Tata Trusts starts data governance project to complement Smart Cities

MUMBAI: Tata Trusts, the charitable organisation that owns or controls two-thirds equity of Tata Sons, has started a programme to build data capabilities of Indian cities to help arrive at evidence-based decision making by accurately measuring a city's social, economic and environmental performance.

Tata Trusts has tied up with World Council on city data to support and enhance the effectiveness of Indian government’s flagship urban development programmes, it said in a statement. The government programmes that will benefit from Tata Trusts' new initiative are Smart Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation.

"It has become clear that we are now giving the cities true strength by working on data and recognising the importance of data," Tata Trusts chairman Ratan Tata said. "The impact of this profound usage is huge. It will enable both the government and private sectors to set civic codes, evaluate outreach and finally assess the impact of policy and initiatives."

The programme, which is called The City Data India Initiative, starts with Surat, Jamshedpur and Pune.

"Realising the value of data, Tata Trysts have actively taken up the agenda of striving towards 'Data-Driven Governance' to inform, impact and improve policy formation with a view to facilitate holistic development of the nation," Tata Trusts stated.