Data is very important for accountability in democracy: Niti Aayog VC

Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery on Friday said that data is very important for accountability in a democracy and emphasised that India has "considerable expertise and a rich history in data". Speaking at the launch of Niti Aayog's Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP), he also said that NDAP aims to democratise access to government data by making data accessible, interoperable and interactive for open public use.

NDAP hosts foundational datasets from various government agencies, presents them coherently, and provides tools for analytics and visualisation.

"Data in a democracy is very very important for accountability. India has considerable expertise and a rich history in data is absolutely true. But it is also the case that the struggle for transparency, including the national sample survey, has been a long journey," Bery said.


Chief Economic Advisor Anantha Nageswaran said the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) is indeed improving.

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said the government needs data more than ever, especially in the post-COVID pandemic world. NDAP is an attempt to create a data-driven ecosystem that recognises data as a key strategic asset, he added.

According to an official statement, currently, NDAP hosts 203 datasets and these datasets are chosen based on use-cases and expert advice, interoperable with each other, and easy to download and use.

NDAP also has in-built tools to search, merge, and visualise datasets.

In the future, NDAP will add to and update the existing data on the platform and the platform features will also be updated based on user feedback, the statement said.