
<p><strong>Based on McKinsey's Report:</strong> Oil and gas sector, with the use of open data, can generate USD 169 Billion for G20 countries; the value for Australia is estimated to generate AUD 4.8 Billion (USD 4.9 Billion).</p>
<h3>Transportation</h3>
<p>McKinsey estimates the value of transportation sector with the use of open data as USD 720-920 Billion for the transportation sector, globally. [1]</p>
<p><strong>Based on McKinsey's Report:</strong> G20 countries altogether can generate USD 580 Billion in transportation sector; estimate of the value of open data in the transportation sector in Australia is AUD 18 Billion (USD 18.2 Billion).</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Reference</h2>
<p>[1] Manyika, James, et al. 2013. Open Data: Unlocking Innovation and Performance with Liquid Information. McKinsey Global Institute. October. Accessed from <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/open_data_unlocking_innovation_and_performance_with_liquid_information">http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/open_data_unlocking_innovation_and_performance_with_liquid_information</a>.</p>
<p>[2] Pira International Ltd. et al. 2000. Commercial exploitation of Europe’s Public Sector Information - Executive Summary. European Commission, Brussels. Aceeseed from <a href="ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/econtent/docs/2000_1558_en.pdf">ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/econtent/docs/2000_1558_en.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>[3] Zangenberg and Company. 2011, Kvantificering af værdien af åbne offentlige data (Quantifying the Value of Open Government Data). Report Prepared for the Danish National Information Technology and Telecom Agency. Accessed from <a href="https://digitaliser.dk/resource/1021067/artefact/Kvantificering+af+den+erhvervsm%c3%a6ssige+v%c3%a6rdi+af+%c3%a5bne+offentlige+data+-+Zangenberg2011.pdf">https://digitaliser.dk/resource/1021067/artefact/Kvantificering+af+den+erhvervsm%c3%a6ssige+v%c3%a6rdi+af+%c3%a5bne+offentlige+data+-+Zangenberg2011.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>[4] Buchholtz, Sonia, et al. 2014. Big and Open Data in Europe: A Growth Engine or a Missed Opportunity? demosEUROPA – Centre for European Strategy and Warsaw Institute for Economic Studies. Accessed from <a href="http://www.bigopendata.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/bod_europe_2020_full_report_singlepage.pdf">http://www.bigopendata.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/bod_europe_2020_full_report_singlepage.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>[5] Vickery, Graham. 2012. Review of Recent Studies on PSI Re-Use and Related Market Developments. European Commission, Brussels. Accessed form <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf//document.cfm?doc_id=1093">http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf//document.cfm?doc_id=1093</a>.</p>
<p>[6] Dekkers, Makx, et al. 2006. MEPSIR: Measuring European Public Sector Information Resources - Final Report of Study on Exploitation of Public Sector Information – Benchmarking of EU Framework Conditions. European Commission, Brussels. Accessed from <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/document.cfm?doc_id=1198">http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/document.cfm?doc_id=1198</a>.</p>
<p>[7] Lateral Economics. 2014. Open for Business: How Open Data can Help Achieve the G20 Growth Target. Omidyar Network. June. Accessed from <a href="https://www.omidyar.com/sites/default/files/file_archive/insights/ON%20Report_061114_FNL.pdf">https://www.omidyar.com/sites/default/files/file_archive/insights/ON%20Report_061114_FNL.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>[8] ACIL Tasman. 2008. The Value of Spatial Information: The Impact of Modern Spatial Information
Technologies on the Australian Economy. March. Accessed from <a href="http://www.crcsi.com.au/assets/Resources/7d60411d-0ab9-45be-8d48-ef8dab5abd4a.pdf">http://www.crcsi.com.au/assets/Resources/7d60411d-0ab9-45be-8d48-ef8dab5abd4a.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>[9] Houghton, John. 2011. Costs and Benefits of Data Provision. Report to the Australian National Data Service. September. Accessed from <a href="http://www.ands.org.au/resource/houghton-cost-benefit-study.pdf">http://www.ands.org.au/resource/houghton-cost-benefit-study.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>[10] Guerre, Louise, et al. 2009. Le marché de l’information électronique professionnelle en France. SerdaLAB. Presentation at CCIP on January 27. Accessed from <a href="http://www.fnps.fr/Public/Article/File/DOCUMENTS/Presentation_ET_IEP09_270109.pdf">http://www.fnps.fr/Public/Article/File/DOCUMENTS/Presentation_ET_IEP09_270109.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>[11] Fornefeld, Martin, et al. 2011. Die europäische Gesetzgebung als Motor für das deutsche GeoBusiness (European Legislation as a Driver for German GeoBusiness). Accessed from <a href="http://www.micus.de/pdf/MICUS_GeoBusiness-BMWi.pdf">http://www.micus.de/pdf/MICUS_GeoBusiness-BMWi.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>[12] Citadel Consulting et al. 2011. POPSIS: Pricing Of Public Sector Information Study - Models of Supply and Charging for Public Sector Information (ABC) - Final Report. European Commission. October. Accessed from <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=1158">http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=1158</a>.</p>
<p>[13] Ministry of Finance and Public Administration et al. 2012. Characterization Study of the Infomediary Sector. Proyecto Aporta. Accessed from <a href="http://datos.gob.es/sites/default/files/files/Estudio_infomediario/121001%20RED%20007%20Final%20Report_2012%20Edition_vF_en.pdf">http://datos.gob.es/sites/default/files/files/Estudio_infomediario/121001%20RED%20007%20Final%20Report_2012%20Edition_vF_en.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>[14] Deloitte. 2013. Market Assessment of Public Sector Information. Report to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Government of UK. Accessed from <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/198905/bis-13-743-market-assessment-of-public-sector-information.pdf">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/198905/bis-13-743-market-assessment-of-public-sector-information.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>[15] Pollock, Rufus. 2010. Welfare Gains from Opening up Public Sector Information in the UK. University of Cambridge. Accessed from <a href="http://rufuspollock.org/economics/papers/psi_openness_gains.pdf">http://rufuspollock.org/economics/papers/psi_openness_gains.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>[16] DotEcon. 2006. The Commercial Use of Public Information (CUPI). Report OFT861. Office of Fair Trading, Government of UK. Accessed from <a href="http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/poi/oft-cupi.pdf">http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/poi/oft-cupi.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>[17] Pham, Nam D. 2011. The Economic Benefits of Commercial GPS Use in the U.S. and the Costs of Potential Disruption. June. Accessed from <a href="http://www.gpsalliance.org/docs/GPS_Report_June_21_2011.pdf">http://www.gpsalliance.org/docs/GPS_Report_June_21_2011.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>[18] Coote, Andrew, and Les Rackham. 2008. An Assessment of the Size and Prospects for Growth of the UK Market for Geographic Information Products and Services. ConsultingWhere. Accessed from <a href="http://www.consultingwhere.com/wp-content/uploads/resources/UK_Market_Assessment_v11_Final.pdf">http://www.consultingwhere.com/wp-content/uploads/resources/UK_Market_Assessment_v11_Final.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>[19] Carpenter, John, and Phil Watts. 2013. Assessing the Value of OS OpenData™ to the Economy of Great Britain - Synopsis. Ordnance Survey. June. Accessed from <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/207692/bis-13-950-assessing-value-of-opendata-to-economy-of-great-britain.pdf">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/207692/bis-13-950-assessing-value-of-opendata-to-economy-of-great-britain.pdf</a>.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Exchange Rates</h2>
<p>Note: Exchange rates are taken for December of the year concerned.</p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Euro per 1 US Dollar</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2000</td>
<td>0.8947</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2006</td>
<td>0.7580</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2009</td>
<td>0.6868</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2010</td>
<td>0.7562</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2011</td>
<td>0.7599</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2013</td>
<td>0.7296</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2014</td>
<td>0.8123</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>British Pound per 1 US Dollar</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2006</td>
<td>0.5095</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2011</td>
<td>0.6415</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2013</td>
<td>0.6106</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2014</td>
<td>0.6397</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Australian Dollar per 1 US Dollar</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2008</td>
<td>1.4919</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2011</td>
<td>0.9874</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2014</td>
<td>1.2144</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>New Zealand Dollar per 1 US Dollar</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2008</td>
<td>1.7923</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Norwegian Krone per 1 US Dollar</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2010</td>
<td>5.9774</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Danish Krone per 1 US Dollar</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2011</td>
<td>5.6495</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/survey-of-estimates-of-economic-value-of-open-government-data'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/survey-of-estimates-of-economic-value-of-open-government-data</a>
</p>
No publisherÖmer Faruk SarıOpen Government DataDigital EconomyOpen DataEconomicsOpenness2015-08-22T08:42:30ZBlog EntrySubmitted Comments on the Telangana State Open Data Policy 2016
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/comments-on-the-telangana-state-open-data-policy-2016
<b>Last month, the Information Technology, Electronics & Communications Department of the Government of Telangana released the first public draft of the Telangana State Open Data Policy 2016, and sought comments from various stakeholders in the state and outside. The draft policy not only aims to facilitate and provide a framework for proactive disclosure of data created by the state government agencies, but also identify the need for integrating such a mandate within the information systems operated by these agencies as well. CIS is grateful to be invited to submit its detailed comments on the same. The submission was drafted by Anubha Sinha and Sumandro Chattapadhyay.</b>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Download the submitted document: <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/files/cis-telangana-state-open-data-policy-v-1-submission/at_download/file">PDF</a>.</strong></p>
<hr />
<h3><strong>1. Preliminary</strong></h3>
<p><strong>1.1.</strong> This submission presents comments and recommendations by the Centre for Internet and Society (“CIS”) <strong>[1]</strong> on the proposed draft of the Telangana Open Data Policy 2016 (“the draft policy”). This submission is based on Version 1 of the draft policy shared by the Information Technology, Electronics & Communications Department, Government of Telangana (“the ITE&C Department”).</p>
<p><strong>1.2.</strong> CIS commends the ITE&C Department for its generous efforts at seeking inputs from various stakeholders to draft an open data policy for the state of Telangana. CIS is thankful for this opportunity to provide a clause-by-clause submission.</p>
<h3><strong>2. The Centre for Internet and Society</strong></h3>
<p><strong>2.1.</strong> The Centre for Internet and Society, CIS, is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with diverse abilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfiguration of social processes and structures through the internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa.</p>
<p>2.2. This submission is consistent with CIS’ commitment to safeguarding general public interest, and the interests and rights of various stakeholders involved. The comments in this submission aim to further the principle of citizens’ right to information, instituting openness-by-default in governmental activities, and to realise the various kinds of public goods that can emerge from greater availability of open (government) data. The submission is limited to those clauses that most directly have an impact on these principles.</p>
<h3><strong>3. Comments and Recommendations</strong></h3>
<p><em>This section presents comments and recommendations directed at the draft policy as a whole, and in certain places, directed at specific clauses of the draft policy.</em></p>
<h3>3.1. Defining the Scope of the Policy in the Preamble</h3>
<p><strong>3.1.1.</strong> CIS observes and appreciates that the ITE&C Department has identified the open data policy as a catalyst for, and as dependent upon, a larger transformation of the information systems implemented in the state, to specifically ensure that these information systems.</p>
<p><strong>3.1.2.</strong> CIS commends the endeavour of the draft policy to share data in open and machine-readable standards. To further this, it will be useful for the preamble to explicitly mandate proactive disclosure in both human-readable and machine-readable formats, using open standards, and under open license(s).</p>
<p><strong>3.1.3.</strong> CIS recommends that the draft policy state the scope of the policy at the outset, i.e. in the Preamble section of the document. This will provide greater clarity to the stakeholders who are trying to ascertain applicability of the draft policy to their data.</p>
<p><strong>3.1.4.</strong> CIS commends the crucial mandate of creating data inventory within every state government ministry / department. We further recommend that the draft policy also expressly states the need to make these inventories publicly accessible.</p>
<p><strong>3.1.5.</strong> CIS commends the draft policy’s aim to build a process to engage with data users for better outcomes. We suggest that the draft policy also enumerates the “outcomes” of such engagement, in order to provide more clarity. We recommend that these “outcomes” include greater public supply of open government data in an effective, well-documented, timely, and responsible manner.</p>
<p><strong>3.1.6.</strong> Further, CIS suggests that the draft policy define “information centric and customer centric data” to provide more clarity to the document, as well as its scope and objectives.</p>
<h3>3.2. Provide Legal and Policy References</h3>
<p><strong>3.2.1.</strong> Strengthening transparency, predictability, and legal certainty of rules benefits all stakeholders. Thus, as far as possible, terms in the draft policy should use pre-existing legal definitions. In case of ambiguities arising after the implementation of the policy, consistency in definitions will also lead to greater interpretive certainty. It must be noted that good quality public policies which promote legal certainty, lead to better implementation.</p>
<p><strong>3.2.2.</strong> CIS observes that the draft policy re-defines various terms in Section 4 that have already been defined in National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (“NDSAP”) 2012 <strong>[2]</strong>, the Right to Information 2005 (“RTI Act”) <strong>[3]</strong>, and IT (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) Rules 2011 <strong>[4]</strong>. We strongly recommend that the draft policy uses the pre-existing definitions in these acts, rules, and policies.</p>
<p><strong>3.2.3.</strong> Further, CIS observes that while certain sections accurately reflect definitions and parts from other acts, rules and policies, such sections are not referenced back to the latter. These sections include, but are not limited to: Sections 3, 7, 8, 4 (definitions of Data set, Data Archive, Negative list, Sensitive Personal data). We strongly recommend that accurate legal references be added to the draft policy after careful study of the language used.</p>
<h3>3.3. Need for More Focused Objective Statement</h3>
<p><strong>3.3.1.</strong> While the draft policy has a very comprehensive statement of its objectives, including "<em>all issues related to data in terms of the available scope of sharing and accessing spatial and non-spatial data under broad frameworks of standards and interoperability</em>," it may consider offering a more focused statement of its key objective, which is to provide a policy framework for proactive disclosure of government data by the various agencies of the Government of Telangana.</p>
<p><strong>3.3.2.</strong> Further, the objective statement must clearly state that the policy enables publication of data created by the agencies of the Government of Telangana, and/or by private agencies working in partnership with public agencies, using public funds as open data (that is, using open standards, and under open license). The present version of the objective statement mentions "<em>sharing</em>" and "<em>accessing</em>" the data concerned under "<em>broad frameworks of standards and interoperability</em>" but does not make it clear if such shared data will be available in open standards, under open licenses, and for royalty-free adaptation and redistribution by the users concerned.</p>
<h3>3.4. Suggestions related to the Definitions</h3>
<p><strong>3.4.1.</strong> The term “Data” has not been defined in accordance with NDSAP 2012. We suggest that the definition provided in NDSAP is followed so as to ensure legal compatibility.</p>
<p><strong>3.4.2.</strong> The term “Sensitive Personal Data” seems to have been defined on the basis of the definition provided in the IT (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) Rules 2011. Please add direct reference so as to make this clear. We further suggest that the term “Personal Information”, also defined in the same IT Rules, is also included and referred to in the draft policy, so that not only Sensitive Personal Data is barred from disclosure under this policy, but also Personal Information (that is "<em>any information that relates to a natural person, which, either directly or indirectly, in combination with other information available or likely to be available with a body corporate, is capable of identifying such person</em>") <strong>[5]</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>3.4.3.</strong> The term “Negative List” is defined in a manner that allows the state government ministries and agencies to identify which data are to be considered as non-shareable without any reference to an existing policy framework that list acceptable grounds for such identification. The term must be defined more restrictively, as this definition can allow an agency to avoid disclosure of data that may not be legally justifiable as non-shareable or sensitive. Thus, we recommend a more limited definition which may draw upon the RTI Act 2005, and specifically consider the factors mentioned in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act as the (only) set of acceptable reasons for non-disclosure of government data.</p>
<p><strong>3.4.4.</strong> The terms “Shareable Data” and “Sensitive Data” are used in several places in the draft policy but are not defined in Section 4. Both these terms are defined in NDSAP 2012. We suggest that both these terms be listed in Section 4, in accordance with the respective definitions provided in NDSAP 2012.</p>
