The Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 (PDP Bill 2019) was tabled in the Indian Parliament by the

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is an executive agency of the Union Government of the Republic of India. It was carved out of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on 19 July 2016 as a standalo ...

on 11 December 2019. As of March 2020 the Bill is being analyzed by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) in consultation with experts and stakeholders. The JPC, which was set up in December 2019, is headed by BJP Member of Parliament (MP)

Meenakshi Lekhi Meenakshi Lekhi (born 30 April 1967) is an Indian politician and the current Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture of India from 7 July 2021. She is a Member of Parliament from New Delhi Parliamentary constituency in the 16th ...

. While the JPC was tasked with a short deadline to finalize the draft law before the Budget Session of 2020, it has sought more time to study the Bill and consult stakeholders. The Bill covers mechanisms for protection of personal data and proposes the setting up of a Data Protection Authority of India for the same. Some key provisions the 2019 Bill provides for which the 2018 draft Bill did not, such as that the central government can exempt any government agency from the Bill and the

Right to Be Forgotten The right to be forgotten (RTBF) is the right to have private information about a person be removed from Internet searches and other directories under some circumstances. The concept has been discussed and put into practice in several jurisdiction ...

, have been included.

Background

In July 2017, the

set up a committee to study issues related to data protection. The committee was chaired by retired

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

judge Justice

B. N. Srikrishna Bellur Narayanaswamy Srikrishna (born 21 May 1941) is an Indian jurist and a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India. From 1993 to 1998, he headed the "Srikrishna Commission" that investigated causes and apportioned blame for the Bombay rio ...

. The committee submitted the draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 in July 2018. After further deliberations the Bill was approved by the cabinet ministry of

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

on 4 December 2019 as the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 and tabled in the Lok Sabha on 11 December 2019.

Provisions

The Bill aims to: It provided for extensive provisions around collection of consent, assessment of datasets, data flows and transfers of personal data, including to third countries and other aspects around anonymized and non-personal data.

Criticism

The revised 2019 Bill was criticized by Justice

, the drafter of the original Bill, as having the ability to turn India into an “ Orwellian State". In an interview with Economic Times, Srikrishna said that, "The government can at any time access private data or government agency data on grounds of sovereignty or public order. This has dangerous implications.” This view is shared by a think tank in their comment number 3. Fresh criticism on the international level comes from an advisor to a group proposing an alternative text. A moderately critical summary is available from an India scholar working with an American co-author. The role of social media intermediaries is being regulated more tightly on several fronts. The

Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best kno ...

is hoping that the PDP bill will prove the lesser evil compared with the Draft Information Technology ntermediary Guidelines (Amendment) Rules2018.

Forbes India ''Forbes India'' is the Indian edition of ''Forbes'' which is managed by Reliance Industries-owned media conglomerate, Network 18. History and profile Since its founding in 2008, ''Forbes India'' has achieved a circulation of 50,000 copies and m ...

reports that "there are concerns that the Bill ..gives the government blanket powers to access citizens' data." Jaiveer Shergill, a prominent Supreme Court Lawyer has shared the pitfalls and gaps of the current version of the draft bill. There are serious loopholes of how the bill is unable to identify the scope of governmental bodies in distinguishing who has access to the personal data of the citizens and missing state bodies to monitor the personal data.

Withdrawal

The Data Protection Bill was withdrawn from the Lok Sabha and the Parliament as reported in the Bulletin - Part 1 No. 189 dated August 3, 2022. The withdrawal of the Data Protection Bill come with reports that a more comprehensive version of the Bill may be introduced. Separately, instead of a Data Protection Bill, the Government may be contemplating introducing a Digital India Act, replacing the

Information Technology Act, 2000 The Information Technology Act, 2000 (also known as ITA-2000, or the IT Act) is an Act of the Indian Parliament (No 21 of 2000) notified on 17 October 2000. It is the primary law in India dealing with cybercrime and electronic commerce E-co ...

, as reported by certain sources.

Notes

References

{{Reflist

External links

The draft of the 2018 bill

Personal Data Protection Bill 2019

PDP Bill 2019: Impact on tech companies
Information privacy Data laws of Asia Data protection Law of India Computing legislation Information technology in India Censorship in India Internet in India 2018 in India 2018 in law Medical privacy legislation Modi administration Cyber Security in India