MoSPI conducted Summit on “Harmonizing Administrative Data for Governance

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) organized one-and-a-half-day National Deliberative Summit on “Harmonizing Administrative Data for Governance” with States/UTs and other stakeholders on 29-30th April 2026 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

The Summit aimed to build consensus on action plans and timelines for harmonizing administrative data and it has brought together around 300 stakeholders from over 31 State/UT Governments, Central Ministries/ Departments, Researchers and Technical experts from International Organizations/Academic Institutions/Private Organizations etc. to adopt common standards and to enable interoperable systems for better policymaking and governance.

The National Deliberative summit was inaugurated by Deputy Chief Minister, Government of Odisha, Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and distinguished dignitaries including Smt. S. Radha Chauhan, Chairperson, Capacity Building Commission; Dr. Saurabh Garg, Secretary, MoSPI; Deoranjan Kumar Singh, Development Commissioner-cum-ACS, Government of Odisha graced the occasion.

At the outset, P. R. Meshram, Director General (Data Governance), MoSPI extended a warm welcome to the distinguished dignitaries and emphasised that MoSPI remains fully committed to supporting States in their journey towards harmonized data systems for effective decision-making.

Setting the context of the meeting, Dr. Saurabh Garg, Secretary, MoSPI emphasised the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of adopting a positive and open attitude towards data.

Ms Radha Chauhan, Chairperson, Capacity Building Commission highlighted that, to fully leverage the potential of Artificial Intelligence, it is essential to strengthen both governance and service delivery through a balanced focus on two key pillars namely, technology and organizational adoption. This requires rethinking and revamping existing procedures that often act as barriers to making data AI-ready. Deo Ranjan Kumar Singh, Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Government of Odisha, highlighted the importance of timely availability of data and the need for actionable insights supported by analytics, noting that the lack of accessible data at the field level poses challenges for effective decision-making.(UPDATED ON 30TH APRIL 2026)