Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023 presented in Lok Sabha

Chandrasekhar claims that the measure was developed following lengthy discussions with all interested parties, coordinated by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday by Union Minister of Communications, Electronics, and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw. The bill intends to control how digital personal data is processed while upholding people's rights to privacy and the requirement to use that data only for legitimate purposes.

The opposition, however, fought back strongly against the bill's introduction, expressing worries that it might violate people's fundamental right to privacy. They argued that the bill should be submitted to the standing committee for in-depth review in light of the government's withdrawal of a related data privacy bill the previous year.

The opposition was informed that all of the points mentioned would be covered during the bill's debate by Minister Vaishnaw, who underlined that the bill is not a money bill.

According to SFLC.in , a Delhi-based legal not-for-profit organization:"The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 has been introduced as a financial bill. The government has been given a lot of powers under the bill and there is no sufficient legislative guidance provided regarding these. Section 43 A of the IT Act which provided a remedy to aggrieved persons to get compensation has been deleted.  However, the bill does not provide for compensation to be granted for data principals whose privacy has been violated and has suffered a loss. Deemed consent that had raised red flags earlier has been reworded but principally remains the same. Data Principals have been saddled with duties and penalties prescribed for acting in violation of these. Cross border data flow has been changed from whitelisting to blacklisting regime which is a welcome change.

However, such data transfer restrictions are permitted in the case of specific laws in existence. A problematic provision is a clause added in the bill for blocking a computer resource which could be used for blocking websites and applications. Although the consultation process took a long time, the Government does not seem to have considered the inputs received from stakeholders and recommendations from the JPC."

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the MoS IT, used his official X (Previously Twitter) account to discuss the importance of digital personal data protection. For India's 1 trillion dollars digital economy and IndiaTechade, he argues that the Bill is an essential step in accomplishing the goal of having international standards for cyber legislation.

Chandrasekhar claims that the measure was developed following lengthy discussions with all interested parties, coordinated by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Chandrasekhar noted that if the bill is approved by Parliament, it will safeguard all people' rights, promote economic innovation, and give the government legal and legitimate access to information about problems of national security and crises like pandemics and earthquakes.