Open Government Data (OGD) Initiative in India

Open Government Data (OGD) is a relevant discussion concerning transparency in governmental procedures. The chapter examines how India has followed up on the open data policy and constituted the Open Government Data (OGD) Platform and National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP) to ensure that citizens can access data generated from public-funded governmental activities. The author has conducted an empirical examination of the status of the Open Government Data initiative in India, its scope, how the programme ranks against other countries, and has evaluated the same against the parameters of Democracy Index (33 out of 165), Open Data Barometer (43 out of 100) of Open Government Data and webometric analysis. India has taken proactive steps towards releasing government data to public domain. This can be seen in the rising growth in contribution of datasets and increase in OGD literature. The NDSAP and OGD Platform can be applauded as a healthy step on the part of the Government of India towards transparency and encouraging public participation in governance.