<p><strong>3.4.5.</strong> The terms “Data Archive”, “Data Acquisition”, “Raw Data”, “Standards-Compliant Applications”, and “Unique Data” are defined in Section 4, but none of these terms appear elsewhere in the draft policy. We suggest that these terms are either better integrated into the document, or may not be defined at all.</p>
<h3>3.5. Rename Section 6 to Focus on Implementation of the Policy</h3>
<p><strong>3.5.1.</strong> Though the Section 6 is named as “Shareable Data”, it instead categorically lists down how the policy is to be implemented. This is a very welcome step, but the Section title should reflect this purpose of the Section.</p>
<p><strong>3.5.2.</strong> The decision proposed in the draft policy to make it mandatory for "<em>each funding organization</em>" to "<em>highlight data sharing policy as preamble in its RFPs as well as Project proposal formats</em>" is much appreciated and commendable. For a clearer and wider applicability of this measure, we recommend that this responsibility should apply to all state government agencies, including agencies where the state government enjoys significant stake, and all public-private partnerships entered into by the state government agencies, and not only to "<em>funding organizations</em>" (a term that has also not been defined in the draft policy).</p>
<p><strong>3.5.3.</strong> While the Section details out various measures and steps of implementation of the policy, it does not clarify which agency and/or committee would have the authority and responsibility to coordinate, monitor, facilitate, and ensure these measures and steps. Not only governmental representatives but also non-governmental representatives may be considered for such a committee.</p>
<h3>3.6. Host All Open Government Data in the State Portal</h3>
<p><strong>3.6.1.</strong> We observe that the Section 6 indicates that , the designated domain for the open government data portal for the state of Telangana, will only store metadata related to the proactive disclosed data sets but not the data sets themselves. This is further clarified in Section 10. We strongly urge the ITE&C Department to reconsider this decision to not to store the actual open data sets in the state open government data portal itself but in the departmental portals. A central archive of the open data assets, hosted by the state open government data portal, will allow for more effective and streamlined management of the open data assets concerned, including their systematic backing-up, better security and integrity, permanent and unique disclosure, and rule-driven updation. This would also reduce the burden upon all the government agencies, especially those that do not have a substantial IT team, to run independent department-specific open data portals.</p>
<h3>3.7. Reconsider the Section on Data Classification</h3>
<p><strong>3.7.1.</strong> While it is clear that the Section 7 on Data Classification follows the classification of various data sets created, managed, and/or hosted by government agencies offered in the NDSAP 2012, it is not very clear what role this classification plays in functioning and implementation of the draft policy. While Open Access and Registered Access data may both be considered as open government data that is to be proactively disclosed by the state government agencies via the state open government data portal, the Restricted Access data overlaps with the kinds of data already included in the Negative List defined in the draft policy (and elsewhere, like the RTI Act 2005). Further, the final sentence in this Section ensures that all data users provide appropriate attribution of the source(s) of the data set concerned, which (though is an important statement) should not be part of this Section on Data Classification. We suggest reconsideration of inclusion of this Section.</p>
<h3>3.8. Reconsider the Section on Technology for Sharing and Access</h3>
<p><strong>3.8.1.</strong> While it is clear that the Section 8 on Technology for Sharing and Access is adapted from the Section 9 of the NDSAP 2012, the text in this Section seems to be not fully compatible with other statements in this draft policy. For example, the Section states that "<em>[t]his integrated repository will hold data of current and historical nature and this repository over a period of time will also encompass data generated by various State Government departments</em>." However, the draft policy states in Section 10 that "<em>data.telangana.gov.in will only have the metadata and data itself will be accessed from the portals of the departments</em>."</p>
<p><strong>3.8.2.</strong> We strongly urge the ITE&C Department to revise this Section through close discussion with the NDSAP Project Management Unit, National Informatics Centre, which is the technical team responsible for developing and managing the portal, since the present version of this Section lists the original feature set of the portal as envisioned in 2012 but does not reflect the most recent feature set that has been already implemented in the portal concerned.</p>
<h3>3.9. Current Legal Framework (Section 9) should List to Relevant Acts, Rules, Policies, and Guidelines</h3>
<p><strong>3.9.1.</strong> CIS observes that the draft policy attempts to lay out the applicable legal framework in Section 2 and 9 of the draft policy, and submits that the legal framework is incomplete and recommends that the draft policy lists all the following relevant acts, rules, policies and guidelines:</p>
<ol type="A">
<li>National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy, 2012<br /><br /></li>
<li>Right to Information Act, 2005<br /><br /></li>
<li>Information Technology Act, 2002<br /><br /></li>
<li>Information Technology (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) Rules, 2011.<br /></li></ol>
<p><strong>3.9.2.</strong> CIS submits that apart from the policies mentioned above, the implementation of the draft policy is intricately linked to concepts of "open standards," "open source software," "open API," and "right to information." These concepts are governed by specific acts and policies, and are applicable to government owned data, as follows:</p>
<ol type="A">
<li><strong>Adoption of Open Standards:</strong> CIS observes that the draft policy draws on the importance of building information systems for interoperability and greater information accessibility. Interoperability is achieved by appropriate implementation of open standards. Thus, CIS submits that the Policy on Open Standards for e-Governance <strong>[6]</strong> which establishes the guidelines for usage of open standards to ensure seamless interoperability, and the Implementation Guidelines of the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy, 2012 <strong>[7]</strong> should be mentioned in the draft policy.<br /><br /></li>
<li><strong>Adoption of Open Source Software:</strong> The Policy on Adoption of Open Source Software for Government of India states that the "<em>Government of India shall endeavour to adopt Open Source Software in all e-Governance systems implemented by various Government organizations, as a preferred option in comparison to Closed Source Software</em> <strong>[8]</strong>." As the draft policy proposed to guide the development of information systems to share open data is being developed and implemented both by the Government of Telangana and by other agencies (academic, commercial, and otherwise), it must include an explicit reference and embracing of this mandate for adoption of Open Source Software, for reasons of reducing expenses, avoiding vendor lock-ins, re-usability of software components, enabling public accountability, and greater security of software systems.<br /><br /></li>
<li><strong>Implementation of Open APIs:</strong> CIS observes that the draft policy refers to Standard compliant applications in Section 4. CIS suggests that final version of the policy refer to and operationalise the Policy on Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for Government of India <strong>[9]</strong>. This will ensure that the openly available data is available to the public, as well as to all the government agencies, in a structured digital format that is easy to consume and use on one hand, and is available for various forms of value addition and innovation on the other. Refer to Official Secrets Act, 1923: The Official Secrets Act penalises a person if he/she "<em>obtains, collects, records or publishes or communicates to other person any secret official code or password, or any sketch, plan, model, article or note or other document or information which is calculated to be or might be or is intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy for which relates to a matter the disclosure of which is likely to affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State or friendly relations with foreign States</em> <strong>[10]</strong>." CIS submits that this Act should be referred to in this context of ensuring non-publication of the aforementioned data.<br /></li></ol>
<h3>3.10. Mandate a Participatory Process for Developing the Implementation Guidelines</h3>
<p><strong>3.10.1.</strong> We highly appreciate and welcome the fact that the draft policy emphasises rapid operationalisation of the policy by mandating that the ITE&C Department will prepare a detailed implementation guideline within 6 months of the notification of this policy, and all state government departments will publish at least 5 high value datasets within the next three months. Just as an addition to this mandate, we would like to propose that it can be suggested that the ITE&C Department undertakes a participatory process, with contributions from both government agencies and non-government actors, to develop this implementation guideline document. We believe that opening up government data in an effective and sustainable manner, for most government agencies, involves a systematic change in how the agency undertakes day-to-day data management practices. Hence, to develop productive and practical implementation guidelines, the ITE&C Department needs to gather insights from the other state government agencies regarding their existing data (and metadata) management practices <strong>[11]</strong>. Further, participation of the non-government actors in this process is crucial to ensure that the implementation guidelines appropriately identify the high value data sets, that is data sets that should be published on a priority basis.</p>
<h3>3.11. Defer the Decision about Roles of Data Owners, Generators, and Controllers</h3>
<p><strong>3.11.1.</strong> As the draft policy does not specifically define the terms “Data Owners”, “Data Generators”, and “Data Controllers”, and the Section 11 only briefly describes some of the roles of these types of actors, we suggest removal of this discussion and the decision regarding the specific roles and functions of the Data Owners / Generators / Controllers from the draft policy itself. It will be perhaps more appropriate and effective to define these terms, as well as their roles and functions, in the implementation guidelines to be prepared by the ITE&C Department after the notification of the open data policy, since these terms relate directly to the final designing of the implementation process.</p>
<p><strong>3.12.</strong> CIS is grateful to the ITE&C Department for this opportunity to provide comments, and would be honoured to provide further assistance on the matter.</p>
<h3><strong>Endnotes</strong></h3>
<p><strong>[1]</strong> See: <a href="http://cis-india.org/" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org/</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[2]</strong> See: <a href="http://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP.pdf" target="_blank">http://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[3]</strong> See: <a href="http://rti.gov.in/webactrti.htm" target="_blank">http://rti.gov.in/webactrti.htm</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[4]</strong> See: <a href="http://meity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/GSR313E_10511(1).pdf" target="_blank">http://meity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/GSR313E_10511(1).pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[5]</strong> See Section 2 (1) (i) of IT (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) Rules 2011.</p>
<p><strong>[6]</strong> See: <a href="https://egovstandards.gov.in/sites/default/files/Published%20Documents/Policy_on_Open_Standards_for_e-Governance.pdf" target="_blank">https://egovstandards.gov.in/sites/default/files/Published%20Documents/Policy_on_Open_Standards_for_e-Governance.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[7]</strong> See: <a href="https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP_Implementation_Guidelines_2.2.pdf" target="_blank">https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP_Implementation_Guidelines_2.2.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[8]</strong> See: <a href="http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/policy_on_adoption_of_oss.pdf" target="_blank">http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/policy_on_adoption_of_oss.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[9]</strong> See: <a href="http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/Open_APIs_19May2015.pdf" target="_blank">http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/Open_APIs_19May2015.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[10]</strong> See: <a href="http://www.archive.india.gov.in/allimpfrms/allacts/3314.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.archive.india.gov.in/allimpfrms/allacts/3314.pdf</a>, Sections 2 (2) and 3 (1) (c).</p>
<p><strong>[11]</strong> A similar process was undertaken by the IT Department of the Government of Sikkim when developing the implementation guideline document. The ITE&C Department may consider discussing the matter with the said department to exchange relevant learnings.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/comments-on-the-telangana-state-open-data-policy-2016'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/comments-on-the-telangana-state-open-data-policy-2016</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroOpen DataOpen Government DataFeaturedPoliciesOpennessHomepage2016-09-01T05:49:51ZBlog EntrySubmitted Comments on the 'Government Open Data Use License - India'
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/submitted-comments-on-the-government-open-data-use-license-india
<b>The public consultation process of the draft open data license to be used by Government of India has ended yesterday. Here we share the text of the submission by CIS. It was drafted by Anubha Sinha, Pranesh Prakash, and Sumandro Chattapadhyay.</b>
<p> </p>
<p><em>The following comments on the 'Government Open Data Use License - India' was drafted by Anubha Sinha, Pranesh Prakash, and Sumandro Chattapadhyay, and submitted through the <a href="https://www.mygov.in/group-issue/public-consultation-government-open-data-use-license-india/">MyGov portal</a> on July 25, 2016. The original submission can be found <a href="https://www.mygov.in/sites/default/files/mygov_146946521043358971.pdfh">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr />
<h2>I. Preliminary</h2>
<ol>
<li>This submission presents comments by the Centre for Internet and Society (“<strong>CIS</strong>”) <strong>[1]</strong> on the draft Government Open Data Use License - India (“<strong>the draft licence</strong>”) <strong>[2]</strong> by the Department of Legal Affairs.<br /><br /></li>
<li>This submission is based on the draft licence released on the MyGov portal on June 27, 2016 <strong>[3]</strong>.<br /><br /></li>
<li>CIS commends the Department of Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India for its efforts at seeking inputs from various stakeholders prior to finalising its open data licence. CIS is thankful for the opportunity to have been a part of the discussion during the framing of the licence; and to provide this submission, in furtherance of the feedback process continuing from the draft licence.</li></ol>
<h2>II. Overview</h2>
<ol start="4">
<li>The Centre for Internet and Society is a non-governmental organisation engaged in research and policy work in the areas of, inter alia, access to knowledge and openness. This clause-by-clause submission is consistent with CIS’ commitment to safeguarding general public interest, and the interests and rights of various stakeholders involved. Accordingly, the comments in this submission aim to further these principles and are limited to those clauses that most directly have an impact on them.</li></ol>
<h2>III. Comments and Recommendations</h2>
<ol start="5">
<li><strong>Name of the Licence:</strong> CIS recommends naming the licence “Open Data Licence - India” to reflect the nomenclature already established for similar licences in other nations like the UK and Canada. More importantly, the inclusion of the word ‘use’ in the original name “Government Open Data Use License” is misleading, since the licence permits use, sharing, modification and redistribution of open data.<br /><br /></li>
<li><strong>Change Language on Permissible Use of Data:</strong> The draft licence uses the terms “Access, use, adapt, and redistribute,” which are used in UNESCO’s definition of open educational resources, whereas, under the Indian Copyright Act <strong>[4]</strong>, it should cover “reproduction, issuing of copies,” etc. To resolve this difference, we suggest the following language be used: “Subject to the provisions of section 7, all users are provided a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to all rights covered by copyright and allied rights, for the duration of existence of such copyright and allied rights over the data or information.”<br /><br /></li>
<li><strong>Add Section on the Scope of Applicability of the Licence:</strong> It will be useful to inform the user of the licence on its applicability. The section may be drafted as: “This licence is meant for public use, and especially by all Ministries, Departments, Organizations, Agencies, and autonomous bodies of Government of India, when publicly disclosing, either proactively or reactively, data and information created, generated, collected, and managed using public funds provided by Government of India directly or through authorized agencies.”<br /><br /></li>
<li><strong>Add Sub-Clause Specifying that the Licence is Agnostic of Mode of Access:</strong> As part of the section 4 of the draft licence, titled ‘Terms and Conditions of Use of Data,’ a sub-clause should be added that specifies that users may enjoy all the freedom granted under this licence irrespective of their preferred mode of access of the data concerned, say manually downloaded from the website, automatically accessed via an API, collected from a third party involved in re-sharing of this data, accessed in physical/printed form, etc.<br /><br /></li>
<li><strong>Add Sub-Clause on Non-Repudiability and Integrity of the Published Data:</strong> To complement the sub-clause 6.e. that notes that data published under this licence should be published permanently and with appropriate versioning (in case of the published data being updated and/or modified), another sub-clause should be added that states that non-repudiability and integrity of published data must be ensured through application of real/digital signature, as applicable, and checksum, as applicable. This is to ensure that an user who has obtained the data, either in physical or digital form, can effectively identify and verify the the agency that has published the data, and if any parts of the data have been lost/modified in the process of distribution and/or transmission (through technological corruption of data, or otherwise).<br /><br /></li>
