Bhubaneswar: A high-level meeting to review the findings of the Data Capabilities Assessment conducted by the Data, Policy, and Innovation Centre (DPIC) was held on Tuesday. The meeting held at Lok Seva Bhavan Conference Hall was chaired by Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary Anu Garg.
In her opening remarks, Anu Garg emphasized the critical role of data in modern governance and evidence-based policymaking. She underlined the importance of adopting advanced technologies for efficient collection, analysis, and dissemination of administrative data. Stressing the need for uniformity and standardization, she called for the establishment of a robust data governance framework across all departments.
Senior government officials including Vishal Kumar Dev, Principal Secretary, E&IT Department; Aravind Agrawal, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Higher Education Department; Jyoti Prakash Das, Director, Special Projects, PR&DW Department; and other senior officers from various departments and DPIC representatives attended the meeting and participated in deliberations.
Urmila Chatterjee from DPIC presented the key findings from the quick assessment, which evaluated departmental capabilities in data management, analytics, and identified areas needing improvement. Discussions focused on inter-departmental data sharing, access security, storage and backup mechanisms, and the importance of data quality.
The presentation also highlighted the need for a secure and robust hosting infrastructure, disaster recovery protocols, standardization of data formats, and interoperability between departmental systems. Emphasis was laid on equipping departmental officers with quality analytics tools for performance tracking, forecasting, and informed decision-making.
The meeting proposed forging partnerships with academic, research, and scientific institutions to support data interoperability, ensure privacy protection, and offer hands-on analytics training to government officers.
It was unanimously agreed that transforming the State’s data capabilities is vital for delivering good governance. The Development Commissioner directed DPIC to present the full findings, along with specific recommendations for capability enhancement, at the next All Secretaries Meeting.
