Data Governance Policy to leverage non-personal datasets available with Govt: Vaishnaw

The National Data Governance Policy, announced in the Union Budget, will focus on leveraging the non-personal datasets available with the government, say in areas such as weather and projects, to bring new and improved services to citizens, Telecom and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.

The Minister further said the National Data Governance Policy alongside the proposed personal data protection framework offers "two complementary structures" for India to go forward.

Assuaging concerns, Vaishnaw emphasised that the National Data Governance Policy relates to non-personal data available to the government.

He cited examples of non-personal datasets, say those pertaining to weather or even projects, and explained that such datasets can be used to provide better service delivery to citizens.

"I want to categorically say the National Data Governance Policy relates to non-personal data available with the Government...these are non-personal data, like on weather and climate data, or even statistical data about various projects, their progress and other regional insights, or on traffic...there are multiple such datasets which can be used to provide better service delivery to the citizens," the Minister said outlining the objectives of the newly-announced policy.

The Minister said that the National Data Governance Policy alongside the proposed personal data protection legislation represents two complementary constructs in place to move forward.

"We wanted that there should be clear personal data protection legislation in place by the time we announce this...actually implement the non-personal data governance framework...Now that the (digital personal data protection) Bill is already there, it has received very good feedback, globally I am hearing in Davos some people said India data protection bill should become template not European GDPR...," the Minister said.

He termed the National Data Governance Policy as an "important policy decision" announced in the Budget.

"Indian government has many datasets pertaining to non-personal data. For example, weather or climate-related...datasets spanning 20-25 years...can we leverage to give farmers authentic predictions around weather and climate," he said at a media briefing.

These non-personal datasets, with the help of startups and use of Artificial Intelligence, can bring new, improved services to citizens, the Minister informed.

It is pertinent to mention that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during her Budget 2023-24 speech on Wednesday, announced that a National Data Governance Policy will be brought out to unleash innovation and research by start-ups and academia. She added this will enable access to anonymised data.

On 5G, Telecom Minister Vaishnaw informed that the initial targets have, in fact, been exceeded on the rollout of next-generation high-speed connectivity services.

The 5G service has already been rolled out in more than 200 cities, the pace of implementation is faster than the previously anticipated timeline of March 31, 2023.

The Telecom Minister also informed that India is making rapid progress in building an indigenous telecom stack and that it will be a telecom technology exporter in 2-3 years.

"In 2023, the focus under Atmanirbhar Bharat will be on 4G/5G telecom stack to be rolled out in BSNL and MTNL. The India telecom stack has been tested for 10 million simultaneous calls, and the testing was completed in November-December. It will be rolled out," Vaishnaw said.

Two countries have formally evinced interest in implementing the telecom stack, once India puts it in place, the Minister informed.