<li><strong>Combine Section 6 on Exemptions and Section 7 on Termination:</strong> Given that the licence cannot reasonably proscribe access to data that has already been published online, it is suggested that it would be better to simply terminate the application of the licence to that data or information that ought not to have been published for grounds provided under section 8 of the RTI Act, or have been inadvertently published. It should also be noted that section 8 of the RTI Act cannot be “violated” (as stated in Section 6.g. of the draft licence), since it only provides permission for the public authority to withhold information, and does not impose an obligation on them (or anyone else) to do so. The combined clause can read: “Upon determination by the data provider that specific data or information should not have been publicly disclosed for the grounds provided under Section 8 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, the data provider may terminate the applicability of the licence for that data or information, and this termination will have the effect of revocation of all rights provided under Section 3 of this licence.”<br /><br /></li>
<li>It will be our pleasure to discuss these submissions with the Department of Legal Affairs in greater detail, supplement these with further submissions if necessary, and offer any other assistance towards the efforts at developing a national open data licence.</li></ol>
<hr />
<p><strong>[1]</strong> See: <a href="http://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org/</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[2]</strong> See: <a href="https://www.mygov.in/sites/default/files/mygov_1466767582190667.pdf">https://www.mygov.in/sites/default/files/mygov_1466767582190667.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[3]</strong> See: <a href="https://www.mygov.in/group-issue/public-consultation-government-open-data-use-license-india/">https://www.mygov.in/group-issue/public-consultation-government-open-data-use-license-india/</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[4]</strong> See: <a href="http://www.copyright.gov.in/Documents/CopyrightRules1957.pdf">http://www.copyright.gov.in/Documents/CopyrightRules1957.pdf</a>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/submitted-comments-on-the-government-open-data-use-license-india'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/submitted-comments-on-the-government-open-data-use-license-india</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaOpen Government DataOpen LicenseOpen DataNDSAPFeaturedOpennessHomepage2016-07-26T09:23:48ZBlog EntrySteps towards Integrated Open Water Data
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/steps-towards-integrated-open-water-data
<b>Multiplicity of data collection agencies, formats, and disclosure practices and conditionalities make it very difficult to access interoperable and open data about water resources and systems in India. Barriers to accessing water data impede not only academic and applied research on related topics but also public consumption of information and critical decision making. DataMeet and CIS are proud to collaborate on identifying and addressing the challenges to open up and integrate data and information in the water sector. Supported by a generous grant from Arghyam, we are undertaking an initial study of open water data resources in India and taking first steps towards developing a Free and Open Source data portal for water resources information in India. Here is an initial note about the project. The key leaders and contributors of this project are Craig Dsouza, Namita Bhatawdekar, Riddhi Munde, and Jinda Sandbhor, all of whom are members of the Pune Chapter of DataMeet.</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Project website: <a href="https://datameet-pune.github.io/open-water-data/" target="_blank">https://datameet-pune.github.io/open-water-data/</a></h4>
<h4>Contact: <a href="mailto:pune@datameet.org">pune@datameet.org</a></h4>
<hr />
<h2>The problem statement</h2>
<p>Following devastating precipitation of more than 300mm in 24 hours in early December 2015 the city of Chennai was flooded unlike anything it had seen in recent history. A combination of bad urban planning along with heavy precipitation events had made such eventualities all the more likely. But in the case of such storms what parts of the city are likely to flood? What parts will remain unaffected by the deluge. Specific answers to these questions would help city planners plan better for such emergencies.</p>
<p>Only two months after Chennai was waist deep in water, the city of Latur in 2016 ran dry. The Manjara reservoir, on the river of the same name, the city's source of municipal water supply had not a drop left. With more than 4 months left until the rains would replenish the waters of the dam, the city was now reliant on water being transported in bulk via train tankers from more than 300 kms away, news that made daily headlines. The scale of sugarcane cultivation in the region was being called into question.. Was it possible that lowering the allocation of water to irrigation could have preserved enough water for the city's domestic water needs?</p>
<p>Each of these questions call for answers relating to the exact stock of water resources, and how fast the water flows from one part of the water cycle to another. For example, knowing current soil moisture levels and daily precipitation can we estimate groundwater recharge with a high degree of accuracy? If seasonal groundwater fluctuations and river flows in a watershed or sub-basin is known can we estimate actual quantum groundwater footprint of the crop irrigated with groundwater in that river basin? If new industries are being set up in close proximity to each other what might be the effect of these industries on groundwater stocks in the vicinity.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Towards an (integrated and open) data solution</h2>
<p>Deriving cause-effect links between the scale of use of water in a particular region and its possible effect on the status of water resources in the vicinity is an extremely difficult exercise because water stocks and flows are affected by so many causal links which need to be studied and quantified in an integrated manner. An integral part of any water resource study is developing a water balance model to estimate water availability and water demand.</p>
<p><strong>Water availability</strong></p>
<ul><li>Precipitation in the form of rainfall and snowfall,</li>
<li>Live storage capacity in reservoirs,</li>
<li>Soil moisture,</li>
<li>Groundwater levels (and fluctuation), and</li>
<li>Surface water flows in rivers.</li></ul>
<p><strong>Water use/demand</strong></p>
<ul><li><strong>Domestic water use:</strong> Human Population x estimated per capita consumption (or prescribed norm for domestic water consumption),</li>
<li><strong>Livestock water use:</strong> Livestock population x estimated per capita requirement,</li>
<li><strong>Agriculture and Forests:</strong> Evapotranspiration data (derived from temperatures (daily/monthly), wind speeds, humidity (daily/monthly), soil moisture & type, type of Agricultural land use, stage of plant growth, and</li>
<li><strong>Industry:</strong> Nature of industry and annual production x water required per unit of production.</li></ul>
<p><strong>Overcoming the data challenge</strong></p>
<p>Unknown to many, reasonably high resolution data does exist of these variables both across space and time, as described in detail below. Much of this data though hasn't been made inter-operable. We need tools to model water data, putting together real-time data for water availability and demand onto one platform that can facilitate discussions around it. However what we have are either proprietary river basin modeling software (expensive) OR free open source tools (programming/skill intensive).</p>
<p>They demand:</p>
<ul><li>knowledge of programming or know-how of technical tools and unavoidably</li>
<li>knowledge of the various data sources (to piece together the puzzle)</li></ul>
<p>What if instead, we had access to a tool, open, free, accessible to everyone through a browser (hence no need to download software) and most importantly intuitive to use and understand to someone with little technical or programming knowledge.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>What we propose and who is it for?</h2>
<p>To understand and take the first steps towards developing a completely free and open source data portal for water resources information in India.</p>
<p>Different groups would have different kinds of needs for water data. Researchers for instance tend to think of larger scales (river basins, sub-basins) whereas Gram Panchayat members may not think beyond the village or watershed scale. Hence this proposal aims at macro and micro scales, trying to determine needs at each level and enhancing our platform to meet these different needs.</p>
<p>The project will generate:</p>
<ul><li>A <strong>web app prototype</strong> that will collate secondary data,</li>
<li>A <strong>paper</strong> that outlines sources of data, type of data, level to which available (GP, village, etc.) and nature of the source (Paid/ unpaid/ format available etc.), and</li>
<li>A <strong>model WSP format</strong>, along with indications for what data already exists in secondary sources.</li></ul>
<p>The users of this work will be:</p>
<ul><li>Researchers/Journalists in the water sector, and</li>
<li>Gram Panchayat Members (to effectively develop water security plans, monitor and govern their local water resources).</li></ul>
<p> </p>
<h2>Project Team</h2>
<p>The project team is supported by Nisha Thompson (Director, DataMeet) and Sumandro Chattapadhyay.</p>
<h4>Craig Dsouza</h4>
<p>Craig is an independent researcher in the development sector with a keen interest in water resources and agriculture. He has a Master’s degree in Energy and Environmental Policy (2013) and has worked as a researcher with the Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Mgmt, undertaking river basin studies in central and eastern India. Craig believes that the democratization of data and tools to derive insights from it holds tremendous potential for addressing issues of inequity and environmental sustainability in India. He contributes to these efforts as co-ordinator of Datameet-Pune, a city chapter of datameet.org.</p>
<p><strong>GitHub:</strong> <a href="https://github.com/craigdsouza">https://github.com/craigdsouza</a><br />
<strong>Twitter:</strong> <a href="https://twitter.com/dsouza_craig">https://twitter.com/dsouza_craig</a><br />
<strong>Website:</strong> <a href="http://unravellingindia.in/">http://unravellingindia.in/</a></p>
<h4>Namita Bhatawdekar</h4>
<p>Namita is a web developer with 10 years of experience developing web applications and web-based data visualizations. She has worked on developing data Visuaizations for corporate businesses as well as in the research sector. She worked with Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Development (MIT's research lab in Singapore) as a Data Visualization expert where she visualized simulation outputs of autonomous vehicles to evaluate urban transport policies. Her work was showcased in many national and international conferences. She has a keen interest in solving social problems using data and is part of Datameet Pune, city chapter of datameet.org.</p>
<p><strong>GitHub:</strong> <a href="https://github.com/bnamita">https://github.com/bnamita</a><br />
LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitabhatawdekar/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitabhatawdekar/</a><br />
<strong>Website:</strong> <a href="https://bnamita.github.io/Portfolio/">https://bnamita.github.io/Portfolio/</a></p>
<h4>Riddhi Munde</h4>
<p>Riddhi is a GIS and Remote Sensing professional with 2.5 yrs of experience. She has a Master's degree in Geoinformatics and Earth Observation from ITC, University of Twente, The Netherlands. Her project experience includes implementing GIS and remote sensing solutions across a number of industries. She is interested in location and remote sensing analytics, ML, Image processing, web based visualizations and is proficient in ArcGIS, QGIS, PostGIS, Web mapping, algorithm development in Python and R and cloud computing. At Datameet she contributes with her know how of remote sensing to further improve data access in water and agriculture.</p>
<p><strong>LinkedIn:</strong> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/riddhimunde/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/riddhimunde/</a></p>
<h4>Jinda Sandbhor</h4>
<p>Jinda Sandbhor is an action researcher associated with Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, Pune, where he works to document and analyze issues related to the water and energy sectors in India. He actively supports socio-political movements in Maharashtra, Odisha and North Karnataka. In the past he has conducted research studies on water conflicts around rivers and major dams, socio-economic impacts of droughts, impacts of coal based thermal power on water and the local environment. He has been associated with the Datameet-Pune chapter since its beginning in 2015 and here seeks to improve access to data on social and environmental subjects.</p>
<p><strong>Website:</strong> <a href="http://jinda.manthan-india.org/author/jinda/">http://jinda.manthan-india.org/author/jinda/</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/steps-towards-integrated-open-water-data'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/steps-towards-integrated-open-water-data</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroOpen Water DataOpen DataOpen Government DataEnvironmentOpenness2017-11-02T09:58:13ZBlog EntrySoI’s Open Series Maps Fails to Implement Public Sharing of Govt Data
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/survey-of-india-open-series-maps-fails-to-implement-public-sharing-of-govt-data
<b>Although it has made the topographic maps or the Open Series Maps available to general public, Survey of India’s (SoI) Nakshe portal will have to go through a variety of litmus test, as the initiative fails to implement the mandates of public sharing of government data using open standards and open license as put forward by the NMP 2005 and NDSAP 2012, says Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, The Centre for Internet and Society. This interview was published by Geospatial World on May 02, 2017.</b>
<p> </p>
<p>Cross-posted from <a href="https://www.geospatialworld.net/sois-open-series-maps-fails-implement-public-sharing-govt-data/">Geospatial World</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h4>What are your views on the Nakshe Portal initiative from Survey of India?</h4>
<p>It is a most welcome initiative by the Survey of India to realize the mandate of the National Map Policy (NMP) 2005 to publicly distribute “Open Series Maps of scales larger than 1:1 million”. The Survey of India has also drawn from and implemented the mandate of the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP) 2012 to make available the shareable and non-sensitive Open Series Maps documents without any necessary fees to access and use them.</p>
<p>The initiative, however, fails to achieve the goal of of public sharing of government data using open standards and open license as put forward by the NMP 2005 and NDSAP 2012. This substantively raises the barrier to access the Open Series Maps data and reduces its possibilities of reuse, especially for commercial innovation, in a very serious way. This undermining of the open data agenda is not only a concern for the Nakshe portal in particular, but also sets a dangerous precedent for future open government data initiatives in India.</p>
<h4>What is your view on the data provided and its usability?</h4>
<p>The Nakshe portal has created several barriers to access and use of the Open Series Maps data, all of which are in violation of the NMP 2005 and NDSAP 2012:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>NDSAP 2012 mandates that shareable and non-sensitive government data (such as Open Series Maps) are made public through the data.gov.in portal created under the guidance of the NDSAP 2012. Survey of India may of course decide to publish the Open Series Maps data on the Nakshe portal along with on the data.gov.in portal. Publishing of the data only through the Nakshe portal not only violates the mandate of NDSAP 2012, they make such data much less discoverable.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>NDSAP 2012 allows for “registered access” to open government data. That is, it allows for data to be shared only with users who have registered with the data publishing portal. Making registration only possible via Aadhaar number, however, significantly limits the number of users who can access this data. For example, non-Indian researchers form an important potential sub-section of users of Open Series Maps but they will not be able to access the data. The website neither has a privacy policy that clarifies how these submitted Aadhaar numbers will be stored, protected, and shared (if at all) by the Survey of India.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>NMP 2005 instructs Survey of India to “allow a user to add value to the maps obtained (either in analogue or digital formats) and prepare his own value-added maps”. The Government Open Data License has been recently notified under NDSAP 2012 to guide permitted uses of open government data in India.</p>
<p>The very restricted approach to permitted end-uses of Open Series Maps by the Survey of India neither follow the NMP instruction, nor adopt the Government Open Data License. Data available from Nakshe portal cannot be exported (which is technically an absurd demand due to globally distributed nature of servers), commercialized, or altered. This creates a most serious barrier to using the Open Series Maps data available via the Nakshe portal.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The Nakshe portal has published geospatial data in PDF format. This is a clear violation of open data practices globally and the NDSAP Implementation Guidelines more specifically, which states that open geospatial data standards, like GML and KML, should be used).</p>
</li></ul>
<h4>Does this fall in line with the larger government aim of having open and accessible data? If not why?</h4>
<p>In a nutshell, the Open Series Maps data being published on the Nakshe portal is neither open (as it does not use open standards to share the data and does not share the data under an open licenses) nor universally accessible (due to the requirement for registration via Aadhaar number).</p>
<h4>What improvements do you suggest in the approach of SoI about the portal?</h4>
<p>I have listed four major conflicts that the Nakshe portal has with the directives and guidelines offered by the NMP 2005 and NDSAP 2012. I sincerely hope that the Survey of India and the Department of Science and Technology will address them soon, as they significantly limit the ability of users to access and use the Open Series Maps data.</p>
<p>These changes will make the Open Series Maps data open, and ensure that the data can be accessed and innovated with by various stakeholders.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/survey-of-india-open-series-maps-fails-to-implement-public-sharing-of-govt-data'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/survey-of-india-open-series-maps-fails-to-implement-public-sharing-of-govt-data</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroOpen DataOpen Government DataGeospatial DataOpenness2017-05-04T12:19:01ZBlog EntryPublic Consultation for the First Draft of 'Government Open Data Use License - India' Announced
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/public-consultation-for-the-first-draft-of-government-open-data-use-license-india-announced
<b>The first public draft of the open data license to be used by Government of India was released by the Department of Legal Affairs earlier this week. Comments are invited from general public and stakeholders. These are to be submitted via the MyGov portal by July 25, 2016. CIS was a member of the committee constituted to develop the license concerned, and we contributed substantially to the drafting process.
