Digital initiatives require private players to help government collect data: Radha Chauhan of GeM

Radha Chauhan, chief executive officer, Government e-Marketplace (GeM), says one of the challenges in starting new digital initiatives is the lack of data for rational decision making.

Chauhan was speaking at the panel Data Driven Public Governance at Data Leadership Summit 2018, organised by Data Security Council of India (DSCI), the industry body on data protection in India setup by NASSCOM.

In India, states, ministries, several departments, public sectors are trying to use data and new age technologies for governance and service delivery.

One of the initial data-driven initiatives by the government in the country is the National Public Procurement Portal Government e-Marketplace (GeM) which is an end-to-end online Marketplace for Central and State Government Ministries.

"The challenge is what you collect and how you collate it. And the competencies required to do this is not there in the government. Hence, partnership with private players and other professionals is the answer. There is a need for professionals to collate the humongous data the government has to put in format that can be analysed and calibrated for decision making because in government decisions can't be as freewheeling as it can be outside."

Rahul Sanghvi, Deputy Director General of NITI Aayog says the most pertinent question is which data to collect. For that, he adds, two points are important: one is standardisation of how data is to be used and secondly, its authenticity is important for it to be effective. He adds, "These are the two areas where policy can make a dent. NITI is working to standardise the format in which data should be collected. The issue is we are not on top of what we are measuring. Then the systems to collect the data are not always in sync with what has to be implemented."

To achieve that, Chauhan says, the capacity building will play a major role. "If you don't have the capacity, the digital divide will widen further and work has to be done to bridge it. She adds, capacity building programmes cannot be copy-pasted across geographies and has to be customised. "It has to be localised and contextualised on the basis of where the user is."