National Data Governance Framework Policy for Non-Personal Data (NPD)

Context:

• Digitisation is pivotal for India’s aim to become a $5 trillion economy, with data and AI potentially contributing up to $500 billion to GDP by 2025, according to NASSCOM.
• The government’s digitisation efforts are yielding large volumes of citizen data, split into Personal Data and Non-Personal Data (NPD), with the latter having the potential to serve as a public good.

Importance of Non-Personal Data (NPD)

• NPD is the primary type of government-held citizen data.
• NPD has the potential to be a valuable “public good”.
• NPD integration can improve public service delivery.
• AI and advanced analytics can generate valuable insights from NPD in various sectors (e.g., weather forecasting, and infrastructure planning).

Challenges of National Data Governance Framework Policy

Lack of NPD Regulation

• Unlike Personal Data, NPD has no strong legal framework.
• The Kris Gopalakrishnan Committee report identified key NPD governance issues:
  • De-anonymization risks.
  • Central NPD authority.
  • Data ownership and sharing mechanisms.
• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) released the National Data Governance Framework Policy (NPD Framework).
• The NPD Framework lacks enforceability.
• Unregulated NPD hinders optimal policy and decision-making.

Data Exchanges: Opportunities and Challenges

• Data exchanges connect stakeholders and enable advanced analytics for better decision-making.
• Unprotected NPD flow across entities can lead to privacy breaches and misuse by powerful actors (e.g., Big Tech).
• Flawed data analysis can result in poor public policies.

Gaps in the NPD Framework

• The NPD Framework lacks practical guidance for achieving its goals.
• Stakeholder rights and obligations are unclear.
• Data pricing mechanisms and legal structures for data exchange are missing.
• Standardised governance tools are absent.

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Path Forward for NPD Framework

• A critical evaluation of the NPD Framework can address existing gaps.
• Regulatory design for data exchanges is needed.
• This will:
  • Digitise and automate public services.
  • Reduce administrative burdens.
  • Facilitate inter-sectoral collaboration.
  • Build safeguards for NPD use and sharing.
  • Make civic digitization more participatory.

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