</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Please read the call for comments <a class="external-link" href="https://www.mygov.in/group-issue/public-consultation-government-open-data-use-license-india/">here</a>.</h4>
<h4>The PDF version of the draft license document can be accessed <a class="external-link" href="https://www.mygov.in/sites/default/files/mygov_1466767582190667.pdf">here</a>.</h4>
<h4><em>Comments are to be submitted by July 25, 2016.</em></h4>
<hr />
<h4 style="text-align: center;"><strong>Government Open Data Use License - India</strong></h4>
<h4 style="text-align: center;"><strong>National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy</strong></h4>
<h4 style="text-align: center;"><strong>Government of India</strong></h4>
<h2>1. Preamble</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Structured data available in open format and open license for public access and use, usually termed as “Open Data,” is of prime importance in the contemporary world. 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.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The open government data initiative started in India with the notification of the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP), submitted to the Union Cabinet by the Department of Science and Technology, on 17th March 2012 <strong>[1]</strong>. The NDSAP identified the Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) as the nodal department for the implementation of the policy through National Informatics Centre, while the Department of Science and Technology continues to be the nodal department on policy matters. In pursuance of the Policy, the Open Government Data Platform India <strong>[2]</strong> was launched in 2012.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">While, the appropriate open formats and related aspects for implementation of the Policy has been defined in the “NDSAP Implementation Guidelines” prepared by an inter- ministerial Task Force constituted by the National Informatics Centre <strong>[3]</strong>, the open license for data sets published under NDSAP and through the OGD Platform remained unspecified till now.</p>
<h2>2. Definitions</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">a. <strong>“Data”</strong> means a representation of Information, numerical compilations and observations, documents, facts, maps, images, charts, tables and figures, concepts in digital and/or analog form, and includes metadata <strong>[4]</strong>, that is all information about data, and/or clarificatory notes provided by data provider(s), without which the data concerned cannot be interpreted or used <strong>[5]</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">b. <strong>“Information”</strong> means processed data <strong>[6]</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">c. <strong>“Data Provider(s)”</strong> means person(s) publishing and providing the data under this license.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">d. <strong>“License”</strong> means this document.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">e. <strong>“Licensor”</strong>means any data provider(s) that has the authority to offer the data concerned under the terms of this licence.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">f. <strong>“User”</strong> means natural or legal persons, or body of persons corporate or incorporate, acquiring rights in the data (whether the data is obtained directly from the licensor or otherwise) under this licence.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">g. <strong>“Use”</strong> includes lawful distribution, making copies, adaptation, and all modification and representation of the data, subject to the provisions of this License.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">h. <strong>“Adapt”</strong> means to transform, build upon, or to make any use of the data by itsre-arrangement or alteration <strong>[7]</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">i. <strong>“Redistribute”</strong> means sharing of the data by the user, either in original or in adapted form (including a subset of the original data), accompanied by appropriate attribute statement, under the same or other suitable license.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">j. <strong>“Attribution Statement”</strong> means a standard notice to be published by all users of data published under this license, that contains the details of the provider, source, and license of the data concerned <strong>[8]</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">k. <strong>“Personal Information”</strong> means any Information that relates to a natural person,which, either directly or indirectly, in combination with other Information available or likely to be available with a body corporate, is capable of identifying such person <strong>[9]</strong>.</p>
<h2>3. Permissible Use of Data</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Subject to the conditions listed under section 7, the user may:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">a. Access, use, adapt, and redistribute data published under this license for all lawful and non-exclusive purposes, without payment of any royalty or fee;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">b. Apply this license worldwide, and in perpetuity;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">c. Access, study, copy, share, adapt, publish, redistribute and transmit the data in any medium or format; and</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">d. Use, adapt, and redistribute the data, either in itself, or by combining it with other data, or by including it within a product/application/service, for all commercial and/or non-commercial purposes.</p>
<h2>4. Terms and Conditions of Use of Data</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">a. <strong>Attribution:</strong> The user must acknowledge the provider, source, and license of data by explicitly publishing the attribution statement, including the DOI (Digital Object Identifier), or the URL (Uniform Resource Locator), or the URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) of the data concerned.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">b. <strong>Attribution of Multiple Data:</strong> If the user is using multiple data together and/or listing of sources of multiple data is not possible, the user may provide a link to a separate page/list that includes the attribution statements and specific URL/URI of all data used.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> c. <strong>Non-endorsement:</strong> The User must not indicate or suggest in any manner that the data provider(s) endorses their use and/or the user.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">d. <strong>No Warranty:</strong> The data provider(s) are not liable for any errors or omissions, and will not under any circumstances be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, or other loss, injury or damage caused by its use or otherwise arising in connection with this license or the data, even if specifically advised of the possibility of such loss, injury or damage. Under any circumstances, the user may not hold the data provider(s) responsible for: i) any error, omission or loss of data, and/or ii) any undesirable consequences due to the use of the data as part of an application/product/service (including violation of any prevalent law).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">e. <strong>Permanent Disclosure and Versioning:</strong> The data provider(s) will ensure that a data package once published under this license will always remain publicly available for reference and use. If an already published data is updated by the provider, then the earlier appropriate version(s) must also be kept publicly available with accordance with the archival policy of the National Informatics Centre.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">f. <strong>Continuity of Provision:</strong>The data provider(s) will strive for continuously updating the data concerned, as new data regarding the same becomes available. However, the data provider(s) do not guarantee the continued supply of updated or up-to-date versions of the data, and will not be held liable in case the continued supply of updated data is not provided.</p>
<h2>5. Template for Attribution Statement</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Unless the user is citing the data using an internationally accepted data citation format <strong>[10]</strong>, an attribution notice in the following format must be explicitly included:</p>
<p>“Data has been published by [Name of Data Provider] and sourced from Open Government Data (OGD) Platform of India: [Name of Data]. ([date of Publication: dd/mm/yyyy]) .[DOI / URL / URI]. Published under Open Government Data License - India: [URL of Open Data License – India].”</p>
<p>For example, “Data has been published by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and sourced from Open Government Data (OGD) Platform of India: Overall Balance of Payments. (08/09/2015). <a href="https://data.gov.in/catalog/overall-balance-payments">https://data.gov.in/catalog/overall-balance-payments</a>. Published under Open Government Data License - India: [URL of Open Data License - India].”</p>
<h2>6. Exemptions</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The license does not grant the right to access, use, adapt, and redistribute the following kinds of data:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">a. Personal information;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">b. Data that the data provider(s) is not authorised to licence;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">c. Names, crests, logos and other official symbols of the data provider(s);</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">d. Data subject to other intellectual property rights, including patents, trade-marks and official marks;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">e. Military insignia;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">f. Identity documents; and</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">g. Any data publication of which may violate section 8 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 <strong>11</strong>.</p>
<h2>7. Termination</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">a. Failure to comply with stipulated terms and conditions will cause the user’s rights under this license to end automatically.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">b. Where the user’s rights to use data have terminated under the aforementioned clauses or any other Indian law, it reinstates:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">i. automatically, as of the date the violation is cured, provided it is cured within 30 days of the discovery of the violation; or</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">ii. upon express reinstatement by the Licensor.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">c. For avoidance of doubt, this section does not affect any rights the licensor may have to seek remedies for violation of this license.</p>
<h2>8. Dispute Redressal Mechanism</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This license is governed by Indian law, and the copyright of any data shared under this license vests with the licensor, under the Indian Copyright Act.</p>
<h2>9. Endnotes</h2>
<p><strong>[1]</strong> Ministry of Science and Technology. 2012. National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP) 2012. Gazette of India. March 17. <a href="http://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP.pdf">http://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[2]</strong> See: <a href="https://data.gov.in/">https://data.gov.in/</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[3]</strong> See section 3.2 of the Implementation Guidelines for National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP) Version 2.2. <a href="https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP_Implementation_Guidelines_2.2.pdf">https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/NDSAP_Implementation_Guidelines_2.2.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[4]</strong> See section 2.1 of NDSAP 2012.</p>
<p><strong>[5]</strong> See section 2.6 of NDSAP 2012.</p>
<p><strong>[6]</strong> See section 2.7 of NDSAP 2012.</p>
<p><strong>[7]</strong> See section 2 (a) of Indian Copyright Act 1957. <a href="http://copyright.gov.in/Documents/CopyrightRules1957.pdf">http://copyright.gov.in/Documents/CopyrightRules1957.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[8]</strong> The template of the attribution statement is given in section 5 of the license.</p>
<p><strong>[9]</strong> See section 2 (i) of Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011. <a href="http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/GSR313E_10511%281%29.pdf">http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/GSR313E_10511%281%29.pdf</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[10]</strong>For example, those listed in the DOI Citation Formatter tool developed by DataCite, CrossRef and others: <a href="http://crosscite.org/citeproc/">http://crosscite.org/citeproc/</a>.</p>
<p><strong>[11]</strong> See: <a href="http://rti.gov.in/webactrti.htm">http://rti.gov.in/webactrti.htm</a>.</p>
<div> </div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/public-consultation-for-the-first-draft-of-government-open-data-use-license-india-announced'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/public-consultation-for-the-first-draft-of-government-open-data-use-license-india-announced</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaOpen Government DataOpen LicenseOpen DataNDSAPFeaturedOpenness2016-06-30T09:41:07ZBlog EntryProtecting the Territory, Killing the Map
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/protecting-the-territory-killing-the-map
<b>The politics of making and using maps in India has taken a sudden and complex turn with the publication of the draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016. Contrary to the expectations arising out of several government schemes that are promoting the development of the new digital economy in India – from start-ups to the ongoing expansion of connectivity network – the Bill seems to be undoing various economic and humanitarian efforts, and other opportunities involving maps. This article by Sumandro Chattapadhyay and Adya Garg was published by The Wire on May 16, 2016.</b>
<p> </p>
<p>Published by and cross-posted from <a href="http://thewire.in/2016/05/16/before-geospatial-bill-a-long-history-of-killing-the-map-in-order-to-protect-the-territory-36453/">The Wire</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p>The global history of cartography is intimately linked with political needs and economic interests, from the public depiction of sovereign territories to navigating treacherous seas to (wrongly) ‘discover’ the land of spices. In India, the politics of making and using maps has taken a sudden and complex turn with the publication of the draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016. Contrary to the expectations arising out of several government schemes that are promoting the development of the new digital economy in India – from start-ups to the ongoing expansion of connectivity network – the Bill seems to be undoing various economic and humanitarian efforts, and other opportunities involving maps, by imposing strict guidelines and harsh penalties on the use of maps by private actors, commercial or otherwise.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/GeospatialBill_05052016_eve.pdf">introductory note to the Bill</a> clearly states its primary objective is to ensure the protection of ‘security, sovereignty and integrity of India.’ The concern around ‘security’ is not new when it comes to regulating cartographic activities. It is prominently addressed across the current set of policies and guidelines that govern mapping in India: 1) the National Map Policy, 2005 (“NMP”) and associated guidelines issued by the Survey of India, 2) the Remote Sensing Data Policy, 2011 that regulates satellite-based mapping, and 3) the Civil Aviation Requirement, 2012, which regulates mapping and photography using flights and drones. Protection of ‘sovereignty and integrity,’ however, does not find a mention in any of these map-related policies.</p>
<p>There have of course been several incidents where the government has taken steps (including the temporary blocking of service) against companies that have represented Indian national boundaries that are not in accordance with official maps. Such companies include Google, The Economist, and Al Jazeera. Two companies that have gotten away with no consequences after publicly showing maps of India without certain border regions, interestingly, are <a href="http://www.scoopwhoop.com/news/kashmir-missing-from-india-map/">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://thewire.in/2015/05/14/chinese-state-owned-television-shows-india-map-sans-jammu-kashmir-arunachal-1698/">CCTV</a>.</p>
<p>In the absence of such provisions in the existing map-related policies, thus far, the government has pursued legal action against such ‘anti-national’ depiction of Indian territory under Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000, the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (restricting the collection and sharing of information about ‘prohibited places’), the Customs Act, 1962 (prohibiting the export and import of certain maps), and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1990.</p>
<p>Though this present Bill has come into public attention rather suddenly, the Indian State has been planning for a comprehensive legal framework for both enabling and restricting mapping, since the coming of the NMP itself. The first avatar of this effort was the Indian Survey Act that was heard about in 2007, but was never made public. More recently, the first report towards the National Geospatial Information Policy (now called the National Geospatial Policy) came out in 2012. Instead of waiting for this comprehensive policy to be discussed and notified, the Bill seems to have come in a hurry to propose a narrowly designed legal instrument. As is often the problem with such precise devices that also want to be exhaustive, the Bill promises much more collateral damage than actual solutions – it ends up killing the map in the name of protecting the territory.</p>
<p>A quick look at case law on map-related disputes informs us about the motivations of the state in enacting this Bill. A major controversy around ‘sovereignty’ in the field of mapping has been about the depiction of international boundaries of India by Google. After several incidents of conflicts between Google’s map makers and the Indian State regarding the depiction of India’s national boundary, the Survey of India filed a police complaint in 2014. As a result, Google presently shows different map tiles to users from India (according to the boundary specified by the Indian State) and different tiles to users from elsewhere. This geo-targeted solution to the depiction of international borders under dispute has been practiced by Google in the case of other countries too, most notably for Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ukraine and (independent) Crimea.</p>
<p>The internal security concerns have also fuelled conflicts with mapping companies. In 2013, the ‘mapathon’ organised by Google faced a lawsuit for not asking for prior permission from the Survey of India for this exercise in user-contributed mapping. This was preceded by a petition filed by J. Mohanraj in the Madras High Court seeking a complete ban on the Google Earth and Bhuvan (run by ISRO) map applications on the ground that they were both providing information that could be used for planning acts of terror. The petitioner’s argument referred to the provisions of the NMP, and also alleged that such mapping practices violated the individual rights of a person under Article 21 of the Constitution. The court, however, held (2008) that the petitioner was unable to produce any specific “Guidelines/Rules/Law laid down by the Central/State Governments, prohibiting the private organisations or any other individuals to Interactive Mapping Program, covering vast majority of the Planet”.</p>
