Open Data Week

Open Data Week

Context:

• Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs launches ‘Open Data Week’
• Event will see participation from all 100 Smart Cities that will be publishing high quality datasets and data blogs on the Smart Cities Open Data Portal

 About the initiative:

• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) today announced the initiation of the Open Data Week to encourage adoption of open data and promote innovation across India’s urban ecosystem.
• Leading up to the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav – Smart Cities: Smart Urbanization’ conference scheduled to be held in Surat, during February 2022, the Open Data Week is part of a series of pre-event initiatives being undertaken by MoHUA to promote awareness and use of open data.
• It will be conducted during the third week of January, i.e., from 17^thJanuary 2022 to 21^st January 2022.
• The Event will see participation from all 100 Smart Cities that will be publishing high quality datasets and data blogs on the Smart Cities Open Data Portal.
• Presently, more than 3,800 datasets and more than 60 data stories are already available on the Portal to various stakeholders to analyze this data and uncover actionable insights.
• The Event aims to show the benefits of open data such as increased efficiency, transparency, a spur in innovation, and economic growth.
• It is divided into two segments – first, uploading of datasets, visualizations, APIs and data blogs on the Smart Cities Open Data Portal from 17^thJanuary 2022 to 20^th January 2022 and second, celebration of a Data Day by all smart cities on 21^st January 2022.
• The Data Day will take place nationally across all smart cities and will include talks, seminars, hackathons, demonstrations, and trainings on different data tracks identified by the cities.
• The Day will see engagement of people from different backgrounds including government agencies, private sector enterprises, scientific and academic institutions, businesses, start-ups, civil society etc.
• The idea is to provide a platform that offers ample opportunities on how to continue creating and promoting the use of data that addresses complex urban issues, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

About Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav

• Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of progressive India and the glorious history of its people, culture and achievements.
• This Mahotsav is dedicated to the people of India who have not only been instrumental in bringing India thus far in its evolutionary journey but also hold within them the power and potential to enable Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of activating India 2.0, fueled by the spirit of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Source: THE HINDU.