Data Literacy for Public Policymaking – Lessons from Covid-19 Crisis in India

ABSTRACT

It is expected that public policy should be based on evidence rather than on any ideology, or any pre-decided goal. Public policymaking should ideally be ‘evidence-based.’ Data and information constitute evidence. Data needs to be processed and analysed to be used as evidence. To process and analyse data, we need data literacy. The Covid-19 crisis revealed the importance of data and data literacy for sound policy decisions. In the post-pandemic world, data literacy will be an essential skill for policymakers and civil servants. Data literacy should be an essential part of the relevant undergraduate and post-graduate degree curriculums, but also of the in-service training programmes for civil servants.

KEYWORDS:

• Data
• data literacy
• policymaking
• India
• pandemic
• covid-19

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution has three lists namely Union List, State List and Concurrent List. Subjects in each list are specified. Responsibilities and powers regarding these subjects are divided between the Union and States. Concurrent List has those subjects in which the Union and states both share responsibilities.

Additional information

Funding

The authors have no funding to report.

Notes on contributors

Pratik Phadkule

Pratik Phadkule is an Assistant Professor of Practice at the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy (JSGP), O P Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India.