Policy Update
Parth Lathiya
Background
In today’s digital landscape, data is not just a by-product of governance—it is an asset that can drive transparency and innovation in governance structure. Recognising this, the Government of India launched the Open Government Data (OGD) Platform in 2012, under the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP). It was developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), OGD, which aimed to make non-sensitive government data publicly available for stakeholders of society. (I think examples of public safety being in threat because of digital gap would push the urgency and importance of this)
OGD 1.0 served as a central repository for datasets which covered sectors such as health, agriculture, energy, education, and transportation. However, over the period of time, it became evident that the platform’s monolithic architecture could not meet the growing demands for real-time data access, scalable performance, and a better user experience as Updates were slow, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) were limited, and the backend system lacked flexibility, which hindered the overall user experience. To address these limitations, the government introduced OGD 2.0, a major technological and strategic upgrade. The new platform is built on a microservices-based architecture, which is leveraging cloud infrastructure and provides the flexibility to handle large datasets, with high speed real-time data availability.
Functioning
The functioning of OGD 2.0 is defined by its shift from a monolithic system to a microservices-based architecture hosted on cloud infrastructure. This change was necessary to meet rising expectations around scalability, performance, and data accessibility of systems. Under the new structure, each major task—such as data ingestion, catalogue management, metadata tagging, user access, and analytics—is handled by independent services that interact via APIs. This allows individual components to be scaled without disrupting the entire system.
Additionally, the platform is hosted on cloud infrastructure, either through the government’s MeghRaj Cloud or empanelled private providers. Cloud hosting supports elastic scalability and geo-redundancy, which ultimately ensures that the platform remains responsive even during traffic surges. It also reduces infrastructure overhead and facilitates better data versioning and archival. Another major improvement in functionality is the federated model of data publishing. Now, municipal bodies can also upload datasets directly through role-based access. The system includes built-in validation checks to maintain uniformity within datasets.
User interaction has also been significantly improved. The platform now includes open APIs, data visualisation tools, and download options that cater for the needs of different user profiles. The presence of usage dashboards and real-time analytics modules allows government departments to track datasets and help them to understand which data is most in demand.
Performance and Assessment
| Sector | Use Cases Enabled by OGD 2.0 | Observed Governance Impact |
| Health | Real-time publication of COVID-19 case data, vaccination statistics, hospital infrastructure, and oxygen supply logistics through integrated health dashboards. | Faster pandemic response, Better hospital load balancing, Public transparency during crisis |
| Urban Governance | Live sanitation and waste management data from Smart Cities; integration with urban mobility and air quality indices. | Improved urban planning, (e.g., garbage pickup routes, pollution alerts). |
| Education | Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) made available via OGD APIs, detailing school infrastructure, enrolment, and teacher strength. | Evidence-based resource allocation, Better targeting of school improvement plans and SSA funding. |
| Environment | Integration of air and water quality datasets from Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and state agencies, linked with geospatial data. | Enables evidence-based environmental action plans. |
| Rural Development | Daily reports on MGNREGA job card issuance, work completion, and fund transfers across districts. | Enables DBT audits,Prevents wage delays,Improves targeting of rural employment schemes. |
| Disaster Management | Real-time datasets on rainfall, river levels, cyclone alerts published via NDMA-linked feeds; used in flood-prone districts. | Faster evacuation planning, Minimises disaster losses,Strengthens resilience of vulnerable districts. |
Emerging Issues
- Inconsistent Data Standards Across Departments: Ministries and states often follow non-uniform metadata conventions and classification systems, which make inter-departmental data aggregation difficult.
- Irregular Dataset Updates: Several datasets are uploaded once but not maintained regularly, which eventually limits their relevance for real-time governance.
- Limited Accountability for Data Quality: No clear institutional mechanism currently exists to audit and validate erroneous data published on the portal. Additionally, no formal process exists to track how published datasets lead to service improvements and policy change over the period of time.
- Weak Participation from Local Bodies and minimal citizen feedback: Municipalities and district-level offices often lack the capacity to contribute data consistently. Moreover, Users cannot directly report dataset issues or suggest improvements on the portal, which reduces participatory governance potential.
- Low Reuse of Data by Government Departments: Despite availability, internal departments rarely integrate open datasets into their planning or monitoring workflows, which leads to underutilisation. Additionally, Many potential users, especially at the grassroots level, remain unaware of the platform or lack the skills to use it effectively.
- Data Privacy Risks: Some datasets contain granular location or demographic information that could risk re-identification in the absence of stronger anonymisation protocols.
- Platform Dependence on National Informatics Centre (NIC) Alone: Technical control rests largely with NIC, with limited room for third-party innovation or state-level customisation.
Way Forward
To unlock the full potential of OGD 2.0, India must now move from platform-building to a deeply integrated ecosystem-based digital infrastructure. This involves institutionalising regular data audits, standardising metadata across departments, and enforcing strict update cycles to ensure that public datasets remain timely and reliable. A decentralised governance model should be encouraged, where states and urban local bodies are empowered to publish their own datasets using shared national standards.
Parallelly, capacity-building initiatives are essential. The training of multiple stakeholders, such as bureaucrats, municipal staff, and technologists, in open data frameworks can help to improve both participation and the quality of the overall data structure. Additionally, the integration of OGD 2.0 with flagship digital platforms—such as Digital India, PM Gati Shakti, and National GIS—can create seamless data flows across policy domains. The policymakers also try to include feedback loops that allow citizens and civil society groups to request datasets, report inconsistencies, and shape future data priorities.
To make data truly democratic, awareness and accessibility must reach beyond urban centres and elite institutions. Moreover, the government try to focus on increasing data literacy as part of public culture through campaigns and slogans. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightly stated, “Data is the new oil, but intelligent data is the new gold.” The success of OGD 2.0 will depend not just on publishing information, but on turning that information into insight, participation, and public value.
References
- National Informatics Centre. (n.d.). About Open Government Data Platform India. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. https://data.gov.in/about
- Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Parliament Question No. 1851 – Data published on OGD platform. Rajya Sabha. https://rsdebate.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/743689/1/PQ_260_04082023_U1851_p283_p285.pdf
- Business ABC. (2021). Open Government Data (OGD) Platform India: Creating a Benchmark to Data Transparency.
https://businessabc.net/open-government-data-ogd-platform-india-creating-a-benchmark-to-data-transparency - Ganapathy, S., Pachisia, H. V., Parasa, R., & Gennaro, I. (2021). An investigation of national open government data platforms: How can India improve? Artha Global. https://artha.global/working-paper/an-investigation-of-national-open-government-data-platforms-how-can-india-improve/
- Kud, A. (2023). Decentralized information platforms in public governance. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 20(1), 1–18. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01900692.2021.1993905
About the contributor
Parth Lathiya is a Research Intern at the Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI). He is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Hyderabad (HCU), Telangana. His academic interests lie in emerging technologies and their regulatory frameworks in India.
Acknowledgment: The author sincerely thanks the IMPRI team for their valuable support.
Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.
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