New Data Policy to overhaul State’s data capabilities: Chief Secy Ahuja

Bhubaneswar: Odisha is at a pivotal moment in its own data governance journey with plans to overhaul its data capabilities through a new State Data Policy, said Chief Secretary Maonj Ahuja. He said this while addressing the ideas forum on ‘Unlocking the Power of Data Exchange for Smart Governance’ organised here by Data, Policy and Innovation Centre (DPIC) in collaboration with the Electronics and Information Technology Department on Thursday.

“This new policy will help the State in improving interoperability, accessibility and evidence-based decision making,” CS Ahuja said. He further added that the state is working towards building a resilient and scalable data ecosystem that will empower Government Departments and Policymakers to harness data more effectively while ensuring long term sustainability and flexibility.The forum featured experts from the Centre of Data for Public Good (CDPG), Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and was attended by the Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries as well as senior officials from various Departments of the Government of Odisha.

Chairman of Centre of Data for Public Good Professor Inder Gopal spoke on the importance of fostering a scalable and flexible ecosystem for evidence-based decision making through open-source data exchange platforms.Principal Scientist and Program Manager CDPG Jyotirmoy Dutta and Platform Deployment and Applications Manager CDPG Akshat Sharma also spoke on the occasion.

The IISc Team presented the capabilities of the Open-Source Data Exchange Platform which has been designed and successfully implemented by CDPG across various domains and by various stakeholders, including the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the Government of Telangana and the Survey of India.Principal Secretary Electronics and Information Technology Department Vishal Kumar Dev said that the Electronics and Information Technology Department is making concerted efforts for leveraging cutting-edge data science tools and advanced research methods to drive evidence-based decision making in governance through DPIC, which is a unique partnership between the Government of Odisha and University of Chicago Trust. He thanked the Indian Institute of Science for participating in the Ideas Forum which will help the state in unlocking the power of data exchange for smart governance
While the Executive Director DPIC Urmila Chatterjee proposed a vote of thanks, the programme was coordinated by the team from Electronics and Information Technology Department, Odisha Computer Application Centre and DPIC.