NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation today convened a national consultative workshop with States and Union Territories to accelerate harmonisation of departmental administrative data for improved governance outcomes.
The day-long workshop, held in the national capital, is part of preparations for the proposed “Data for Development” summit scheduled in April 2026, following recommendations from the Fifth National Conference of Chief Secretaries held in December 2025.
Addressing the inaugural session, S. Krishnan, Secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, stressed the need for expanding data accessibility beyond centralised systems to State and district administrators to enable timely decision-making through real-time analytics.
Debjani Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow at NITI Aayog, said the emerging “era of intelligence” requires transforming data into actionable insights through interoperable and trusted systems to support decentralised governance.
Senior Economist Thomas Danielewitz from the World Bank highlighted administrative data as foundational infrastructure for the AI-driven economy, noting that integrated digital datasets can reduce compliance burdens while improving service delivery efficiency.
Concluding the session, MoSPI secretary Dr Saurabh Garg underscored the need to institutionalise data-driven governance by enabling States to link routine administrative datasets using uniform standards and identifiers.
Officials said thematic sessions during the workshop focused on improving data quality, interoperability and legal frameworks required for operationalising data linkage, with defined timelines set for wider State-level consultations ahead of the April 2026 national summit.