<p>The trouble with Google re-opened earlier this year as the Pathankot air base was attacked. Incidentally, Vishal Saini, the winner of the 2013 mapathon by Google, contributed to mapping the features of the very same city. Promptly after the attack in January, Lokesh Kumar Sharma filed a case in the Delhi High Court alleging that the availability of sensitive information (from an internal security point-of-view) on Google Maps created security vulnerabilities. In a rather curious manner, the court disposed of the case on February 24, claiming that it has learned from the Additional Solicitor General that ‘steps are in progress to regulate the publication of aerial/satellite geospatial data.’ In hindsight, we see that this was in reference to the draft Bill.</p>
<p>This Bill, evidently, is a product of the Indian State’s inefficient attempts at regulating the making and circulation of maps and geospatial data in digital times. The Bill ends up disregarding the actual features of digital geospatial data and how it forms a fundamental basis (and asset) for today’s digital economy, and, instead, decides to settle for a form of regulation that is much better suited (if at all) to a pre-digital and pre-liberalisation condition. The regulatory measures proposed by the Bill do not only cause worry but also bewilderment. Take for example Section 3 that states that ‘no person shall acquire geospatial imagery or data including value addition of any part of India’ without being expressly given permission for the same or being vetted by the nodal agency set up by the Bill. If implemented strictly, this may mean that you will have to ask for permission and/or security vetting before dropping a pin on the map and sharing your coordinates with your friend or a taxi service. Both involve creating/acquiring geospatial information, and potentially adding value to the map/taxi service as well.</p>
<p>Let’s take an even more bizarre hypothetical situation – the Security Vetting Agency being asked to go through the entire geospatial data chest of Google everyday (or as soon as it is updated) and it taking up to ‘ three months from the date of receipt’ of the data to complete this checking so that Google Maps can tell you how crowded a particular street was three months ago.</p>
<p>Further, a key term that the Bill does not talk about is ‘big data.’ The static or much-slowly-changing geospatial data such as national boundaries and which-military-institute-is-located-where are really the tiny minority of the global geospatial information. The much larger and crucial part is of course the fast-moving big geospatial data – from geo-referenced tweets, to GPS systems of cars, to mobile phones moving through the cities and regions. Addressing such networked data systems, where all data can quite easily be born-georeferenced, and the security and privacy concerns that are engendered by them, should be the ultimate purpose of, and challenge for, a future-looking Geospatial Information Regulation Act.</p>
<p>The present Bill imposes an undesirable bureaucratic structure of licenses and permits upon the GIS industry in the country in particular, and on all sections of the economy using networked devices in general. This will only end up restricting the size of the GIS industry to a few dominant players. For all creators and users of maps for non-commercial, developmental, and humanitarian interests, this Bill appears to be an imminent threat, even if it is never actually applied.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/protecting-the-territory-killing-the-map'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/protecting-the-territory-killing-the-map</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroGeospatial Information Regulation BillOpen DataOpen Government DataGeospatial DataOpenness2016-05-17T10:37:14ZBlog EntryPre-Budget Consultation 2016 - Submission to the IT Group of the Ministry of Finance
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/pre-budget-consultation-2016-submission-to-the-ministry-of-finance
<b>The Ministry of Finance has recently held pre-budget consultations with different stakeholder groups in connection with the Union Budget 2016-17. We were invited to take part in the consultation for the IT (hardware and software) group organised on January 07, 2016, and submit a suggestion note. We are sharing the note below. It was prepared and presented by Sumandro Chattapadhyay, with contributions from Rohini Lakshané, Anubha Sinha, and other members of CIS.</b>
<p> </p>
<p>It is our distinct honour to be invited to submit this note for consideration by the IT Group of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, as part of the pre-budget consultation for 2016-17.</p>
<p>The Centre for Internet and Society is (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with diverse abilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. We receive financial support from Kusuma Trust, Wikimedia Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, IDRC, and other donors.</p>
<p>We have divided our suggestions into the different topics that our organisation has been researching in the recent years.</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) is the Basis for Digital India</h3>
<p> </p>
<p>We congratulate the policies introduced by the government to promote use of free/libre and open source software and that of open APIs for all e-governance projects and systems. This is not only crucial for the government to avoid vendor lock-in when it comes to critical software systems for governance, but also to ensure that the source code of such systems is available for public scrutiny and do not contain any security flaws.</p>
<p>We request the government to empower the implementation of these policies by making open sharing of source code a necessity for all software vendors hired by government agencies a necessary condition for awarding of tenders. The 2016-17 budget should include special support to make all government agencies aware and capable of implementing these policies, as well as to build and operate agency-level software repositories (with version controlling system) to host the source codes. These repositories may function to manage the development and maintenance of software used in e-governance projects, as well as to seek comments from the public regarding the quality of the software.</p>
<p>Use of FLOSS is not only important from the security or the cost-saving perspectives, it is also crucial to develop a robust industry of software development firms that specialise in FLOSS-based solutions, as opposed to being restricted to doing local implementation of global software vendors. A holistic support for FLOSS, especially with the government functioning as the dominant client, will immensely help creation of domestic jobs in the software industry, as well as encouraging Indian programmers to contribute to development of FLOSS projects.</p>
<p>An effective compliance monitoring and enforcement system needs to be created to ensure that all government agencies are Strong enforcement of the 2011 policy to use open source software in governance, including an enforcement task force that checks whether government departments have complied with this or not.</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Open Data is a Key Instrument for Transparent Decision Making</h3>
<p> </p>
<p>With a wider set of governance activities being carried out using information systems, the government is increasingly acquiring a substantial amount of data about governance processes and status of projects that needs to be effectively fed back into the decision making process for the same projects. Opening up such data not only allows for public transparency, but also for easier sharing of data across government agencies, which reduces process delays and possibilities of duplication of data collection efforts.</p>
<p>We request the 2016-17 budget to foreground the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy and the Open Government Data Platform of India as two key enablers of the Digital India agenda, and accordingly budget for modernisation and reconfiguration of data collection and management processes across government agencies, so that those processes are made automatic and open-by-default. Automatic data management processes minimise the possibility of data loss by directly archiving the collected data, which is increasingly becoming digital in nature. Open-by-default processes of data management means that all data collected by an agency, once pre-recognised as shareable data (that is non-sensitive and anonymised), will be proactively disclosed as a rule.</p>
<p>Implementation of the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy has been hindered, so far, by the lack of preparation of a public inventory of data assets, along with the information of their collection cycles, modes of collection and storage, etc., by each union government agency. Specific budgetary allocation to develop these inventories will be crucial not only for the implementation of the Policy, but also for the government to get an extensive sense of data collected and maintained currently by various government agencies. Decisions to proactively publish, or otherwise, such data can then be taken based on established rules.</p>
<p>Availability of such open data, as mentioned above, creates a wider possibility for the public to know, learn, and understand the activities of the government, and is a cornerstone of transparent governance in the digital era. But making this a reality requires a systemic implementation of open government data practices, and various agencies would require targeted budget to undertake the required capacity development and work process re-engineering. Expenditure of such kind should not be seen as producing government data as a product, but as producing data as an infrastructure, which will be of continuous value for the years to come.</p>
<p>As being discussed globally, open government data has the potential to kickstart a vast market of data derivatives, analytics companies, and data-driven innovation. Encouraging civic innovations, empowered by open government data - from climate data to transport data - can also be one of the unique initiatives of budget 2016-17.</p>
<p>For maximising impact of opened up government data, we request the government to publish data that either has a high demand already (such as, geospatial data, and transport data), or is related to high-net-worth activities of the government (such as, data related to monitoring of major programmes, and budget and expenditure data for union and state governments).</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Promotion of Start-ups and MSMEs in Electronics and IT Hardware Manufacturing</h3>
<p> </p>
<p>In line with the Make in India and Digital India initiatives, to enable India to be one of the global hubs of design, manufacturing, and exporting of electronics and IT hardware, we request that the budget 2016-17 focus on increasing flow of fund to start-ups and Medium and Small-Scale Manufacturing Enterprises (MSMEs) in the form of research and development grants (ideally connected to government, especially defense-related, spending on IT hardware innovation), seed capital, and venture capital.</p>
<p>Generation of awareness and industry-specific strategies to develop intellectual property regimes and practices favourable for manufacturers of electronics and IT hardware in India is an absolutely crucial part of promotion of the same, especially in the current global scenario. Start-ups and MSMEs must be made thoroughly aware of intellectual property concerns and possibilities, including limitations and exceptions, flexibilities, and alternative models such as open innovation.</p>
<p>We request the budget 2016-17 to give special emphasis to facilitation of technology licensing and transfer, through voluntary mechanisms as well as government intervention, such as compulsory licensing and government enforced patent pools.</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Applied Mathematics Research is Fundamental for Cybersecurity</h3>
<p> </p>
<p>Recent global reports have revealed that some national governments have been actively involved in sponsoring distortion in applied mathematics research so as to introduce weaknesses in encryption standards used in for online communication. Instead of trying to regulate key-length or mandating pre-registration of devices using encryption, as suggested by the withdrawn National Encryption Policy draft, would not be able to address this core emerging problem of weak cybersecurity standards.</p>
<p>For effective and sustainable cybersecurity strategy, we must develop significant expertise in applied mathematical research, which is the very basis of cybersecurity standards development. We request the budget 2016-17 to give this topic the much-needed focus, especially in the context of the Digital India initiative and the upcoming National Encryption Policy.</p>
<p>Along with developing domestic research capacity, a more immediately important step for the government is to ensure high quality Indian participation in global standard setting organisations, and hence to contribute to global standards making processes. We humbly suggest that categorical support for such participation and contribution is provided through the budget 2016-17, perhaps by partially channeling the revenues obtained from spectrum auctions.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/pre-budget-consultation-2016-submission-to-the-ministry-of-finance'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/pre-budget-consultation-2016-submission-to-the-ministry-of-finance</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroOpen StandardsOpen SourceCybersecurityOpen DataIntellectual Property RightsOpen Government DataFeaturedPatentsOpennessOpen InnovationEncryption Policy2016-01-12T13:34:41ZBlog EntryPraja - Enhancing Democracy Through Access to Open Data: What Are the Roles of Government and Civil Society? (Delhi, Sep 08)
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/praja-enhancing-democracy-through-access-to-open-data-what-are-the-roles-of-government-and-civil-society-delhi-sep-08
<b> Open Government Data (OGD) is widely seen to be a key hallmark of contemporary democratic practice and is often linked to the passing of freedom of information legislation. OGD is a philosophy—and increasingly a set of policies—that promotes transparency, accountability and value creation by making government data available to all. Public bodies produce and commission huge quantities of data and information. By making their datasets available, public institutions become more transparent and accountable to citizens. By encouraging the use, reuse and free distribution of datasets, governments promote business creation and innovative, citizen-centric services. Praja is organising a symposium on "open data and civil society" on Friday, Sep 8, which is supported by European Union and Friedrich Naumann Stiftung fur die Freiheit. Sumandro Chattapadhyay (Research Director) will take part in this event as a speaker in the session on "data centric approach and role of stakeholders in the urban governance ecosystem."</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Details</h4>
<p><strong>Date:</strong> Friday, September 08 2017, 9:30 am - 5:00 pm</p>
<p><strong>Venue:</strong> Juniper Hall, India Habitat Centre (Entry from Gate 1)</p>
<p><strong>Invitees:</strong> Government representatives, elected representatives, civil society organisation and media representatives.</p>
<p><strong>Event Page:</strong> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/126667714642843/?ref=br_rs">Facebook</a></p>
<h4>Objectives</h4>
<ul><li>To study the intersectionality between transparency, accountability and consumption of data by stakeholders.</li>
<li>To explore opportunities for the civil society to simplify governance through access to data, privacy of stakeholders and to address challenges faced in data collection and analysis.</li></ul>
<h4>Outcomes</h4>
<p>The takeaway from the seminar should be to develop the idea of achieving data literacy. The presenters after a detailed interaction should take away the following from the event:</p>
<ul><li>Reflections on the use of Internet and technology as tools for better governance</li>
<li>Balance the development of open data and the strategies to use this data in terms of ownership and replication of data</li>
<li>Identify data sets which should be prioritised for release in order to maximise public value</li>
<li>Data Accessibility: Capitalize on the demand for democracy and transparency by making open data more accessible to the larger public</li></ul>
<h4>Sessions</h4>
<p>Through sessions, the aim is to specifically investigate the role of civil society and media in this effort. The participants will deliberate on the above-mentioned objectives of the seminar.</p>
<p><strong>Session I:</strong> Praja Foundation Website Launch</p>
<p><strong>Session II:</strong> Data centric approach and role of stakeholders in the urban governance ecosystem</p>
<p><strong>Session III:</strong> Open data-experiences; trends, challenges and opportunities, relationship between governance and data</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/praja-enhancing-democracy-through-access-to-open-data-what-are-the-roles-of-government-and-civil-society-delhi-sep-08'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/praja-enhancing-democracy-through-access-to-open-data-what-are-the-roles-of-government-and-civil-society-delhi-sep-08</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroOpen DataOpen Government DataData RevolutionData GovernanceOpenness2017-09-05T10:57:38ZBlog EntryOpen Data Hackathons are Great, but Address Privacy and License Concerns
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/open-data-hackathons-are-great-but-address-privacy-and-license-concerns
<b>This is to cross-publish a blog post from DataMeet website regarding a letter shared with the organisers of Urban Hack 2015, Bangalore, in response to a set of privacy and license concerns identified and voiced during the hackathon by DataMeet members. Sumandro Chattapadhyay co-authored and co-signed the letter. The blog post is written by Nisha Thompson.</b>
<p> </p>
<p>Hackathons are a source of confusion and frustration for us. DataMeet actively does not do them unless there is a very specific outcome the community wants like<a href="https://github.com/datameet/maps/tree/master/parliamentary-constituencies"> freeing a whole dataset </a>or introducing <a href="http://datameet.org/2015/05/13/mumbai-meet-6-data-science-hackathon/">open data to a new audience</a>. We feel that they cause burn out, are not productive, and in general don't help create a healthy community of civic tech and open data enthusiasts.</p>
<p>That is not to say we feel others shouldn't do them, they are very good opportunities to spark discussion and introduce new audiences to problems in the social sector. <a href="http://www.datakind.org/chapters/datakind-blr">DataKind</a> and <a href="https://rhokbangalore.wordpress.com/">RHOK</a> and numerous others host hackathons or variations of them regularly to stir the pot, bring new people into civic tech and they can be successful starts to long term connections and experiments. A lot of people in the DataMeet community participate and enjoy hackathons.</p>
<p>However, with great data access comes great responsibility. We always want to make sure that even if no output is achieved when a dataset is opened at least no harm should be done.</p>
