Government website gives access to 3,500 data banks

NEW DELHI: General public can now access over 3,500 government data banks on a single website having a wealth of information, ranging from beneficiaries under various schemes to industrial output numbers.


Launching the website www.data.gov.in, Telecom and IT Minister Kapil Sibal said: "Ever since the UPA government came to power, information revolution started with the Right to Information Act that has got up to a stage where we are willing to share data with everybody. We realise that in absence of data you can not take appropriate decision."

The website carries over 3,500 government data banks, according to an official release.

People in government must change their mindset and be willing to share more information barring those piece of information that can have security implications, he said.

"Even though we 3500 sets of data, what we need to do is change mindset of governments throughout the country to share all that data. Unless we share information we will not be able to bring revolution," the Minister said.

Adviser to Prime Minister of India, Sam Pitroda said: "Today we have over 3,500 sets of data but in next six months we would like to see that this goes up to 10,000 data sets and we would like to challenge developer community to make at least 100 applications in next month to use this data."