Odisha Spatial Data Infrastructure to function from Jan 1
Bhubaneswar, Oct 31: The planners, academicians, research scholars and other data users have an occasion to cheer that Odisha Spatial Data Infrastructure (OSDI) has taken the final shape and is scheduled to start rolling out soon by 1st January, 2016.
This has been discussed in the 1st State Data Steering Committee held under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary Sri Gokul Chandra Pati in secretariat conference hall today wherein the Chief Executive of ORSAC Sri Sandeep Tripathy presented the updates and outlined the issues for discussion. Reviewing the progress, Chief Secretary has directed to start rolling out of the data base from 1st January, 2016 in phases and make it fully operational by August, 2016.
Chief Secretary Sri Pati has also directed ORSAC to work out a draft MOU in consultation with NIC for storing of data in meghraj for facilitating cloud sourcing. It has also been decided that the non-spatial data of OSDI will also be shared with www.data.gov.in an all India platform as a part of wider transparency measures. All Govt departments have been directed to prepare and provide the database to ORSAC within scheduled time and nominate one nodal officer for data dissemination and standardization.
Discussions in the meeting reveal that OSDI is meant to facilitate easy access and sharing of Government owned data in open format for inclusive governance, effective planning, implementation & monitoring of developmental programmes, management & mitigation of disasters, use of the scientific research for informed decisions making etc..
This will contribute towards transparency and accountability in governance; and, will provide a platform for information seekers to access Govt owned data generated by various departments. It may be pertinent here to mention that recently Govt had approved State Data Policy on 13th August, 2015 initiated through the department of Science & Technology.
In the mean while, necessary executive and administrative arrangements have been made to roll out the services. The approval from the authorities of National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) has been availed. Specific fund provisions to the tune of around Rs.5 cr. have been made from State and Central sources. Road map for rolling out of the services has been prepared. The data base is being prepared and consolidated on first track for hoisting in the website. Theme experts present in the meeting said that most of the vital data in this platform will be geo-spatial in nature.
The State Data Steering Committee (SDSC) has been formed under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary. Similarly, State Data Executive Committee (SDEC) has been constituted under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary Science & Technology. The theme experts, scientists, and senior officers from concerned State and Central Govt departments as well as agencies have been included as members. One PMU has been constituted with scientists from ORSAC, OCAC, SDC and SDEC to carry out various activities relating to data standardization, inter-portability and sharing of data among various departments as well as agencies and management of the open Govt data forum.
The PMU will also provide technical advice and handholding support to different departments for preparation of data base, explanation of metadata, data provenance and feedback management. The central data base will be installed at Odisha State Data Centre(OSDC) in OCAC. It will be connected to database of different departments of Odisha and NSDI.
The Additional Chief Secretary Finance Sri R. Balakrishnan, Director NSDI Dr Partha Sarathi Achrya, Senior Scientist ORSAC Sri Pradeepta Mishra along with senior officers and scientists from concerned State and Central departments participated in deliberations.