Government's Initiative on Anonymised Non-Personal Data Classification

The Indian government is considering adopting a formal classification system for anonymised, non-personal data, similar to systems used in the US and the UK. This strategy aims to facilitate the availability of public data for training artificial intelligence models.

Objectives and Potential Benefits

• Measure the sensitivity of non-personal data.
• Open public sector data to the private sector, including: 
  • Anonymised collective land ownership patterns.
  • Historical weather figures.
  • Traffic movement data.
  • Aggregated industry data.
• Support tech companies in training AI models to develop new products and services.

Industry Feedback and Government Considerations

• Multiple suggestions from tech industry bodies to adopt a tiered classification based on data's strategic and economic importance.
• Comparison with the US and UK frameworks: 
  • The US uses the Controlled Unclassified Information framework.
  • The UK employs the Government Security Classifications Policy with three main tiers.

Niti Aayog's Recommendations

• Creation of a marketplace for certified non-personal data with privacy tags and quality certificates.
• Development of sector-specific data platforms for financial services, automotive, manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals.
• Potential applications include: 
  • An open manufacturing data grid for production and supply chain data exchange.
  • A unified national genomics dataset for AI-driven drug discovery.