Article highlights the importance of data driven approach in dealing with the future disruptions and suggests the reforms in the system.

Managing the disruption through data-driven tools

• The data-driven tools were used for managing pandemic induced disruption.
• This offers an opportunity to restructure the data ecosystem for managing the disruptions of the future that are more likely to be driven by climate change.

Policies for data sharing in India

• The National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP), 2012 recognises the importance of data.
• NDSAP recognised the importance of data in improving decision making, meeting the needs of civil society and generating revenue by permitting access to datasets.
• In 2012, a government portal, data.gov.in was also established as a unified platform to enable sharing of data available with ministries, departments and other public agencies for wider public use.
• The sharing of data in this platform, apart from others, is further streamlined through the nodality of Chief Data Officer-CDO in respective ministries.

Challenges

• Challenge remains about whether the collected data is usable, accessible and if it captures the details that end users are interested in.
• Even after years of the portal’s operationalisation, there are multiple data-sets that aren’t updated regularly.
• Though NITI Aayog has brought indices to track climate actions such as under SDG-13 of SDG India Index, but it remains vague in tracking improvements in climate resilience, by solely using number of lives lost due to extreme weather events.

Reforms needed in data-ecosystem

• 1) Complete dataset: There is a need to collect complete datasets required to assess climate risks and vulnerabilities.
• This involves collection of datasets that are sex-disaggregated and geo-spatial and collect more nuanced dimensions like disaster response capacities.
• Targeted research: There is a requirement of targeted research for designing better questionnaires and identifying new nodes for data collection.
• 2) Reliability of data: The data collected has to be made reliable and usable through an accountability framework.
• Legislation: A separate legislation in this regard would bring in the much-needed consistency in periodic collection of identified datasets and their proactive sharing in designated platforms.
• 3) Centralisation of data: There is a need for centralising public data that currently exists with different departments and public institutions.
• The National Data Governance Centre was planned to be set up in 2019 for precisely this objective.
• But it is yet to be operationalised.

Consider the question “How data driven approach could help India deal with the future disruptions that are more likely to be from climate change? Suggest the reforms needed in India’s data ecosystem.”

Conclusion

It is time that India places itself on track to address the issues around the known unknowns of climate change through data driven apporach.

Source:

https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/data-central-to-effective-climate-action/2258964/

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