A data regime is a must to have a safe, planned and an executable country. The main issue to be cracked is data. And after living in the data age, somebody should not turn back and ask what is data. That is the reality in which we live. Whatever transpires in the media gives us a clear cut feeling, that there is nothing called data and if it is, we are not ready to accept it. Only the population figures and your date of birth remain to be challenged. When the IT behemoths have transformed even sentiments into data, we have descended into a data less society. What is data then; these are facts and figures; which are legally validated, scientifically proven or physically verified through an objectively established process is a fact. The nationally verified registries can be a example.

What would the sanctity of data has to be decided? What would be its precedence in case there is an issue? Integrity and honesty of data which cannot be technologically tested has to stand the touchstone of truth as mentioned earlier. A legal Public Data Regime can certainly make a difference. It would instill a sense of fear in the functionaries, who are in the public data process. What has to be understood is, that if it is not legally streamlined, then it would have two major consequences; the quality of capturing data and the comprehensiveness of data. The world of typos belongs to a lost world. With an existing humongous administrative machinery, it is totally unacceptable to reach the necessity, to conduct a Death Audit.

The casualness in the way data is created, entered and disseminated can put a civilized administration to shame. While we create in the manner we do, when it comes to consuming, we want it with no errors. Data not true to the reality that has transpired, progress that has taken place and infrastructure that has been created is no data. Numbers are called data in this country. If Data Regime were to be established with data taking the centre stage, 90 percent of the debates would not make any sense. If all the data of the Second Surge were of the nature as it stated above, we would have been in a position to handle everything much better. The system and its inbuilt processes should be so robust that tampering in creation, storage, processing and dissemination becomes humanly impossible, without getting caught.

Whatever comes out of data is another data. This is to explain that if there are four studies on the spacing of two Covishield vaccine doses, each with a set of data, which can be worked upon for one final finding. That finding (data ) becomes unquestionable. The lack of faith in data by the people at large is the first and fair indication of the rot. Since decades data in this country has not been used to establish a fact but to tamper with it. The source of data is barely looked into, in this country. Whatever, you can lay your hands on, to prove your point of view is declared data here. In the data regime what sources can be used for any pubic debate, for any public domain / government / party purpose and planning; public or private should be mandated by law.

GROPING IN THE DATA AGE FOR DATA IS THE MOST UNFORTUNATE THING TO HAPPEN.