Karti Chidambaram Refutes IT Minister’s Claims Of Big Thumbs Up On Data Protection Bill

Member of Parliament (MP) Karti Chidambaram has refuted the Centre’s claims that the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022, was passed overwhelmingly by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT).

Lashing out at the Union government, Chidambaram, who is also a member of the panel, said that the Bill is yet to receive assent from the committee. He added that the panel, during the preliminary discussion on the Bill in December last year, had flagged a slew of issues. 

“The IT Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw..  has said that the Standing Committee on Communications & IT has approved the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022. As a Member of the Committee, I would like to categorically state that the Bill has not been approved,” Chidambaram tweeted. 

This statement has come barely a day after IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the Parliamentary panel gave ‘big thumbs up’ to the draft Bill.

Training his guns at the Union government, the Sivaganga MP added that the Bill was yet to be formally sent to the committee, adding that the claims of ‘big thumbs up’ by the panel were untrue. 

“Parliamentary procedure mandates that a Bill after introduction in the House, the Speaker/Chairman may recommend the Bill for examination to the Committee. The DPDP Bill has not been formally sent to the Committee & hence “big thumbs up” claimed by  @AshwiniVaishnaw is untrue,” added Karti Chidambaram. 

However, the MP did not specify the issues flagged by the members of the committee. 

Dark Cloud Loom Over The Bill

The statement marks another flashpoint between the government and the opposition over the draft norms, which have ignited heated debate across the country. The Bill was released for public consultation in November 2022 and proposed sweeping changes for the homegrown digital ecosystem. 

From proposing norms that mandate the right of a user to consent for sharing information, the new norms suggest new changes that could have a lasting impact on the internet in the county. The Bill also sets a penalty of up to INR 500 Cr for non-compliance and bans behavioural monitoring of children for target advertising. 

The new norms have also come under heavy fire from digital advocacy groups. One human rights group claimed that the draft Bill fosters state surveillance, while another internet advocacy groups have highlighted supposedly ‘vague’ provisions in the Bill. 

Not just this, Justice BN Srikrishna, who led the Srikrishna Committee that submitted a draft of the now-sidelined Personal Data Protection Bill in 2018, told Inc42 a few months back that the draft does little to protect the fundamental right to privacy. He also raised concerns that the Data Protection Board could become a captive entity of the government and would need to be steered away from government influence.