- By Aashish Vashistha
- Fri, 04 Aug 2023 12:11 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
JE News Desk: Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday tabled the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill in the Lok Sabha, a year after a previous version of the proposed bill was withdrawn over issues related to privacy concerns. However, the Opposition MPs objected to the introduction of the proposed law and called for further scrutiny of the bill by a Parliamentary committee.
Opposition MPs also raised their concerns regarding excessive government exemptions present in the bill and the potential dilution of the Right to Information Act, of 2005. AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi said the bill provides government access to private data and is likely to create a surveillance state.
Congress MP Manish Tewari said that there was a distinction in the way the bill applied to different entities. “It applies with full force to non-government entities, and the entire government is going to be exempt from it,” he said. While Gaurav Gogoi suggested that the bill should be referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).
Meanwhile, TMC leader Saugata Roy opposed the introduction of the bill and said that the final version was completely different than the one proposed last year. “They have changed the bill altogether. I want this bill to be sent again to the standing committee,” he said.
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However, Ashwini Vaishnaw rejected all the apprehensions of the opposition leaders and said that the government is ready to discuss the concerns regarding the bill. Junior IT Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar defended the bill and emphasised that there is no need for a committee to go into the bill.
Taking to X, Chandrashekhar wrote, “The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 was introduced in parliament is a very significant milestone in Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji's vision of Global Standard Cyber Laws for India's $1 trillion digital economy.”
He also mentioned that the Ministry of Information Technology developed the bill after extensive consultations. He said if the bill is passed by Parliament, it will protect the rights of all the citizens.
"This new bill after it is passed by parliament, will protect the rights of ALL citizens, allow innovation economy to expand and permit government's lawful and legitimate access in national security and emergencies like pandemics and earthquakes etc," he wrote.
The Data Protection Bill seeks to ensure that Indians’ digital personal data is processed “in a manner that recognises both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process such personal data for lawful purposes”.
This is India’s second attempt to create legislation on data privacy and protection. This comes after three earlier revisions of a data protection law that have been considered, and, shelved by the government.