India Must Turn Administrative Data Into National Asset For Better Governance: PM’s Principal Secretary PK Mishra

Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, PK Mishra, on Monday called for transforming India's fragmented administrative data into a strategic national asset, saying better integration of government datasets is essential for better governance and policymaking, ensuring privacy, security and institutional independence.Speaking at the 20th Statistics Day celebrations, Mishra said India's rapid digitalisation has generated massive volumes of administrative data through government programmes, regulatory agencies and public service delivery systems. However, he noted that much of this information remains locked within departmental silos, preventing its effective use."These datasets contain valuable insights on economic activity, social development,

infrastructure creation, financial inclusion, health, education and welfare delivery. Despite their richness and scale, much of this data remains fragmented across ministries, departments and organisations, limiting its full potential for governance and policymaking," the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister said.He stressed that administrative data should no longer be viewed merely as a byproduct of government processes but as a strategic national resource capable of improving policy design, programme implementation and service delivery."Administrative data must evolve from being a byproduct of departmental processes to becoming a strategic national asset," he said, adding that better use of such datasets could also help bridge critical information gaps across sectors.At the same time, Mishra underscored the need to balance greater data integration with robust privacy protections. He said efforts to improve interoperability must be guided by the principles of privacy by design while adhering to existing legal and policy frameworks."While promoting data sharing and integration, we must maintain a balanced approach that safeguards privacy, security and confidentiality," he said.

Mishra Links Data Governance To India's AI Ambitions

Linking data governance to India's AI ambitions, Mishra said trusted, high-quality and interoperable datasets would form the backbone of responsible AI adoption in governance. "As we move towards an increasingly digital future, trusted and interoperable datasets will form the foundation for responsible and effective adoption of artificial intelligence in governance," he said.He cautioned that technology alone would not be enough to realise AI's potential, stressing the need to strengthen institutional capacity in data literacy and analytics.Mishra also warned that AI systems can replicate and even amplify biases if they are trained on incomplete or flawed datasets. "The model learns only from the data it is given and will faithfully reproduce whatever biases and gaps that it contains," he said.He said these challenges should not discourage the adoption of AI but instead reinforce the need for stronger data standards, safeguards and quality control mechanisms.