<p>Last October an open data hackathon,<a href="https://www.hackerearth.com/sprints/urban-hack/"> Urban Hack</a>, run by Hacker Earth, <a href="http://www.nasscom.in/">NASSCOM</a>, <a href="http://www.xrci.xerox.com/">XEROX</a>, <a href="https://console.ng.bluemix.net/?cm_mmc=EcoDISA-_-Bluemix_day-_-11-15-14::12-31-15-_-UrbanHack">IBM </a>and <a href="http://wri-india.org/">World Resource Institute India</a> wanted to bring out open data and spark innovation in the transport and crime space by making datasets from <a href="http://mybmtc.com/">Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC)</a> and the Bangalore City Police available to work with. A DataMeet member (<a href="http://www.lostprogrammer.com/">Srinivas Kodali</a>) was participating, he is a huge transport data enthusiast and wanted to take a look at what is being made available.</p>
<p>In the morning shortly after it started I received a call from him that there is a dataset that was made available that seems to be violating privacy and data security. We contacted the organizers and they took it down, later we realized it was quite a sensitive dataset and a few hundred people had already downloaded it. We were also distressed that they had not clarified ownership of data, license of data, and had linked to sources like <a href="http://openbangalore.org/">Open Bangalore</a> without specifying licensing, which violated the license.</p>
<p>The organizers were quite noted and had been involved with hackathons before so it was a little distressing to see these mistakes being made. We were concerned that the government partners (who had not participated in these types of events before) were also being exposed to poor practices. As smart cities initiatives take over the Indian urban space, we began to realize that this is a mistake that shouldn't happen again.</p>
<p>Along with <a href="http://cis-india.org/">Centre for Internet and Society</a> and Random Hacks of Kindness we sent the organizers, Bangalore City Police and BMTC a letter about the breach in protocol. We wanted to make sure everyone was aware of the issues and that measures were taken to not repeat these mistakes.</p>
<p>You can see the letter here:</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2702333-Appropriate-and-Responsible-Practices-for.html" height="500" width="600"></iframe></p>
<p>We are very proud of the DataMeet community and Srinivas for bringing this violation to the attention of the organizers. As people who participate in hackathons and other data events it is imperative that privacy and security are kept in mind at all times. In a space like India where a lot of these concepts are new to institutions, like the Government, it is essential that we are always using opportunities not only to showcase the power of open data but also good practices for protecting privacy and ensuring security.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Originally posted on DataMeet website: <a href="http://datameet.org/2016/02/02/to-hack-or-not-to-hack/">http://datameet.org/2016/02/02/to-hack-or-not-to-hack/</a>.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/open-data-hackathons-are-great-but-address-privacy-and-license-concerns'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/open-data-hackathons-are-great-but-address-privacy-and-license-concerns</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroPrivacyOpen DataOpen Government DataFeaturedHackathonOpenness2016-02-05T20:37:18ZBlog EntryOpen Data and Land Ownership - Environment Scan
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/open-data-and-land-ownership-environment-scan
<b>The State of Open Data is an ambitious research project reflecting on 10 years of action on open data and providing a critical review of the current state of the open data movement across a range of issues and thematic areas. This environment scan represents the first step in gathering information to support a review of the state of open data with regard to land ownership, and in refining the focus of a chapter. The lead author for this chapter is Sumandro Chattapadhyay.</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Comments and suggestions: <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1teylHd_r-Kan9erpiCb9sHTNKpRv5QwXFE4INjcBDqU/edit#" target="_blank">Environment Scan</a> (Google Drive)</h4>
<h4>State of Open Data: <a href="https://medium.com/@stateofopendata/the-state-of-open-data-join-the-investigation-b223edef2a8a"> Join the Investigation!</a></h4>
<h4>State of Open Data on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/stateofopendata">@stateofopendata</a></h4>
<hr />
<h2>Issues</h2>
<h3><strong>[Gap] Land Ownership data is mostly closed</strong></h3>
<p>Land Ownership data ranks as the least likely data to be available in an open format and under open license (across the world) among the fifteen types of data tracked by <a href="https://index.okfn.org/dataset/">Global Open Data Index</a> developed by Open Knowledge International. Similarly, the latest Global Report of the Open Data Barometer initiative of World Wide Web Foundation finds Land Ownership to be the least open of different categories of data that are essential for ensuring government accountability – only 1% of countries surveyed were found to open up Land Ownership data as opposed to 10% of countries opening up Budget data, and 11% of countries opening up Election Results data (http://opendatabarometer.org/4thedition/report/#table7). Both these findings indicate that Land Ownership data is among the most closed categories of data that are needed globally for ensuring accountability and transparency, as well as for tracking shifts in the distribution of national wealth.</p>
<h3><strong>[Gap] Global paucity of reliable information about cross-border investments in and shifts in ownership of land</strong></h3>
<p>While initiatives like Land Matrix have spearheaded greater availability of open data about global cross-border investments in land and resulting shifts in ownership patterns, researchers have pointed out the limited accuracy and methodological reflexivity in the production of such data sets, and highlighted the possibility of them representing "an instance of '<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03066150.2013.799465">false precision</a>'". A recent article in <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/df31f666-0a43-3a0e-a747-ec72f2efb40c">Financial Times</a> notes that “[t]here is plenty of debate over the accuracy of this [open-source data of agricultural land sales]. Official data sources vary widely from country to country, while land deals themselves are notoriously opaque and fluid. Media reports about the leasing or buying of land often lack clairity."</p>
<h3><strong>[Progress] Collaborative and incremental development of extensive and intensive monitoring of openness of land ownership data across countries</strong></h3>
<p>There are several recent examples of collaborative efforts to better collect, organise, and recognise open land ownership data, which indicate at a growing momentum to address this critical weak link in the global open data agenda. Key initiatives include the <a href="https://blog.okfn.org/2017/06/09/what-data-do-we-need-the-story-of-the-cadasta-godi-fellowship/">GODI Fellowship</a> established by Cadasta Foundation and Open Knowledge International, a focus on <a href="https://opendatacharter.net/agriculture-open-data-package/section-2-towards-open-data-infrastructure-agriculture/socio-economic-data/land-use-productivity-data/">Land Use and Productivity Data</a> as part of the Agricultural Open Data Package of the International Open Data Charter, and the work of Land Portal in the Mekong region to develop a <a href="http://www.godan.info/sites/default/files/documents/Godan_Success_Stories_1_Land%20portal%20offers%20innovation%20in%20land%20governance%20through%20open%20data.pdf">common land information vocabulary</a>, especially in a region marked by "its disparate languages and range of national priorities [and] the need to communicate effectively about complex land issues across borders and between individuals with different skill sets".</p>
<h3><strong>[Progress] Success of the Access Land campaign in California, USA:</strong></h3>
<p>"<a href="http://accessland.org/">Access Land</a> is a coalition of 50+ organizations committed to increasing access to our public land through open data. This summer, both the Federal Government and California State Parks released reservation contracts that require open data and plans to engage third party partners – redefining how the public accesses their land forever. Unlocking park data empowers entrepreneurs of all backgrounds to build unique applications that better connect the public to their land. By reaching a wider and more diverse demographic, visitation to our parks will rise, boosting revenue and ensuring the future relevance and sustainability of our public land. <a href="https://medium.com/@alyraz/open-data-for-93af9d3d30aa">Open data is the key</a> to inspiring the next generation of park supporters."</p>
<h3><strong>[Progress] HM Land Registry, Government of UK, publishing Commercial and Corporate Ownership Data and Overseas Companies Ownership Data for free</strong></h3>
<p>On November 7, 2017, the land records authority of UK (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hm-land-registry-makes-commercial-ownership-data-free">HM Land Registry</a>) started free sharing of two of its land ownership data sets: the Commercial and Corporate Ownership Data and Overseas Companies Ownership Data, which "contain more than 3 million rows of data and include the address, company’s name, price paid and country of incorporation along with other useful information." The decision is expected to "support growth in the property technology (PropTech) sector and among small and medium-sized enterprises."</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Who?: Stakeholders, networks, community</h2>
<h3><strong>Cadasta Foundation</strong></h3>
<p>"Develops and promotes the use of simple digital tools and technology to help partners efficiently document, analyze, store, and share critical land and resource rights information. By creating an accessible digital record of land, housing and resource rights, we help empower individuals, organizations, communities, and governments with the information they need to make data-driven decisions and put vulnerable communities and their needs on the map… Cadasta is dedicated to working in such settings to help partners use simple, low-cost, high-tech tools to efficiently and effectively document their land and resource rights — incrementally strengthening their rights to land. This documentation creates an evidence base and advocacy case for vulnerable communities’ claims to the land. Such documentation can make it less likely that communities will be displaced and can serve to support demands for compensation should communities be displaced. We use and create versatile digital tools for a myriad of purposes from certifying sustainable agricultural production to creating a digital land registry that secures land rights for millions of people."</p>
<blockquote>"Cadasta Foundation is developing an <strong>open platform, informed by the Social Tenure Domain Model</strong>, for documenting land and resource rights. Through the development of an ecosystem of partners, technology and data, the platform is designed to allow the direct capture and documenting of land rights through a global open platform that is secure, cost effective and transparent. The foundation’s perspective is informed by years of experience working with formal land administration processes and national-level land information systems, as well as working with volunteered geographic information to develop robust and upto-date datasets. At Cadasta, the focus is twofold – providing the repository and tools necessary to document the rights of those left out of the formal system, while also serving as a portal for open datasets in land and other resources, such as extractives, forestry and agricultural investment concessions, where they exist."</blockquote>
<p>Supported by the Department for International Development of Government of UK and the Omidyar Network</p>
<p>Website: <a href="http://cadasta.org/">http://cadasta.org/</a></p>
<h3><strong>Global Land Alliance</strong></h3>
<p>"The mission of Global Land Alliance is to enable the prosperity of people and places by advancing learning and practice to achieve land tenure security and the efficient, inclusive and sustainable use of land and natural resources. We aim to accelerate quality development by resolving land issues with new paradigms of participation and accountability… Global Land Alliance takes the traditional think tank model a step forward, not only producing new understanding and recommendations based on on-the-ground perspectives of citizens, community leaders and businesses, but also channeling those learnings toward practical implementation at scale. By scaling and speeding up resolution of land issues, we can scale up and speed up improved results in the big issues of our time: urbanization, food security, environmental sustainability and peace."</p>
<blockquote>"<a href="http://www.prindex.net/">PRIndex, the Global Property Rights Index</a>, is a collaborative initiative between Global Land Alliance and the Overseas Development Institute to develop and roll out the first global measurement of peoples’ perceptions of their property rights. PRIndex is establishing a global and national-level baseline of perceptions of land tenure security. This baseline will provide the grounding for a global conversation and movement around securing the property rights of billions who currently lack them."</blockquote>
<p>Supported by Inter-American Development Bank, Omidyar Network, Department for International Development of Government of UK, the World Bank, Overseas Development Initiative, and others</p>
<p>Website: <a href="http://www.globallandalliance.org/">http://www.globallandalliance.org/</a></p>
<h3><strong>Global Land Tool Network</strong></h3>
<p>"The Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) is an alliance of international partners committed to increasing access to land and tenure security for all, with a particular focus on the poor and women. The Network’s partners include international civil society organizations, research and training institutions, bilateral and multilateral organizations, and international professional bodies… GLTN develops, disseminates and implements pro-poor and gender-responsive land tools. These tools and approaches contribute to land reform, good land governance, inclusive land administration, sustainable land management, and functional land sector coordination."</p>
<blockquote>"Throughout the world, land provides a primary source of income, food security, cultural identity and shelter. It also serves as a fundamental asset for the economic empowerment of the poor and provides a safety net in times of hardship. To enhance access to information and awareness by land and data community and the wider stakeholders around land indicators in the SDGs and related processes for their monitoring, GLTN in collaboration with Land Portal Foundation produced the <a href="https://landportal.org/book/sdgs">Land and SDGs dashboard</a>."</blockquote>
<p>Facilitated by UN-Habitat; currently implementing programmes supported by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Government of Norway, SIDA, Government of the Netherlands, and UN-Habitat</p>
<p>Website: <a href="https://gltn.net/home/">https://gltn.net/home/</a></p>
<h3><strong>International Land Coalition</strong></h3>
<p>"A global alliance of civil society and intergovernmental organisations working together to put people at the centre of land governance. The shared goal of ILC's over 200 members is to realise land governance for and with people at the country level, responding to the needs and protecting the rights of women, men and communities who live on and from the land."</p>
<p>Supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Government of Germany, EU, IFAD, Irish Aid, American Jewish World Service, Belgian Fund for Food Security, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, SIDA, and others.</p>
<p>Website: <a href="http://www.landcoalition.org/">http://www.landcoalition.org/</a></p>
<h3><strong>Land Matrix</strong></h3>
<p>"A global and independent land monitoring initiative. Our goal is to facilitate an open development community of citizens, researchers, policy-makers and technology specialists to promote transparency and accountability in decisions over land and investment... [The website functions as a] Global Observatory - an open tool for collecting and visualising information about large-scale land acquisitions."</p>
<p>Supported partly by the internal resources of the partner organisations, and partly by Oxfam, SDC, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, BMZ and European Commission; designed and developed by Sinnwerkstatt in partnership with Tactical Studios at Tactical Technology Collective.</p>
<p>Website: <a href="http://landmatrix.org/en/">http://landmatrix.org/en/</a></p>
<h3><strong>Land Portal Foundation</strong></h3>
<p>"Works to create a better information ecosystem for land governance through a platform based on cutting-edge linked and open data technologies. We help partners to create, curate and disseminate land governance data and information to become part of a more inclusive information landscape. Current information sources are often fragmented, represent a restricted set of perspectives, and are not structured, curated and licensed in ways that support maximum discovery, engagement and reuse."</p>
<p>The Foundation is hosted by University of Groningen, The Netherland; supported by the Department for International Development of Government of UK, International Land Coalition, and the Global Land Tool Network.</p>
<p>Website: <a href="https://landportal.org/">https://landportal.org/</a></p>
<h3><strong>Open Land Contracts</strong></h3>
<p>"An online repository of publicly available contracts for large-scale land, agriculture, and forestry projects. The repository includes the full text of contracts; plain language summaries (also referred to as "annotations") of each contract’s key social, environmental, human rights, fiscal, and operational terms; and tools for searching and comparing contracts. Launched in October 2015, OpenLandContracts.org promotes greater transparency of land-based investments, facilitates a better understanding of the contracts that govern them, and provides useful tools for governments, communities, companies, and other stakeholders."</p>
<p>An initiative of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), a joint center of Columbia Law School and the Earth Institute at Columbia University, USA; supported by UKaid from the Department for International Development, Government of UK.</p>
<p>Website: <a href="http://www.openlandcontracts.org/">http://www.openlandcontracts.org/</a></p>
<h3><strong>Radiant</strong></h3>
<p>"Radiant launched operations in August 2016 to answer the call for open access to geospatial data, with analytical tools for global development practitioners designed to improve decision-making, and to foster entrepreneurship worldwide. Radiant’s geospatial technology platform will permit users to illuminate earth, literally, to allow everywhere to be "seen"; to turn the telescopes back on human activity as we enter the Anthropocene period; and to give decision-makers a scientific window into understanding global activity better. Providing the global community with these tools and data can create powerful insights and accelerate greater catalytic, evidence-based support for change."</p>
<p>Supported by Omidyar Network and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.</p>
<p>Website: <a href="https://radiant.earth/">https://radiant.earth/</a></p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Research and evidence</h2>
