After withdrawing the contentious Data Protection Bill, telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said a new Bill soon to be introduced in Parliament will conform to the basic principles of privacy and keep the Supreme Court order on privacy in mind.
“The Personal Data Protection Bill has been withdrawn because the JCP recommended 81 amendments in a bill of 99 sections. Above that, it made 12 ma jor recommendations. Therefore, the Bill has been withdrawn and a new Bill will be presented for public consultation,” Vaishnaw said.
The minister said the government had decided to i nitiate the move with a progressive mindset, denying speculation that there was pressure to dilute certain provisions that were impacting global social media giants or other stakeholders. “There has been no lobbying… We simply wanted to put in place a complete, comprehensive framework. ”
The existing Bill had been criticised by top internet giants such as Americans Meta (that runs Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp), Google and Amazon who objected to provisions that mandated local storage of data as well as processing of certain sensitive information only within India. The Bill had been criticised for recommending that independent directors and non-executive directors on the board of a top social media, internet or electronics hardware firm should face legal and criminal proceedings for willful offences on data violations. The Bill had also seen objections from privacy advocates.
Minister of state for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the government wanted a fresh data law that was singularly focused on user privacy, while other aspects related to the sector would be tackled under different — but connected — legislations such as the (still underpreparation) IT law and the National Data Governance Framework Policy.
“The Personal Data Protection Bill has been withdrawn because the JCP recommended 81 amendments in a bill of 99 sections. Above that, it made 12 ma jor recommendations. Therefore, the Bill has been withdrawn and a new Bill will be presented for public consultation,” Vaishnaw said.
The minister said the government had decided to i nitiate the move with a progressive mindset, denying speculation that there was pressure to dilute certain provisions that were impacting global social media giants or other stakeholders. “There has been no lobbying… We simply wanted to put in place a complete, comprehensive framework. ”
The existing Bill had been criticised by top internet giants such as Americans Meta (that runs Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp), Google and Amazon who objected to provisions that mandated local storage of data as well as processing of certain sensitive information only within India. The Bill had been criticised for recommending that independent directors and non-executive directors on the board of a top social media, internet or electronics hardware firm should face legal and criminal proceedings for willful offences on data violations. The Bill had also seen objections from privacy advocates.
Minister of state for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the government wanted a fresh data law that was singularly focused on user privacy, while other aspects related to the sector would be tackled under different — but connected — legislations such as the (still underpreparation) IT law and the National Data Governance Framework Policy.