India's draft data policy unlocks govt data for all, mulls monetisation

Pricing of datasets will be done by the respective government departments in a transparent manner

The government on Monday published a draft data policy for public consultation, which says all data collected, generated, and stored by every government ministry and department will be open and shareable barring certain exceptions.

Also, detailed datasets that have undergone value addition could be monetised by the government.

The policy document, called “Draft India Data Accessibility & Use Policy 2022”, prescribes that a regulatory authority called the Indian Data Council (IDC) and an agency by the name India Data Office (IDO) will oversee framing metadata standards and enforcement, respectively. 

While the IDC will comprise the IDO and data officers of five government departments,