Govt needs to leverage data as public good to boost welfare of poor

One of the biggest fears over the unique identification scheme, Aadhaar, concerned data privacy. That debate now looks set to continue, with the Economic Survey 2019 urging the government to use its rich repository of data as “public good” for the welfare of the citizens, especially the poor.

“Data is generated by the people, of the people and should be used for the people. As a public good, data can be democratized and put to the best possible use. While this is an excellent start, the enormous benefits that can be reaped from treating data as a public good imply that government must redouble its efforts in this direction,” the survey prepared by chief economic adviser (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian said.