Development writer and international negotiations watcher Biraj Swain speaks to Claire Melamed of Overseas Development Institute and UN Secy General’s High Level Panel on Data Revolution, Ex-Health Secretary cum Census Commissioner- Dr AR Nanda, Govindraj Ethiraj, Founder Editor of IndiaSpend and Factchecker, Prof Ramanan Laxminarayan of Public Health Foundation of India and Princeton University and Rakesh Reddy Dubuddu, Founder FACTLY and pro-disclosure champion on the buzz around data revolution for sustainable development. They discuss the many facets of data, the need for citizens’ engagement in data generation, consumption and accessible indicators. They discuss the capacity, financing challenges and lack of autonomy of statistical commissions. They also discuss the trend of censorship of inconvenient public survey findings by Indian government and others and the constant shrinking of pro-disclosure, RTI spaces. They take a close look at the need for data journalism and why much more needs to be done. They conclude with mapping options and calls to action on what could and should be done to democratise data and enable citizens to claim it as a public good.

For reference:

1. A world that counts: UN Data Revolution group
2. Stiglitz-Fitoussi-Sen Report on Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress
3. The rise of data and the death of politics
4. Data revolution in the era of censorship: It is not only films and books that are censored
5. Poverty of Sense
6. Development data: How accurate are the figures?
7. Describing poverty is no substitute for producing hard evidence to help end it
8. Nutrition in India: Of secrecy and stunting
9. From development information to a data revolution
10. Data revolution: Finding the missing milllions