Covering The Gaps In The Game Of Data

Context: The ‘statistical vacuum’ in India can be bridged with decentralisation and if States build their own quality databases.

Concerns in moving towards data-based governance and decision-making system

• Threat of data politics:  That is, control of the population by State using interconnectedness of power and knowledge that comes along as a part of rapid technological innovations in information and communication technologies – as expounded by Foucault and Bourdieu.
• Lack of good, robust and reliable database: States collect enormous amounts of administrative data. However, these administrative data are often not validated.
• For E.g. Flow of funds below block level is often opaque and the data that is submitted by local bodies are generally not validated.
• While there is a critical need to link the databases of various departments, it is not easy as territorial jurisdictions and household-level identifiers are likely to vary from department to department.
• Data being misused, abused or even manipulated: Absence of data in certain domains interpreted as an indicator of better governance. For E.g. - 
• Data on COVID-19 positive cases were interpreted to seem that some States, especially in South India, were unable to control COVID-19 cases compared to their North Indian counterparts, some with much poorer health indicators as well as infrastructure.
• Studies indicating low score in ‘Complaints against Police behaviour’ in some states does not necessarily mean poor law and order situation in the State, as states with high literacy and human development index (HDI) can mean that people have enough confidence in the judiciary and the State to complain against police behaviour.
• Recent data on education released by the Union government shows Tamil Nadu have 27 educationally backward districts; this is baffling as the State registered a higher than national level literacy rate, of 80.1%, according to the 2011 Census.

Way forward

• Decentralised data-based policymaking: We need decentralised systems of data collection, with States building their databases, redressing inter and intra-district inequalities through targeted resource allocations
• There is a need to bring a mechanism to homogenise various data sets with a single identifier, and there is a need to validate these data sets through urban local bodies and rural local bodies.
• Accurate collection, measurement and interpretation of data are critical for data-based decision making to be successful.
• States should invest heavily in both human and technical infrastructure with built-in quality control measures