OGPL: The US-India Open Government Platform Partnership
The history and legacy of the groundbreaking bilateral open government initiative.
Content Quality Assurance
A Historic Partnership
The Open Government Platform (OGPL) represents a landmark collaboration between the United States and India to advance government transparency worldwide. Announced in 2011 during President Obama's visit to India, OGPL demonstrated how democracies could work together to develop and share open government technologies.
The Vision Behind OGPL
OGPL emerged from shared recognition that open government tools should be accessible to all countries, not just wealthy nations. The platform would provide ready-made, customizable software that any government could deploy to create data portals and transparency tools. This "open source for open government" approach aimed to accelerate global transparency efforts.
Development and Launch
Technical teams from both countries collaborated to develop OGPL based on India's data.gov.in platform. Key features included:
- Customizable data catalog for hosting government datasets
- Visualization tools for making data accessible to citizens
- API framework for developer access to government data
- Multi-language support for global deployment
- Content management for government communications
- Community features for user engagement
Global Adoption
OGPL was offered freely to any government seeking to establish open data initiatives. Several countries expressed interest in deploying the platform. The initiative influenced the development of other national data portals and contributed to the growing international open government movement.
Legacy and Lessons
While OGPL's direct software impact was limited, its diplomatic and symbolic significance was substantial. The partnership demonstrated that open government was not a uniquely Western concept but a shared democratic value. It showed that countries could collaborate on transparency rather than compete.
The White House Announcement
The formal announcement came on April 9, 2012, when the White House celebrated the release of Open Government Plans 2.0. This milestone marked the culmination of extensive bilateral work and set the stage for continued US-India collaboration on democratic governance.
Key Takeaways
- OGPL was a historic US-India collaboration to advance global government transparency.
- The platform provided open-source tools for governments to create data portals.
- OGPL demonstrated international cooperation on democratic values.
- The initiative influenced the global open government movement.
- Formally announced on April 9, 2012, marking a diplomatic milestone.
Sources and Further Reading
- Celebrating the Release of Open Government Plans 2.0 - Obama White House Archives
- The Growing Open Government Movement - Obama White House Archives
- India Data Portal - Government of India