The Economic Survey 2018-19 has pitched for data to be treated as a “public good,” a label reserved for goods to which everyone must ideally have access.
The annual Survey, released a day before the budget, sets the tone for how data will power government policy -- from boosting tax collections to administering welfare programmes.
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The Survey, authored by chief economic advisor KV Subramanian, gives a peak into how data is already changing various government-run public programmes, from the national rural employment scheme to health programmes
The Survey advances philosophical underpinnings to its arguments on why data ought to be a “public good,” one whose .consumption by an individual doesn’t reduce the quantity available for use by others. Second, public goods are deemed non-excludable i.e. consumers who can’t pay for a public good should not be prevented from accessing it.
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It offers another reason why data fits the public goods category: “the marginal cost of data has declined exponentially while its marginal benefit to society has increased manifold”. This means the cost of consuming every additional data unit has gone down while the benefits from the extra unit consumed have risen.
{{/usCountry}}It offers another reason why data fits the public goods category: “the marginal cost of data has declined exponentially while its marginal benefit to society has increased manifold”. This means the cost of consuming every additional data unit has gone down while the benefits from the extra unit consumed have risen.
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As the private sector may not invest in harnessing data where it is not profitable, “government must intervene in creating data as a public good, especially of the poor and in social sectors of the country”, the Survey states.
The survey seeks to allay fears of privacy breaches, especially over digital IDs such as the Aadhaar unique identity number, saying a comprehensive privacy law will protect all data.
According to the survey, when an individual adds an Aadhaar number to an existing database such as a database of bank accounts, it amounts to only one more column added to the table. This does not mean the government can now read the bank account information or other data related to the individual, it says.
The Survey says the Telangana government’s Samagra Vedika initiative is an example of the potential benefits of integrating data sets. The initiative links around 25 existing government data sets, using a common identifier – the name and address of an individual.
Going forward, data highways should be viewed as “equally important infrastructure as the physical highways”, the survey adds.
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