New Delhi: The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti, has released the Policy on Data Sharing, Interoperability and Stakeholder Access under Sujalam Bharat Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).
The policy establishes a framework for sharing and governing rural drinking water data among States, Union Territories, local governance institutions and approved sectoral stakeholders.
It provides for a secure, federated, interoperable and accountable approach to data management within the rural drinking water ecosystem.
What the New Policy Covers
The policy provides a framework for:
- Infrastructure lifecycle management
- Water-source sustainability
- Service assurance
- Citizen-centric accountability
- Evidence-based decision-making
- Data sharing and interoperability
- Stakeholder access to approved data
It also promotes the use of common identifiers, standardised metadata, interoperable registries and secure digital services to facilitate information exchange while maintaining institutional accountability, privacy and cybersecurity safeguards.
Data Exchange Across Government and Local Institutions
A key objective of the policy is to enable governed and interoperable data exchange between DDWS, State and Union Territory governments, Gram Panchayats, government organisations and authorised sectoral stakeholders.
The framework also provides for:
- Panchayat-centric governance
- Citizen participation
- Grievance redressal
- Participatory asset monitoring
- Service accountability across the rural water ecosystem
Access Framework for Digital Solutions
Under approved and purpose-specific access mechanisms, authorised stakeholders may develop solutions related to:
Operation and maintenance of rural water infrastructure
- Water-quality monitoring
- Infrastructure management
- Predictive maintenance
- Geospatial planning
- Digital Twins
- Artificial Intelligence-enabled analytics
- Decision-support systems
Privacy and Cybersecurity Safeguards
The policy includes provisions covering privacy, personal data protection, cybersecurity, data classification, access governance and public-interest safeguards.
A tiered data-access framework has been adopted to ensure that information is accessed and used securely, responsibly and for defined purposes, while protecting sensitive infrastructure and personal data.
Sujalam Bharat as Digital Infrastructure for Rural Water Governance
The policy positions Sujalam Bharat as a long-term public digital infrastructure for rural water utility governance.
According to the Ministry, the framework is intended to support transparency, innovation, operational efficiency and sustainable service delivery in the rural drinking water sector.
The release of the policy marks the establishment of a defined framework for data sharing, interoperability and stakeholder access within the Sujalam Bharat Digital Public Infrastructure.
