Much-Awaited Digital Personal Data Protection Bill Introduced In Lok Sabha

The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) bill was tabled in Parliament on August 3. The bill was introduced by Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw in the Lok Sabha for consideration.

The objective of the bill is to provide for the processing of digital personal data 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.

A draft version of the bill was first released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in November 2022. After several rounds of consultations, where various types of stakeholders were invited to give their feedback on the draft legislation, the much-awaited bill has finally been introduced as a financial bill.

“MeitY has developed this bill after extensive consultations which I, personally, led with all stakeholders,” the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said on Twitter.

“This new bill after it is passed by Parliament, will protect the rights of all citizens, allow the innovation economy to expand and permit the government’s lawful and legitimate access in national security and emergencies like pandemics and earthquakes etc.,” the minister added.

Before the bill was introduced, Parliament saw an uproar during the tabling of the Parliamentary standing committee’s report on ‘Citizens’ Data Security and Privacy’ in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday (August 1).

A drama unfolded as the Standing Committee for Information Technology and Communication submitted its report on the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill in Parliament, which was approved by the Union Cabinet earlier last month.

The previous iteration of the bill was withdrawn by the government last August. Subsequently, the Centre revamped the draft and released it again in the public domain as the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) bill in November last year.

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