Vision Document proposes series of policies in J&K
*UT to establish Digital J&K Authority
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 5: The Jammu and Kashmir Government has decided to enforce two instruments–Data Governance Framework and Data Management Policy, Information Security and Private Policies, Policy on Procurement for Digital Transformation, Adoption of Ecosystem Architectures and State Data Centre among others.
All these Policies and Documents are part of a ‘Vision Document’ unveiled for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Data Governance Framework involves identification of high-value datasets of the departments, define roles for its creation, maintenance, sharing and securing for ensuring that data is managed systematically. These roles include Chief Data Officer, Data Management Officer, Data Protection Officer and Data Administrators among others. The framework shall also provide for capacity building which is a critical requirement for sustainable digital transformation,” the Vision Document, whose copy is in possession of the Excelsior, revealed.
The Data Management Policy defines the processes used to plan, specify, enable, create, acquire, maintain, use, archive, retrieve, control and purge data. The proposed Data Management Policy shall provide specific technical methods in the areas like data modelling, interoperability, master data, data quality and principles and processes for data sharing.
Both the Data Governance Framework and Data Management Policy shall adhere to the applicable laws and regulations relating to data protection, the document said.
It said Jammu and Kashmir will establish Digital J&K Authority either as a statutory body under the PSGA or as an administrative Body which would basically be a facilitator and enabling body responsible for coordinating the activities of various departments and agencies associated with digital transformation.
It would issue directions and guidelines to all departments on matters related to architecture, standards and frameworks required to implement various initiatives under the Digital Jammu and Kashmir programme besides coordination, monitoring and de-bottle-necking.
“All major citizen-facing departments will be required to constitute Empowered Committees headed by the Principal Secretary of the department and consisting of the Heads of Department, technical and domain experts. The Empowered Committee will be authorized to take all major decisions related to the implementation of Digital Transformation projects of the department.
It said the Information Security Policy connotes the protection of information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction in order to provide confidentiality, integrity and availability.
The J&K Information Security Policy shall be developed and notified as a compendium of `Security Policies’ applicable to all Government departments and agencies.
Information Security and Private Policies concern digital transformation involving enormous amount of data, some of which is sensitive and critical. This makes data security and privacy an integral and vital responsibility.
“Security-by-design and Privacy-by-design are axiomatic. In the absence of coherent policies relating to these important considerations, the progress of digital transformation is bound to slow, and fraught with several risks. The Government, therefore, intends to bring in robust policies,” said the Vision Document.
It added that the J&K Information Privacy Policy will be notified for protection of Personally Identifiable Information encompassing the principles of Notice, Purpose, Consent, Security, Disclosure, Access and Accountability.
All the departments and agencies of the Government and their service providers shall be required to comply with such Privacy Policy by defining suitable processes for implementing the principles and publishing their privacy policies on their websites.
On Policy on Procurement for Digital Transformation, the Vision Document revealed that most projects related to digital transformation are impeded at the procurement stage despite the best intentions and consequently, the opportunities for transformation remain unrealized.
Therefore, it said, there is an acute need to undertake procurement reform in this area to bring about innovation and flexibility in designing and implementing projects and to meet requirements of new business models.
“A Procurement Policy for Digital Transformation will be developed and notified to overcome the existing bottlenecks and barriers and to enable the departments to implement innovative, citizen-centric projects in an agile manner, and in compliance with the finance code,” the document said.
It said a Federated Architecture Model shall be adopted, whereby only the core and common building blocks are established Centrally, and the departments shall have the degrees of freedom to leverage the same, while retaining the e-Governance projects they have already implemented.
“This approach would enhance flexibility and agility in IT implementations while ensuring reuse of the core and common assets, besides enabling interoperability between multiple departments to provide integrated services to citizens and businesses,” it added.
The Core Building Blocks of Digital J&K Core include a federal digital ID ecosystem, directories and registries containing master data, an API Gateway for managing open and internal APIs and a repository of architectural artefacts, reference applications and reusable code.
“The success of digital J&K is dependent upon robust connectivity within and across the Government departments and agencies as also across the society. While the connectivity across the society is to be partly fulfilled by the optical fibre network of BharatNet, the internal connectivity within the Government is fulfilled by JKSWAN. The combined power of these two is foundational to the evolution of a connected community and a connected Government, the document said.
It said JK Portal will be designed, developed and established as a one-stop–shop for accessing all digital services by the citizens and businesses.
Asserting that Digital Services are as good as the process underlying them, the Vision Document said pace of launching digital services depends on efficiency and effectiveness of the institutional strictures and importance to these aspects.
The Vision Document also elaborated on Effective Grievance Redressal System, Institutional Structure for Digital Transformation, Emerging Technologies Wing and Knowledge Portal among others.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
