Putting the Cart before the Horse? An evaluation of the framework for National Open Digital Ecosystems

DFL’s response to the MEITY white paper on National Open Digital Ecosystems (NODEs) cautions against the development of such architectures in the absence of adequate regulatory frameworks, institutional capacities, and community engagement. It is more important for 'openness' to be a characteristic of government, than a software standard.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has released a white paper introducing the concept of National Open Digital Ecosystems (NODEs). The system is envisaged to be an 'open and secure delivery platform, anchored by transparent governance mechanisms, which will enable a community of partners to unlock innovative solutions, to transform societal outcomes’.

While we recognise the potential of NODES to enable more citizen-centric public services, we draw attention to the importance of first developing robust adequate governance structures, institutional capacities, and community participation frameworks. Our response highlights concerns around varying levels of digitalisation; underdeveloped institutions for data governance; weak privacy and security infrastructure; and the absence of public deliberation around the purpose and governance of NODEs. Without addressing these issues, NODEs could amount to a case of putting the cart before the horse, with significant challenges for inclusivity, privacy, and accountability.

Open source and open standards can enable greater accountability and community participation. Open standards will enable a more vibrant and competitive marketplace, but only if the setting of these standards is also done in an open and transparent manner, and anchored in democratically accountable institutions. The question of open data needs to be publicly deliberated, to establish what constitutes a fair exchange of data, and how this might vary across actors. However, such openness will have to be weighed against considerations of data security and privacy

Governance frameworks will also need to be established for individual nodes, alongside a common governance framework that establishes a set of overarching principles and values, sets standards, and enables impact assessment and coordination across the nodes. We propose a set of key parameters and issues that must be considered for the governance of NODEs, highlighting democratic accountability as the cornerstone for such frameworks. Moreover, regulatory institutions need to build trust and capacity for safe, inclusive, and rights protecting NODEs.

There is also no direct connection between citizen-centric governance and spurring innovation, and these objectives can even pull in opposite directions. Ideally, the former should serve the latter, rather than both being positioned as equivalent objectives.

Finally, the White Paper would benefit from a clearer articulation of purpose - of how these systems will bring public benefit to citizens and the mechanisms and supporting infrastructure that would be needed to support this. A framework of public benefit that recognises the opportunities and risks across various members of the community creates conditions and processes for identifying what constitutes a fair exchange of data, and the trade-offs entailed, is needed.

We recommend that considerable progress has to be made on the building blocks of NODEs, before endorsing or recommending their establishment as envisaged here.