Data Protection Bill gets IT panel thumbs-up, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

The parliamentary standing committee on communications and information technology (IT) has given a “big thumbs-up” to the draft Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill, 2022, as it will soon be tabled in Parliament, said Union Minister for Communications and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday.

Released in November 2022, the draft is the third version of the much-awaited data privacy law of the country.

The Bill, which seeks to enforce the fundamental right to privacy of citizens, has the provision of penalties ranging up to Rs 250 crore for data fiduciaries on account of failing to take safeguards to prevent personal data breaches. It also requires fiduciaries to take clear and informed consent from the user before collecting any personal data.
 

In August last year, the government withdrew the previous draft titled PDP Bill, 2019, from Parliament, after a joint parliamentary committee recommended 81 amendments to a Bill of 99 sections, along with 12 recommendations.
 

“I would like to share some good news that the parliamentary standing committee on communications and IT, which deals with this subject, has in advance examined it before going to Parliament and has given a big thumbs-up to it,” said Vaishnaw at the National Association of Software and Service Companies’ (Nasscom’s) Technology and Leadership Forum 2023.
 

The industry and lobbies, including Nasscom, have welcomed the latest draft of the Bill for its relaxed provisions. Nasscom had commented that “on cross-border data flows, the industry felt that a framework prepared in consultation with government departments, sectoral regulators, and public consultations should provide a clear, proportionate, and enabling framework.

The industry welcomed the retention of forward-looking concepts, such as the consent manager, to enable citizens to effectively manage their consent”.
 

The parliamentary panel on IT has 31 members from both Houses of Parliament and is chaired by Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Prataprao Jadhav.
 

According to sources, the Bill will shortly get presented to the Cabinet and is ready to get tabled in Parliament during the ongoing Budget session.
 

“Many chief executive officers I met at Davos have either committed to expanding their supply chain based in India or if they are not present here, are looking at setting up bases in the country. At least three such companies who don’t have an India presence have said they would do the groundbreaking ceremony in the country by the end of 2023,” the minister said.

He added that the government’s policies focused on public-private partnerships will take the country on a consistent growth path.

He emphasised that the Prime Minister’s focus was very clear on having minimum possible commonsensical regulations in sync with the country’s goals.