The project investigates the availability and accessibility of open government data (OGD) related to energy resources in India, specifically in the coal and oil & gas sectors. It highlights existing gaps in data quality and accessibility, particularly regarding environmental and social information, and recommends measures to improve data practices and inter-agency coordination. A three-pronged approach is suggested to enhance OGD's effectiveness in governance and service delivery within the energy sector.

1. Open Government Data (OGD) in
energy resources in India
Introduction
Right to Information Act of 2005, National Data Sharing and
Accessibility Policy of 2012 and the Open Data Portal of the
Government have been introduced in the last decade.
The project sought to:
• Examine the availability and accessibility of OGD for
improved governance of coal and oil & gas in India.
• Identify the issues faced by users in accessing data and
government agencies in providing data.
• Propose mechanisms for enhancing OGD in energy.
Reviewing the the availability and accessibility of OGD for improved governance of energy resources in India: case of coal
and oil and gas
Method and approach
The
project
adopted
a
mixed
method
approach
comprising
qualita've
research,
stakeholder
engagement
and
consulta'on
with
each
feeding
into
each
other.
A
case
study
approach
was
adopted
for
select
ins9tu9ons.
Approach
• Focus on upstream coal and Oil & gas sectors
• Classified data into Economic (physical and financial),
Environmental and Social
• OGD principles in the Indian context, where applicable
Conclusions & recommendations
There is need to synergise existing energy data practises amongst government departments and with open government
data initiative in India. Currently, gaps exist in availability, accessibility and quality of data, especially on environment and
social aspects of the energy resource development.
The project recommends a three pronged approach to enhance openness of government data in energy sector:
Citation information:
Nidhi Srivastava, Veena Aggarwal, Anmol Soni, Souvik Bhattacharjya, Bibhu P Nayak, Harsha Meenawat, Tarun Gopalakrishnan
(2014), Open government data for regulation of energy resources in India, New Delhi: The Energy and Resources Institute.
[Project Report No. 2012IA07]
www.opendataresearch.org
Nidhi Srivastava, nidhis@teri.res.in, The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi, India
Credits
The funding for this work has been provided through the World Wide Web Foundation 'Exploring the Emerging Impacts of
Open Data in Developing Countries' research project, supported by grant 107075 from Canada’s International
Development Research Centre (web.idrc.ca). Find out more at www.opendataresearch.org/emergingimpacts
This
work
is
licensed
under
a
Crea9ve
Commons
A>ribu9on
4.0
Interna9onal
License.
Policy measures
Overall data content and quality
Open Data Platform
• Better enforcement of existing laws,
policies, programmes
• A ‘culture of accountability & transparency’
to be fostered
• Role of intermediaries in making open data
useful for improved governance and service
delivery to be strengthened and incentivised.
• Improved coordination amongst agencies
(inter/intra departmental, Centre-State)
• Independent verification of data and/or
appropriate quality checks and reducing
margin of error is needed.
• Clarity in terms of criteria, definitions and
methodologies
• Streamlining the multiple datasets across
various agencies is needed to remove
discrepancy and multiplicity
• Room for improvement,
especially in terms of
awareness
• Criteria and control
mechanisms for the
content
• Interlinking and
interoperability
GSI
MOSPI
DGH
CCO
MoC
MOPNG
PPAC
MoM
IBM
NIC
Parliament
Public Information Officers
Information and data flow
Data flow
Not shared yet
Information and data flow in coal and petroleum
Data
providers
Oil
and
gas
Data
intermediaries
Informa9on
providers
Coal
Mines
Unavailable
Available
Accessible
Usable
Non
OGD
OGD
Not
usable
Not
accessible
Geological
data,
Impact data
Confidential/ secret data,
Environmental and social
data, disaggregated data,
Reserves, Historical, Air quality data,
Economic data (erroneous, irregular
or inaccurate )
Economic data which is not machine
processable or timely
Classification of data and gaps
CCO - Coal Controller’s Organization
MoPNG - Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
DGH - Directorate General of Hydrocarbons
IBM - Indian Bureau of Mines
GSI - Geological Survey of India
MOSPI - Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
MoC – Ministry of Coal
NIC - National Informatics Centre
MoM - Ministry of Mines
PPAC - Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell
Evidence and findings
.