<p><strong>Cotula, Lorenzo, and Thierry Berger. 2017. Trends in global land use investment: Implications for legal empowerment. London, UK: IIED. Accessed from <a href="http://www.landcoalition.org/sites/default/files/documents/resources/12606iied.pdf">http://www.landcoalition.org/sites/default/files/documents/resources/12606iied.pdf</a></strong></p>
<blockquote>This report takes stock of trends in land use investments and legal empowerment responses, with a view to informing next steps for legal empowerment agendas. Drawing on a review of the available literature and global datasets, it discusses evolving patterns in land use investments, developments in investment frameworks, and implications for legal empowerment initiatives.</blockquote>
<p><strong>Ferris, Lindsay, Frank Pichel, and Neil Sorensen. 2016. Land Debate on Open Data and Land Governance. Cadasta Foundation and Land Portal. December. Accessed from <a href="https://landportal.org/pt/library/resources/report-debate-open-data-and-land-governance">https://landportal.org/pt/library/resources/report-debate-open-data-and-land-governance</a></strong></p>
<blockquote>Across most contexts, government data sources on land are largely inaccessible, from land administration data, such as parcel data and ownership information to land investments, contract data and even policy information. In considering data on property ownership specifically, the latest version of the Open Data Barometer shows only two countries, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, obtained a full 100% score on the topic of Land Ownership. When this land administration data is made available, it is commonly made public via a web portal rather than as open data. However, governments are not the sole sources of land data. For example, international organizations such as World Bank, the United Nations and numerous bi-lateral donor organizations publish land related data, while countless NGOs may participate in community mapping and policy analysis. Beyond EU Directives for geospatial datasets, common principles and processes are lacking for determining what data should be open, with often differing interpretations among EU Directives. Finally, questions of how to tackle privacy and security risks to vulnerable populations remain disputed, leading NGOs, governments and international institutions to dismiss open data entirely. However, with an ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, there is an increasing need to pool data resources toward solving global challenges -- while protecting the rights of vulnerable populations. In September 2016, Cadasta Foundation and the Land Portal Foundation teamed up to facilitate a conversation on these issues. Our aims were to better understand the current landscape, potential impacts as well as illustrate the unique challenges in opening land data in order to begin figuring out the solutions. Within the Land Portal platform, we heard the points of view of 26 participants from government land agencies, international institutions and NGOs. Throughout this report, we’ve summarized the main themes that surfaced throughout the three-week Land Debate.</blockquote>
<p><strong>Ferris, Lindsay. 2017. Outputs for the Cadasta GODI Fellowship. Links to four outputs accessed from <a href="https://blog.okfn.org/2017/06/09/what-data-do-we-need-the-story-of-the-cadasta-godi-fellowship/">https://blog.okfn.org/2017/06/09/what-data-do-we-need-the-story-of-the-cadasta-godi-fellowship/</a></strong></p>
<blockquote>Throughout the fellowship, Lindsay conducted interviews with land experts, NGOs and government officials as well as on-going desk research on the land data publication practices across different contexts. She established 4 key outputs: 1. Outlining the challenges of opening land ownership data… 2. Mapping the different types of land data and their availability… 3. Assessing the privacy and security risks of opening certain types of land data… 4. Identifying user needs and creating user personas for open land data… Throughout the GODI process, our aim is to advocate for datasets that different stakeholders actually need and that make sense within the context in which they are published. For example, one of the main challenges in land ownership is that data is not always recorded or gathered by the federal level, and is collect in cities and regions. One of the primary users of land ownership data are other government agencies. Having a grasp of this type of knowledge helped us better define the land ownership dataset for the GODI. Ultimately, we developed a thoughtful definition based on these reflections and recommendations.</blockquote>
<p><strong>Hogge, Becky. 2015. “HM Land Registry: The UK’s trading funds, and two futures for open data”. In Open Data: Six Stories About Impact in the UK. November. Omidyar Network. Pp. 17-24. Accessed from <a href="https://www.omidyar.com/sites/default/files/file_archive/insights/Open%20Data_Six%20Stories%20About%20Impact%20in%20the%20UK/OpenData_CaseStudies_Report_complete_DIGITAL_102715.pdf">https://www.omidyar.com/sites/default/files/file_archive/insights/Open%20Data_Six%20Stories%20About%20Impact%20in%20the%20UK/OpenData_CaseStudies_Report_complete_DIGITAL_102715.pdf</a></strong></p>
<blockquote>HM Land Registry began a phased release of its data on property transactions – the Price Paid Dataset – in March 2012, and by November 2013 the entire historic record dating back to 1995 was released. The data provides much-needed transparency in a historically “murky” business, and is already being used extensively by some traditional players in the property market. Additionally, new players are consolidating around the field of proptech, developing digital tools to bring buying and selling property “out of the Stone Age”. Proptech startups attracted an estimated $1.4 billion in investment globally in 2014. PI Labs, an incubator for proptech startups, opened in London in late 2014.</blockquote>
<p><strong>Raman, Bhuvaneswari, and Zainab Bawa. 2011. Citizens Participation and Technology Interventions in Government Programmes: The Case of Nemmadi Kendras in Bangalore. SIRCA Report. Janastu. Accessed from <a href="http://tgc.janastu.org/2011/06/raman-bawa/">http://tgc.janastu.org/2011/06/raman-bawa/</a></strong></p>
<blockquote>Our findings on Nemmadi corroborates Benjamin et al (2005) suggestion that transparency of land information in contexts such as Bangalore can accentuate existing social and economic inequalities and can weaken the claims on land of relatively weaker groups in society. The reflection of the activist from Dalit Sangarsh Samithi quoted above draw attention to the fact that despite the apparent myth of uniform access to information, there are differences in terms of their ability to capture this information. Specifically, when it comes to land, it is not only about having information but also the power to displace / disposses current occupiers. Thus, power between different users affect their ability to capture this information to their advantage but more importantly, such visibility can pose new risks to the claims of relatively weaker groups. Proponents of data transparency fail to make the distinction between access to and the capture of information and the risk posed by opening up certain types of data. Based on our preliminary observations we suggest that there is need to differentiate between the types of data that is made public and the political economic context in which such information is made public. Our findings suggest the usefulness of further research on this aspect.</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<h2>Events</h2>
<h4>International workshop on Open Land Data: Mobile Apps and Geo-services for Open Soil Data</h4>
<p>Hosted by Tom Hengl and Rik van den Bosch (ISRIC – World Soil Information), and Jeff Herrick (U.S. Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service, New Mexico State University), July 2-4, 2017, Wageningen University, the Netherlands, <a href="http://gsif.isric.org/doku.php/wiki:workshop_2017">http://gsif.isric.org/doku.php/wiki:workshop_2017</a></p>
<h4>Responsible Land Governance: Towards an Evidence Based Approach</h4>
<p>Annual Word Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, Washington DC, USA, March 20-24, 2017, <a href="https://www.conftool.com/landandpoverty2017/index.php?page=browseSessions&form_session=555&presentations=show">https://www.conftool.com/landandpoverty2017/index.php?page=browseSessions&form_session=555&presentations=show</a></p>
<h4>Workshop on Open Data and Land Governance: Moving Towards an Information Ecosystem</h4>
<p>Land Portal Foundation and Cadasta Foundation, March 20, 2017, OpenGov Hub, Washington DC, USA, <a href="https://landportal.org/event/2017/03/open-data-and-land-governance-moving-towards-information-ecosystem">https://landportal.org/event/2017/03/open-data-and-land-governance-moving-towards-information-ecosystem</a></p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Resources and funding</h2>
<h3><strong>Department for International Development, Government of UK: Land Governance for Economic Development</strong></h3>
<p>"DFID will pursue actions globally to improve land rights protection to: help ensure women and men enjoy legally recognised, secure property and tenure rights. To Improve information and knowledge to facilitate the provision of clear, transparent land related information and knowledge, enabling rights to be identified, understood and protected. To improve private sector investment through the development and rollout of a standardized investment risk assessment methodology and implementation of best practice in land governance."</p>
<p>Website: <a href="https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/projects/GB-1-204252/">https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/projects/GB-1-204252/</a></p>
<h3><strong>Omidyar Network – Property Rights</strong></h3>
<p>"We know why this matters: Strengthening rights to land, natural resources, and other assets empowers people to decide, based on their tacit and local knowledge, how best to use their assets. Add in increased decision-making authority with legal rights to benefit from valued uses of property, and you get improved incentives to invest in families, children, farms and businesses. It is worth underscoring that the poor – whether informal urban entrepreneurs or smallholder farmers – are by far the largest group of businesspeople in the world. And, as highlighted in the recent report Accelerating Entrepreneurship in Africa, improving property transfer procedures will strengthen business opportunities..."</p>
<p>Website: <a href="https://www.omidyar.com/investees?initiative=Property+Rights&region=All&search=#filter">https://www.omidyar.com/investees?initiative=Property+Rights®ion=All&search=#filter</a> and <a href="https://www.omidyar.com/blog/why-property-matters">https://www.omidyar.com/blog/why-property-matters</a></p>
<h3><strong>World Bank – Land</strong></h3>
<p>"The World Bank is increasingly working to open land and geospatial datasets for acceleration of growth through businesses, and improving own source local revenue creation, location-based analysis and decision-making, urban management, climate change responses, and resilience… The World Bank recognizes that national land administration systems and spatial data infrastructure are fundamental to disaster risk reduction and response by the provision of historical repository of pre-disaster land use and occupancy, location-based information as well as a unified geospatial platform for planning, monitoring, and implementing responses… The World Bank is working on land tenure as well as land and geospatial infrastructure and systems in 48 countries, with a current investment of approximately $1 billion in commitments, impacting millions of land holders in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa."</p>
<p>Website: <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/land#2">http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/land#2</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/open-data-and-land-ownership-environment-scan'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/open-data-and-land-ownership-environment-scan</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroLand RecordsOpen Government DataOpennessOpen Data2018-02-12T10:37:48ZBlog EntryOn World Water Day - Open Data for Water Resources
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/on-world-water-day-open-data-for-water-resources
<b>Lack of open data for researchers and activists is a key barrier against ensuring access to water and planning for sustainable management of water resources. In a collaboration between DataMeet and CIS, supported by Arghyam, we are exploring the early steps for making open data and tools to plan for water resources accessible to all. To celebrate the World Water Day 2018, we are sharing what we have been working on in the past few months - a paper on open data for water studies in India, and a web app to make open water data easily explorable and usable. Craig Dsouza led this collaboration, and authored this post.</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Project Blog: <a href="https://datameet-pune.github.io/open-water-data/" target="_blank">Open Water Data
for Integrated Water Science</a> (External)</h4>
<h4>Open Water Data Paper - Datasets for Water Studies in India Blog - Summary: <a href="https://datameet-pune.github.io/open-water-data/precipitation/2017/12/31/OWD-Paper/" target="_blank">Read</a> (External)</h4>
<h4>Open Water Data Paper - Datasets for Water Studies in India Blog - Full Paper: <a href="https://datameet-pune.github.io/open-water-data/docs/open-water-data-paper.pdf" target="_blank">Read</a> (PDF)</h4>
<h4>Open Water Data Web App: <a href="https://water-data-web-app.appspot.com/" target="_blank">View</a> (External)</h4>
<h4>Open Water Data Web App - Tech Stack: <a href="https://datameet-pune.github.io/open-water-data/tech/2017/12/08/OWD-Web-App-Tech-Stack/" target="_blank">Read</a> (External)</h4>
<h4>Open Water Data Web App - Precipitation Data: <a href="https://datameet-pune.github.io/open-water-data/precipitation/2018/01/05/OWD-Web-App-Precipitation-Data/" target="_blank">Read</a> (External)</h4>
<hr />
<p>The 22nd of March is celebrated internationally as World Water Day. Water is so tightly intertwined in every aspect of our lives that one can only scratch the surface in understanding this resource. Besides directly giving us life, it is a key non-renewable shared resource that dictates whether and how societies can grow and prosper. It has shaped the way civilization arose - on riverbanks and coastal lands. Adequate water of good quality can make or break a child’s early growth. Water available at the right time in the monsoon could shape a family’s fortunes for an entire year.</p>
<p>Unfortunately given the development trajectory of the last century, we have struggled to strike a balance and use water in a sustainable manner. Far too many face the ill effects of this misuse. The challenge with water lies in its nature as a common pool resource, which means that it belongs to everyone. Water is for everyone to benefit from and conversely it is no individual’s responsibility to manage and to ensure its sustainability. While some laws and policies exist to ensure sustainable use of water its fluid (pun intended) and ephemeral nature make those laws very hard to enforce. No one knows for sure how much water lies under the ground and above the surface, we only have estimates. Moreover even these estimates lie in the hands of a few. The Government of India is by far the largest entity that collects data on water across the country. Management of this resource however requires that these data points and the capacity to monitor should be decentralized. The 73rd amendment recognises this by placing the authority to plan and implement local works such as watershed management and drinking water provision under the purview of Panchayats.</p>
<p>To address this shortcoming Datameet and CIS in collaboration have taken first steps with a project to ensure that data and tools to plan for water resources are accessible to all. The strategy within this project has been to seek alternative data sources for water, other than government data much of which still isn’t open data. Two alternatives that have emerged are remote sensing open data and crowdsourced community data. A <a href="https://datameet-pune.github.io/open-water-data/precipitation/2017/12/31/OWD-Paper/" target="_blank">paper</a> put together by the team highlights the numerous sources available for datasets such as rainfall, soil moisture, groundwater levels, reservoir storages, river flows, and water demand including domestic and agricultural water. Besides the paper the team has also put together a first iteration of a <a href="https://datameet-pune.github.io/open-water-data/precipitation/2018/01/05/OWD-Web-App-Precipitation-Data/" target="_blank">web app</a> which seeks to provide these datasets in an easy to use intuitive and interactive format to users in the area of water planning and management. The first dataset available here is <a href="http://chg.geog.ucsb.edu/data/chirps/" target="_blank">CHIRPS</a>: a high resolution daily rainfall dataset for the whole of India.</p>
<p>The plans for this project in the future include making available more datasets (crop maps and Evapotranspiration) and features to access them. In addition to this the goal is also to improve our understanding of the usability of remote sensing water data with efforts to calibrate it with ground observations. A key element of these plans is to develop these resources in collaboration with end users of the data so that the tools are developed with their concerns in mind. <strong>We welcome ideas, queries, feedback, and partnerships - do contact us at <a href="mailto:pune@datameet.org">pune@datameet.org</a></strong>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/on-world-water-day-open-data-for-water-resources'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/on-world-water-day-open-data-for-water-resources</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroOpen Water DataOpen DataOpen ScienceOpen Government DataEnvironmentFeaturedOpennessHomepage2019-01-28T14:41:51ZBlog EntryMonitoring Sustainable Development Goals in India: Availability and Openness of Data (Part II)
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/monitoring-sustainable-development-goals-in-india-availability-and-openness-02
<b>The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an internationally agreed upon set of developmental targets to be achieved by 2030. There are 17 SDGs with 169 targets, and each target is mapped to one or more indicators as a measure of evaluation. In this and the next blog post, Kiran AB is documenting the availability and openness of data sets in India that are relevant for monitoring the targets under the SDGs. This post offers the findings for the last 10 Goals. The first 7 has already been discussed in the earlier post.</b>
<p> </p>
<p><em>The first part of the post can be accessed <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/monitoring-sustainable-development-goals-in-india-availability-and-openness-01/">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr />
<h3>Goal #08: <em>Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all</em></h3>
<p>There are fourteen indicators to monitor the goal 8 and the data is available for all the indicators mapped to their respective targets. For most of the indicators, the data availability is not what the indicator demands, but has to be derived from the available dataset.</p>
<p>The data can be accessed freely in the public domain for all the indicators. However, for the subparts in some of the indicators, the data is not accessible freely. There is a cross agency dependency over the data, to arrive at the required indicator.</p>
