Event Data.Gov.in

A one-day awareness workshop on National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy and Open Government Platform was held at Shimla on 21-June-2013 under the Chairpersonship of Sh. P.C. Dhiman, Principal Secretary (Information Technology) to the Government of Himachal Pradesh. About 80 officers from different State Government Departments and NIC, including all District Informatics Officers from Himachal Pradesh participated in the workshop. The objective of the workshop was to create awareness among the State Government officials and to indentify the probable lists of datasets which can be contributed from Himachal Pradesh.

Dr. Saurabh Gupta, State Informatics Officer, NIC Himachal Pradesh, in his welcome address stressed upon the importance of Datasets of Government Departments being available on the Data.Gov.In portal. He listed a number of NIC Himachal Pradesh developed applications which have huge data available under different sectors. Some of these include Finance, Grievance Redressal, Schemes, Kanoon Vyavastha, Gazette Notifications, Arms Licenses, Driving Licenses, Vehicle Registrations, Employment data, Certificates, Pensions, Prisons etc.

Sh. P.C. Dhiman, Principal Secretary (Information Technology) to the Government of Himachal Pradesh in his keynote address highlighted the role of technology in betterment of Government functioning and providing better services to citizens. He gave examples of duplicate data being captured under schemes and advised that existing data should be re-used in the Government sector. This is where the Open Government Platform can help the State Government in making all existing digital datasets readily available for sharing amongst Departments, which is also the objective of the NDSAP.

Mrs. Alka Mishra, Senior Technical Director, Data Portal Team, NIC Hqrs delivered talks on NDSAP, Open Government Platform and procedure to be followed for contributing Datasets. She demonstrated the SW interface for Dataset contribution. The participants raised a number of questions related to the Datasets , their utility to end-users, role of Departments, which were addressed by Mrs. Alka Mishra.

In the afternoon sessions, all the officers were divided into 10 Groups consisting of officers from 3 to 5 related Departments and NIC. The Groups were advised to discuss among themselves the following points related to their Departments:

• List of probable Datasets already available in digital format
• Ideal list of probable Datasets which should be made available on the Data Portal India.
• Suggestions for ensuring better contribution of Datasets from Departments

Each of the Groups made presentations based on internal discussions and these have been documented. The Workshop was broadcast live through NIC Video Conferencing in 3 Districts of Kinnaur, Lahaul & Spiti and Solan.Based on the discussions held with the Principal Secretary (IT) and presentations made by the 10 Groups, Dr. Saurabh Gupta, State Informatics Officer moderated these interactive sessions and summed up the deliberations as follows:

• A pro-active cell should be created at all State Headquarters to ensure regular contribution and updation of Datasets
• The Principal Secretary (Information Technology) will be requested to circulate common instructions to allow all data, available in public domain and hosted on NIC data centres, to be made available on the Data.Gov.In. The Ownership of the Datasets would be the Nodal Officers of the Departments or the Principal Secretary.
• All Departments will appoint Nodal Officers for coordinating Dataset contribution as per NDSAP Policy on the lines of Web Information Managers/ Website Nodal Officers

The final suggestions which emerged after the day-long presentations, discussions, brain-storming are summarized below along with the course of action to be taken:

• The Himachal Pradesh Datasets, which are hosted in NIC datacenters available under public domain, in what-ever format, could be published on the data portal in an open format with the ownership of the concerned Department. The SIO, NIC Himachal Pradesh will take up the matter with the Principal Secretary (IT) and get the necessary approval for the same.
• In addition, 5 additional Datasets from each Department will be identified for contributing to the Data Portal India.
• A Video Conference based two hours Presentation-cum-Demonstration will be held in which Mrs. Neeta Verma, Deputy Director General, NIC will address all Deputy Commissioners and DIOs of NIC to kick-start the District level awareness workshops under the Chairpersonship of the respective Deputy Commissioners. The Principal Secretary (IT) will be requested to write to the Deputy Commissioners in this regard.
• The SIO, NIC Himachal Pradesh will get the approval from the Principal Secretary (Information Technology) for the list of datasets in the State Government websites to be published in an Open Format on the Data Portal India with ownership transferred to the respective deptts.