The
Minister of Communications and Information Technology Shri Kapil
Sibal launched India’s Open Government Platform
(OGPL) here today. Jointly developed by India and the US, OGPL is a software
platform which aims to provide enhanced public access to government data and
documents, and spur citizen engagement and interface with the Government. The
OGPL combines and expands the best features of the India’s “India.gov.in”
and the U.S. “Data.gov” sites.
While
launching OGPL, Shri Sibal said it is the first step
towards future, as information is power and this platform will transfer power
to the citizen providing seamless data sharing. The Minister said such a
platform would have a significant impact on improving governance, enhancing accountability and generating greater
collaborations between India and the US. He said this effort is a result of
leveraging the collective strengths of the two sides and a great example of
collaborative working. Shri Sam Pitroda, Adviser to
Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations spoke about
the need for democratizing information and improving governance by creating new
tools and platforms such as the OGPL.
National
Informatics Center Director General Dr. B. K. Gairola, spoke about the
role of NIC as the technical partner on this project. He also highlighted the
Platform’s capabilities and gave an overview of its technical aspects.
The
U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Ambassador Peter Burleigh said
the Open Government Platform represents a
new kind of diplomatic collaboration that benefits the global community. The U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake also
addressed the press about this U.S.-India collaboration. On the US side,
Project Head Mr. Steve VanRoekel, Chief Information
Officer and Mr. Chris Vein, Deputy Chief Technology Officer, joining via video
from the White House, also shared how the teams from India and the US (India’s
National Informatics Center (NIC) and the U.S. General Services Administration)
have worked together using open source technologies and project management
tools to develop this product.
The
Open Government Platform, a collaborative endeavour,
was started as part of a series of initiatives announced by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and US President Barack
Obama in November 2010 in Delhi. This initiative has
been chaired on the Indian side by Mr Sam Pitroda, Adviser to Prime Minister on Public Information
Infrastructure and Innovations and on the US side by Mr
Aneesh Chopra, former Chief Technology Officer to
President Obama.
The
purpose of the platform is to enhance access and use of government data to
foster innovation; improve delivery of government services for interested
countries and cities around the world; and promote government transparency,
accountability, and public participation.
The
India-US OGPL technical team further demonstrated the key features of the OGPL
which include:
·
The ability to publish government data, documents, and
processes from multiple departments within a government
·
An internal workflow process for approvals and management of
datasets
·
The ability to create data-rich community spaces around
topics of national priorities
·
Cloud/ Host-based operation at multiple levels of government,
with the ability link data from federal, central, state, district, municipal,
and local levels
·
Open source architecture to allow software developers to
develop applications and new features to view, compare and use Government data
With this
launch, the two sides will now work on enhancing the scope and increased use of
OGPL as the project moves forward, including offering it to interested
countries.
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