Digital India Act Unlikely To Be Ready Before 2024 General Elections: MoS Chandrasekhar

The Digital India Act, which aims to replace the 23-year-old IT Act 2000, is unlikely to be ready before the general elections next year, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.

Speaking at the Global Technology Summit 2023 on Wednesday (November 6), Chandrasekhar said that there is not much time left for extensive consultations on the Act, leading to the delay.

“…IT Act doesn’t even have the word internet in it and therefore there is a consensus that it can be safely superseded and replaced. The successor to that is something called the Digital India Act, which is a work in progress. We have the draft ready,” the minister said. 

He added that while a lot of work has gone into preparing the draft, the government will not be able to legislate it as Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants extensive consultations on legislations pertaining to the digital world.

In March this year, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) released its presentation on the proposed Digital India Act, 2023, emphasising the “urgent need for a specialised and dedicated adjudicatory mechanism for online civil and criminal offences”.

As per earlier reports this year, the Centre was looking to release the first draft of the Digital India Bill by the end of July or in early August. Among several new proposals, the government is expected to impose penalties of up to INR 500 Cr for any breaches of the provisions under the Bill.

Under the Bill, the Centre is also expected to provide clear definitions for offences such as doxing, cybersquatting, astroturfing, dog-whistling, and others. 

As per a PTI report, the Bill has proposed stringent regulations for privacy-invasive devices such as spy camera glasses, wearable tech by adding know-your-customer rules for retail sales backed by appropriate criminal law sanctions.

Meanwhile, Chandrasekhar said that the rules for the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act will be out later this month for consultation and are expected to be notified by the end of December or early January.

It must be noted that DPDP was passed as an Act following the assent of President Droupadi Murmu in August this year. 

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