Tucked away in the statement put out by NITI Aayog after the third meeting of its governing council was an innocuous phrase. The Aayog, the statement said, has partnered with top-ranking institutions “to nurture evidence-based policymaking”. That seems like it should be a given. Surely, all policy is or should be based on solid data. To say evidence-based policymaking (EBPM) today is to say policymaking guided by Big Data. This is a natural evolution of EBPM. The spread of the Internet and the rise of social media and the Internet of Things mean that the volume of data we generate is growing exponentially—currently about 2.5 quintillion bytes daily. This is a goldmine for the private sector and governments alike. But utilizing Big Data effectively will mean keeping a few factors in mind. First, two of the defining characteristics of Big Data analytics are the volume and veracity of data. Second, another marker of Big Data analytics is data velocity. Third, the ethics of Big Data analytics is an area of major debate. Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, the right dynamic between political imperatives and EBPM will have to be struck. NITI Aayog’s push to EBPM is timely. But it is only the beginning of a long process.

(Live Mint)