Data protection concerns

India's first privacy legislation has too many holes

The government has taken extraordinary measures to reduce public scrutiny, and even Parliamentary examination of the Personal Data Protection Bill. The draft was not circulated well in advance of its presentation in Parliament and comments and submissions made during the drafting process were not made public. Communications, Electronics & Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad requested that the Bill should be examined by a select committee chosen for the purpose and not by the Standing Parliamentary Committee on IT (which is chaired by an Opposition member). This lack of scrutiny makes it more likely that multiple areas of concern will