Indian Government Backtracks On Data Protection Bill 2019 Leaving Citizen’s Privacy In The Lurch | Digit

The Indian Government on Wednesday withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, two years and seven months after it was introduced in the parliament. The Data Protection Bill was supposed to usher in a new era of data protection and privacy laws in India for Indian citizens as currently there are no common regulations to protect the people’s privacy even though the Supreme Court of India has granted the Right to Privacy as a fundamental right of citizens. 

As per an official statement issued by Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, the Personal Data Protection Bill was being reviewed by a Joint Parliamentary Committee which suggested over 81 amendments and 12 major recommendations to the bill. It was therefore decided to withdraw the Data Protection Bill altogether and work on a new bill that encapsulates all the amendments suggested by the JPC.

“Personal Data Protection Bill has been withdrawn because the JCP recommended 81 amendments in a bill of 99 sections. Above that it made 12 major recommendations. Therefore the bill has been withdrawn and a new bill will be presented for public consultation,” Ashwini tweeted out last evening after announcing the development.

It has been close to 10 years since the A.P. Shah on Privacy, 5 years since the Puttaswamy Judgement and 4 years since the Srikrishna Committee’s report — they all signal urgency for a data protection law and surveillance reforms. Each day lost, causes more injury and harm. 3/3

— Apar (@apar1984) August 3, 2022

The IT Minister also told Reuters that the government has already started working on the new bill which is “in good advanced stages” and that he expects to present it in the budget session of Parliament in 2023. 

The Personal Data Protection Bill proposed regulations on the processing, storage and transfer of personal data across the different sectors and empowered users with more control over their private data. This had raised some concerns with the Big Tech companies like Google, Meta and more as it could have incurred increased costs due to provisions such as data localization. While privacy advocates were concerned about the power it granted the Central Government such as the provision to exempt any government agency from the data protection laws in the interest of national security.

It remains to be seen how the new data protection bill takes shape and whether it will be robust enough to protect the privacy of over 1.38 billion people.

About Me: Siddharth reports on gadgets, technology and you will occasionally find him testing the latest smartphones at Digit. However, his love affair with tech and futurism extends way beyond, at the intersection of technology and culture.
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