Towards Openness

a study on Open Government Data initiative in India

Abstract

Open Government Data (OGD) which is an emerging domain in the field of Information Science has been creating opportunities for overall development of our nation. Like many other countries worldwide, India too promotes OGD to manage and disseminate government data publicly. This adds value to government data by making the data more transparent and accountable. The purpose of this study is to disclose the various datasets available on India’s OGD portal, its contributors, access facilities for citizens, and accruing benefits. It also takes into consideration the Open Data Inventory (ODIN) statistics to compare India’s OGD stratus in the global scenario. To accomplish this study web analytics and comparative method have been applied. It is found that India’s OGD portal has thirty-six data sectors contributed by the central government, state government, and smart cities. Common people can also contribute
data. The views and download statistics show the increasing popularity of OGD. At present India occupies in 64th position in the global scenario according to ODIN. This study propounds the social value of OGD initiatives in India by manifesting the accessible data and
their implementations for the benefit of society. It further escalates the accountability and trust of the Indian government among citizens.