New Data Protection Bill To Be Presented In Parliament By Budget Session: Ashwini Vaishnaw

The drafting of the new data protection bill is almost complete and it would soon be uploaded for consultation, Union Minister of Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said, adding that the new bill will be presented in the parliament by the Budget Session.

Speaking to Sansad TV, Vaishnaw said that given the evolving technology and digital economy landscape in the country, it was important to withdraw the earlier Personal Data Protection Bill, 2021. The government withdrew the Bill early last month. 

“The digital economy in India is today a very significant part of India’s total economy. We need to have legislation which is absolutely in tune with the times, in tune with the changing technologies, in tune with what the experience of people across the world has been on data protection so far,” Vaishnaw said.

“We have to draw that fine balance between privacy, innovation, making sure that the regulation is highly implementable,” he said, adding that the fresh bill has been drafted at a “very good pace”.

At the time of withdrawal of the Personal Data Protection Bill, the government said that the new bill would be introduced in the Winter Session of the Parliament. However, the timeline seems to have been increased till the Budget Session now.

The Personal Data Protection Bill, originally drafted by a panel led by retired Supreme Court Judge BN Srikrishna, was introduced in the Parliament in 2019. However, it received criticism from various opposition parties, and was referred to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) for examination. 

A draft Data Protection Bill, 2021 was presented in the Lok Sabha in December 2021. However, the Bill, which comprised 99 sections, was finally withdrawn after the JPC recommended 81 amendments to it.

Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar last month said that the Bill would have increased the compliance burden on startups if it was passed into law. Recently, Chandrasekhar as well as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the new legislation will be introduced soon, without specifying any timeline.

Earlier, several legal experts had raised questions on the withdrawal of the Bill and said that the new bill would further increase the wait for the country to get a data protection law.

However, the government’s plan is to build an overall safety mechanism for online users and a comprehensive set of legislations for the entire digital economy.

“…the entire regulation will be focused on first the data protection, which is ready. Second will be how do we protect the online users, third is replacement of the IT Act… with that thought process…we are coming up with a comprehensive set of legislations for the entire digital economy,” Vaishnaw said.

“Imagine the disruptive power (social media) has. What is the guarantee that a person whose photo has been morphed, and put on a social media platform, that person’s dignity, that person’s status in society, that person’s personal stress, shouldn’t that be part of our legislative framework today? So all those are important societal requisites which have to be addressed by the Parliament now,” he added.

Speaking about the proposed telecom bill, Vaishnaw said that the government has received “excellent suggestions” from various industry stakeholders, and the drafting of the bill is also over. It could be published in the next seven to ten days, he added.

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