• India
  • May 14

NITI Aayog launches National Data & Analytics Platform

NITI Aayog launched the National Data & Analytics Platform (NDAP) for the public.

The platform aims to democratise access to public government data by making it interoperable, interactive and available on a user-friendly platform

Significance of this platform

• India has rich publicly available data. Government departments have digitised various processes and reporting requirements, which in turn are feeding into management information systems and interactive dashboards. This data is being used to track and visualise progress and make iterative improvements on the ground.

• However, the data landscape can improve. All public government data should be easily accessible to all stakeholders in a user-friendly manner. Further, data across sectors should be coherent to support analysis and dissemination. In addition, there should be easy access to the most recent data, published reliably.

National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP)

• The National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP) aims to improve access and use of published Indian government data. The platform provides standardised datasets from across India’s vast landscape of administrative data. 

• Its mission is to standardise data across multiple government sources, provide flexible analytics and make it easily accessible in formats conducive for research, innovation, policy making and public consumption.

• NDAP helps users to search, merge, visualise and download datasets with ease.

• It hosts foundational datasets from various government agencies, presents them coherently, and provides tools for analytics and visualisation. 

• This public launch follows a beta release of the platform in August 2021 that had provided access to a limited number of users for testing and feedback.

• NDAP follows a use-case based approach to ensure that the datasets hosted on the platform are tailored to the needs of data users from government, academia, journalism, civil society, and the private sector. All datasets are standardised to a common schema, which makes it easy to merge datasets and do cross-sectoral analysis.

• Currently, NDAP hosts 203 datasets and these datasets are chosen based on use-cases and expert advice, interoperable with each other, and easy to download and use.

• In the future, NDAP will add to and update the existing data on the platform and the platform features will also be updated based on user feedback.

Other highlights:

• NDAP will take a user-centric approach to providing access to data. The platform will be powered by a user-friendly search engine, backed by seamless navigation, with a worldclass user interface. Data will be provided in a machine-readable format with customisable analytics. Dynamic visualisations will be generated based on user search terms. The platform will be designed and optimised to the needs of policymakers, bureaucrats, researchers, innovators, data scientists, journalists, and citizens.

• NDAP will provide access to data from multiple sectors in one place. Data will be sourced from different central and state ministries and departments. This will be presented using a common schema, with clear definitions and narratives to help the user navigate the differences between similar data from different sources.

• NDAP will be a reliable platform for up-to-date data. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will be developed to keep data updated. There will be regular tracking of compliance to these SOPs. Further, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), web-crawling and other methods will be used to keep the data fully up-to-date.

• Success of NDAP relies on effective collaboration. NDAP goes beyond just developing a platform and will require extensive consultation. Inputs will be needed from data producers in the government to identify data sources and develop data processing techniques for the datasets to be coherent. Regular feedback from users will also assist in ensuring the platform stays relevant.

• NDAP has the potential to transform data-driven discourse, research, innovation, and decision-making in India. There are a large number of benefits for up-to-date and reliable data. NDAP’s vision is to democratise access to public government data and provide a world-class user experience. We strongly believe it will be an important tool for the nation’s progress.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store

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