The long-awaited Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill, which was drafted in 2019, was withdrawn by the Center yesterday. It was done so in favor of a new bill that would be introduced with a “comprehensive framework” and “current digital security legislation.”
A data protection law has long been discussed, but the Bill, that was introduced in 2019, has worried major digital businesses. The unlimited exclusions provided to the government in the Bill, enabling monitoring, had also drawn criticism from civil society organizations.
Manish Tewari, a congressman, and JPC member declared that he had opposed the PDP Bill from the beginning when the center declared to drop it. He continued by saying that if it had been discussed in the parliament, better laws would have resulted.
To inform all the Lok Sabha members about the departure of the bill, a notification was distributed yesterday. According to reports, the notification said that the present government was developing a thorough legislative framework. It further mentioned that the new legislation is taking 81 modifications into consideration and 12 recommendations from the JPC into account.
As the bill develops the foundation for the cross-border transfer of digital data, it would take into its ambit the accountability of all data processing entities. It would also provide potential remedies for unapproved and detrimental processing. It further proposed to define the circulation and utilization of private information as well as to defend the rights of individuals whose personal data will be stored and processed.
Opinion of Ruling Party Leaders on the Proposal
IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who pushed for the rejection of the Bill in the Lower House, told PTI that the government would present a set of new regulations for a complete legislative framework for the digital economy.
“The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 was deliberated in great detail by the Joint Committee of Parliament. Hence, in the circumstances, it is proposed to withdraw ‘The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019’ and present a new bill that fits into the comprehensive legal framework.”
Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister, MEIT
Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Minister of State for IT, stated that the bill would shortly be replaced with a completely new framework. By following international standards rules it would be including laws governing digital privacy. To address current and foreseeable difficulties and advance Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda.
He said that the JCP report on the Personal Data Protection Bill had revealed a number of pertinent but unreachable concerns.
He continued by saying that targeting to become a trillion-dollar digital economy demands international standards for cyber legislation. Also added is that privacy is a basic right of Indian residents that must be taken care of earliest.
According to Chandrasekhar, this will soon be replaced with a complete system of international standards regulations. It would include digital privacy laws, addressing current and future difficulties and catalyzing PM’s vision of India Techade.
About the Previous Data Protection Bill
Back on December 11, 2019, the PDP bill was initially tabled in Lok Sabha. Shortly a Joint Parliamentary Committee was established to scrutinize the bill. The committee presented its findings to Lok Sabha on December 16, 2021. As per the findings, a single law, put out by the committee, would cover both personal and non-personal datasets. The report’s recommendation to move toward total localization of data was also brought into question.
Limitations regarding collection and use of personal data without even the people’s express consent were included in the abandoned Bill. Additionally, it had tried to grant the government the authority to exclude its investigative agencies from Act’s requirements. This proposal is actually the point of contention in the previous bill and was vehemently opposed by the opposition MPs. They had submitted their dissent notes against this clause soon after the introduction of the bill.
A Data Protection Authority had also been suggested in the repealed data protection bill.