<p>Data is collected annually for most of the indicators, while the indicators, viz., Indicator 8.3.1.: Share of informal employment in non-agriculture employment by sex; Indicator 8.5.2: Unemployment rate by sex, age-group and persons with disabilities, which are measured by the Census or the planning commission the frequency of data collection becomes decennial or quinquennial. And the Indicator 8.8.2 : Number of ILO conventions ratified by type of convention, which lists the number of conventions the frequency cannot be determined as it's just a list updated whenever there is a ratification of any ILO conventions. Some of the available data are restricted to particular years and most of them are not till date.</p>
<p>Two indicators, i.e., Indicator 8.5.2 and Indicator 8.10.1: Number of commercial bank branches and ATMs per 100,000 adults, which are measured at the level of districts, whereas Indicator 8.7.1: Percentage and number of children aged 5-17 years engaged in child labour, per sex and age group; Indicator 8.8.1: Frequency rates of fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries by sex and migrant status, are measured at the state level. The remaining are measured only at the national level.</p>
<p>Most of the data are collected from the international organisations like ILO, UNEP, UNWTO, etc., from whose source the data are not updated regularly. There is also a need to disaggregate according to the indicator.</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Goal #09: <em>Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation</em></h3>
<p>When development is through industrialization, sustainable and inclusiveness should be the necessary conditions to attain it. Having said this, the data is available for all the indicators, i.e., twelve indicators, corresponding to the targets as defined for the goal 9. For most of the indicators, the data have to be derived for the required measure to monitor the goal.</p>
<p>From among these indicators, the data is collected annually for most of the indicators, while for the two indicators, Indicator 9.3.1: Percentage share of small scale industries in total industry value added; Indicator 9.3.2: Percentage of small scale industries with a loan or line of credit, the frequency of data collection is once in five years.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Excluding two indicators, i.e., Indicator 9.2.2: Manufacturing employment as a percentage of total employment; Indicator 9.1.1: Share of the rural population who live within 2km of an all season road, for which the data is available at the state level and district level respectively, for the remaining indicators the data is available only at the national level.</p>
<p>The data pertaining to eleven indicators are freely accessible in the public domain, however, for the Indicator 9.b.1: Percentage share of medium and high-tech (MHT) industry value added in total value added, the data is not freely accessible. Most of the freely available data are obtained from the international organisations, along with the official data from the government in India.</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Goal #10: <em>Reduce inequality within and among countries</em></h3>
<p>Bridging the gap between the global north-south divide through co-operation – social, economical, political, etc., would promote equality. There are twelve indicators for measuring this goal, of which the data is not available for one of the indicators and are available for the remaining indicators.</p>
<p>From the data available, for six of the indicators the data is accessible freely in the public domain, whereas for the five of the indicators – Indicator 10.2.1; Indicator 10.3.1; Indicator 10.4.1; Indicator 10.7.3; Indicator 10.a.1, the data is closed.</p>
<p>Most of the data available are of the national level and for the Indicator 10.7.3: Number of detected and non-detected victims of human trafficking per 100,000, the data includes from the states as well. However, since the goal refers to inequalities within the country as well, the granularity of the data should have been from the state/district level as well.</p>
<p>And, the frequency of data collected are annually for some of the indicators and for some the details cannot be determined or not valid. For most of the indicators the data has to be derived from the available dataset and disaggregated as needed. Also, for some indicators the data is partially available.</p>
<p><strong>Data Not Available:</strong></p>
<ul><li>Indicator 10.7.1: Recruitment cost borne by employee as percentage of yearly income earned in country of destination</li></ul>
<p> </p>
<h3>Goal #11: <em>Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable</em></h3>
<p>Housing and the type of settlements determines the human development and the progress of development of a nation. Therefore for monitoring the goal 11 is implicit to human development. There are thirteen indicators to monitor this goal and out of which the data is available for ten indicators and for the three indicators the data is not available.</p>
<p>For three of the indicators the available data is not freely accessible, while for the remaining ones the data is accessible. And for most of the indicators the data has to be derived as needed.</p>
<p>The data is collected annually for most of the indicators and quinquennially for the Indicator 11.5.1, and for some data the data pertains to particular year and there lacks a sequence of data availability.</p>
<p>For four of the indicators – Indicator 11.2.1; Indicator 11.3.1; Indicator 11.6.1; Indicator 11.a.1, the data is available at the state/city level along with national level. And for the remaining indicators the data is available at the national level alone. Also, some of the data are not up-to-date and refers to data more than 3 or years old.</p>
<p><strong>Data Not Available:</strong></p>
<ul><li>Indicator 11.3.2: Percentage of cities with direct participation structure of civil society in urban planning and management, which operate regularly and democratically</li>
<li>Indicator 11.7.1: The average share of the built-up areas of cities that is open space in public use for all, disaggregated by age, sex, and persons with disabilities</li>
<li>Indicator 11.b.1: Percentage of cities implementing risk reduction and resilience strategies aligned with accepted international frameworks (such as the successor to the Hyogo Framework for Action on Disaster Risk Reduction) that include vulnerable and marginalised groups in their design, implementation and monitoring</li></ul>
<p> </p>
<h3>Goal #12: <em>Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns</em></h3>
<p>Production and consumption should go hand in hand, but over consumption or over production would only lead to destruction of the environment. Therefore goal 12 seeks to ensure a sustainability in both. The data is available for ten indicators out of twelve indicators, and for the two indicators the data is not available, so as to monitor the respective goals. Some of the data are partially available and using the available data the indicators can be derived.</p>
<p>Moreover, the data for six of the indicators which are available are freely accessible in the public domain whereas for the remaining four indicators – Indicator 12.4.1; Indicator 12.4.2; Indicator 12.5.1; Indicator 12.b.1, the data is not open.</p>
<p>While for most of the indicators say, Indicator 12.2.1; Indicator 12.3.1; Indicator 12.5.1; Indicator 12.a.1; Indicator 12.c.1, the data is collected annually, whereas for the others, the data which are available are for particular years or cannot be determined. Except for the Indicator 12.5.1, for which the data is available at the city level, the data for the remaining are of the national order. The data is collected from both the national institutions, ministries and also from the international organisations.</p>
<p><strong>Data Not Available:</strong></p>
<ul><li>Indicator 12.1.1: Number of countries with SCP National Actions Plans or SCP mainstreamed as a priority or target into national policies.</li>
<li>Indicator 12.8.1: Percentage of educational institutions with formal and informal education curricula on sustainable development and lifestyle topics</li></ul>
<p> </p>
<h3>Goal #13: <em>Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts</em></h3>
<p>The impact of climate change is severe, therefore taking an urgent action ensures could reduce the impact. The data is available for four of the indicators out of five, and for one of indicators the data is not available.</p>
<p>The data for three indicators are freely accessible in the public domain, whereas for the Indicator 13.3.1: Number of countries that have integrated mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning into primary, secondary and tertiary curricula, the data is not open and also not specific to the indicator. The data for some of the indicators are partially available and have to be derived.</p>
<p>The frequency of the data is not uniform and cannot be determined, by the virtue of the indicator itself. For example, the occurrence of a disaster event is random. However, for some of the indicators the reporting is either annual or quadrennial.</p>
<p>The data availability is at the national level and in case of the Indicator 13.3.1., the data is available for two states – Orissa and Tamil Nadu. Data for almost all the indicators are obtained from international organizations and very less data availability from the national databases.</p>
<p><strong>Data Not Available:</strong></p>
<ul><li>Indicator 13.2.1.: Number of countries that have formally communicated the establishment of integrated low-carbon, climate-resilient, disaster risk reduction development strategies</li></ul>
<p> </p>
<h3>Goal #14: <em>Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development</em></h3>
<p> </p>
<p>Oceans are the torchbearers for all the countries. Therefore everything related to oceans, seas and marine resources have an impact on the human life. There are ten indicators corresponding to the targets, of which the data is available for nine indicators and for one indicator the data is not available. The data for some of the indicators are not direct, but need to be derived, while for some indicators the data is partially available. To derive some indicators we need to rely on cross agency data.</p>
<p>For the Indicator 14.a.1: Budget allocation to research in the field of marine technology as a percentage of total budget to research, the data on budgetary allocation doesn't specify to marine technology.</p>
<p>The frequency of data collected for most of the indicators are not available or cannot be determined or not applicable, whereas for some the data is collected annually. And for most of the indicators the data is available at the national level and for the Indicator 14.5.1: Coverage of protected areas in relation to marine areas, the data is available for the states also.</p>
<p><strong>Data Not Available:</strong></p>
<ul><li>Indicator 14.6.1: Dollar value of negative fishery subsidies against 2015 baseline</li></ul>
<p> </p>
<h3>Goal #15: <em>Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss</em></h3>
<p> </p>
<p>This goal on restoring, promoting ecosystem and stopping biodiversity loss, etc., has fifteen indicators mapped to twelve corresponding targets. Of which, the data is available for fourteen of the indicators and the data is not available for the one of the indicators. Data for some of the indicators exist partially and for some the data has to be derived to match the indicators. To arrive at the indicators, the data has to be derived from different datasets available.</p>
<p>Most of the data which are available are closed and only five are accessible in the public platform – Indicator 15.1.1 : Forest area as a percentage of total land area; Indicator 15.4.2: Mountain Green Cover Index; Indicator 15.8.1: Adoption of national legislation relevant to the prevention or control of invasive alien species; Indicator 15.9.1: Number of national development plans and processes integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services values; Indicator 15.a.1: Official development assistance and public expenditure on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems.</p>
<p>The frequency of data collected is not available or cannot be determined for majority of the indicators, while the data is annually collected for the ones which can be determined. Furthermore, the data is available at the national level for all the indicators, except the Indicator 15.b.1: Forestry official development assistance and forestry FDI, for which the data is available at the level of states as well.</p>
<p>The data available are collected by international organisations like OECD, FAO, Convention on Biological Diversity, etc., as well as by the national institutions and ministries like Planning Commission, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, etc.</p>
<p><strong>Data Not Available:</strong></p>
<ul><li>Indicator 15.2.2: Net permanent forest loss</li></ul>
<p> </p>
<h3>Goal #16: <em>Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels</em></h3>
<p> </p>
<p>A society which is inclusive, peaceful, provides justice and accountable in all its forms would ensure sustainable development, therefore to promote the aforementioned parameters one has to monitor them through an established measure. There are twenty-one indicators for this goal mapped to the respective targets and out of which the data is not available for five indicators to monitor the goal. From the available dataset, the values need to be derived for some of the indicators and for some indicators the data is directly/partially available.</p>
<p>From among the data which are available, for nine indicators the data is not freely accessible in the public platform, while the remaining six data set are open to access. They are available both from national and international agencies and most of the data are not up to the date.</p>
<p>The data which are available are collected/reported annually. And, excluding four indicators. i.e.; Indicator 16.1.3, Indicator 16.3.1, Indicator 16.4.2, Indicator 16.b.1, the data is available at the state level, while for the remaining indicators the data is available only at the national level. Most of the indicators require data from past 12 months, but the available dataset does not cater the needs, as they are not updated regularly. Finally, the indicators seeks disaggregated data for monitoring the goal.</p>
<p><strong>Data Not Available:</strong></p>
<ul><li>Indicator 16.1.4: Proportion of people that feel safe walking alone around the area they live</li>
<li>Indicator 16.2.3. Percentage of young women and men aged 18-24 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18</li>
<li>Indicator 16.6.2: Percentage of population satisfied with their last experience of public services</li>
<li>Indicator 16.7.2: Proportion of countries that address young people's multisectoral needs with their national development plans and poverty reduction strategies</li>
<li>Indicator 16.a.1: Percentage of victims who report physical and/or sexual crime to law enforcement agencies during past 12 months disaggregated by age, sex, region and population group</li></ul>
<p> </p>
<h3>Goal #17: <em>Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development</em></h3>
<p> </p>
<p>Moving towards achieving SDGs in the global scenario requires support – financial, technological, etc. This support can be strengthened the relationship between the developing and the developed countries. There are twenty-four indicators to monitor the goal 17, out of which the data is available for twenty-three of the indicators and for one of the indicators the data does not exist.</p>
<p>The data which are available are direct as per the indicators, whereas for most of the indicators the data need to be derived. Data is partially available for the Indicator 17.16.1: Indicator 7 from Global Partnership Monitoring Exercise: Mutual accountability among development co-operation actors is strengthened through inclusive reviews.</p>
<p>From the data available for twenty-three indicators, fourteen of the data set are freely accessible and the nine are not open. Also, some of the data which are open are not up to date or the latest data is not open.</p>
<p>The data is collected annually for most of the indicators and for some the data is available for particular year. Also for some of the indicators like Indicator 17.5.1: Number of national & investment policy reforms adopted that incorporate sustainable development objectives or safeguards x country; Indicator 17.6.1: Access to patent information and use of the international intellectual property (IP) system; Indicator 17.18.2: Number of countries that have national statistical legislation that complies with the Fundamental Principles of Official statistics, the frequency cannot be determined or not valid.</p>
<p>Since this indicator speaks at the national level, the granularity of the data pertains to the nation. Most of the data are obtained from the international organisations say UN, World Bank, IMF, OECD, etc., and some are from the national institutions/ministries like Planning Commission, Finance Ministry, etc.</p>
<p><strong>Data Not Available:</strong></p>
<ul><li>Indicator 17.17.1: Amount of US$ committed to public-private partnerships and civil society partnerships</li></ul>
<p> </p>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<p>Decision making depends on data, a data should be representative, with high quality and has to be timely collected, which ensures precise assessment of the decision being made. From the analysis it was found that, most of the data which are available are either not freely accessible, outdated and not precise to the need. Most of the SDG indicators are based on disaggregation. The disaggregation is a key to measure to the precision, especially incidences like poverty, food security, health, etc. Therefore, to monitor different parameters we need to identify the different levels prevailing in the parameter to ensure inclusivity.</p>
<p>Said above, the frequency of data collection is either annual, quinquennial and decennial. To enable real time evaluation, the data should be up-to-date. Moreover, for most of the indicators the data availability is at the national level or at the state level and sometimes at the district level. The granularity of data ensures geographic inclusiveness.</p>
<p>In a country like India for close monitoring of progress/development of any sort the data availability should be;</p>
<ul><li>at a granular level of district/block,</li>
<li>collected and updated regularly,</li>
<li>disaggregated by age, sex, and also by social group, and</li>
<li>the data should be open to be able to access in the public domain freely.</li></ul>
<p>Open data will be a crucial tool for governments to meet the transparency and efficiency challenges. For this reason, government data should be open – freely accessible, presented in a format that is comparable and reusable and, ideally, released in a timely manner.</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Author</h3>
<p>Kiran A B, is a student of Master of Public Policy (MPP) at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. Kiran has an undergraduate degree in electronics and communications engineering, and he has three years full-time work experience as a software engineer, working in different technological platforms. His research interest includes interdisciplinary linkages between policy, law and technology.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/monitoring-sustainable-development-goals-in-india-availability-and-openness-02'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/monitoring-sustainable-development-goals-in-india-availability-and-openness-02</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroDevelopmentOpen DataOpen Government DataData RevolutionOpennessSustainable Development Goals2016-04-12T04:14:27ZBlog Entry