What is data protection bill? Why has Centre withdrawn it?

The Centre on Wednesday in a surprise move withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill from the Lok Sabha.

The Centre said it will come out with a “set of fresh legislations" that will fit into the comprehensive legal framework.

“The government will bring a set of new legislation for a comprehensive legal framework for the digital economy," IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who moved for the withdrawal of the Bill in the House, told PTI.

Sources said the government would hold a wide public consultation before putting the new legislation to Parliament.

The withdrawal of the Bill was made part of the supplementary agenda of Lok Sabha this afternoon.

According to sources, the Bill could be replaced by more than one bill, dealing with privacy and cyber security and the government may bring the new set of bills in the Winter Session of Parliament.

The Bill was introduced on 11 December, 2019, and was referred to the Joint Committee of the Houses (JCP) for examination.

The report of the JCP was presented to Lok Sabha in December 2021.

But what did the Bill propose? Why was it being opposed by the Opposition? Let’s take a closer look:

The Bill’s origin

As per Indiatimes, the Bill came after the Supreme Court in a landmark decision in the Justice KS Puttaswamy vs Union of India case in 2017 declared ‘privacy’ as a fundamental right.

The apex court, while giving its ruling, had ordered the Centre to introduce a strong data protection law.

The Centre set up an Expert Committee on Data Protection under Justice BN Srikrishna, which in July 2018 proposed the Personal Data Protection Bill.

What did the Bill propose?

As per NDTV, the Bill defined personal data as information that could help in the identification of an individual and has characteristics, traits and other features of a person’s identity.

As per Moneycontrol, the Bill in its latest version of the bill included both personal and non-personal data under its ambit, which would be dealt with by a Data Protection Authority.

As per Mint, the Bill mandated that sensitive data—financial, health, sexual orientation, biometrics, transgender status, religious or political beliefs and affiliation—be stored only in India.

However, data can be processed outside India with explicit consent, as per the report.

The Bill also stated that critical data, which will be defined by the government from time to time, has to be stored and processed in India. Any data that is non-critical and non-sensitive will be categorised as general data with no restriction on where it is stored or processed, as per Mint.

The Bill further proposed that social media platforms create a mechanism so that for “every user who registers their service from India or uses their service from India, a voluntary verifiable account mechanism has to be made".

The provision, which put the onus of creating the mechanism on the company,  was largely aimed at checking social media trolling.

.Why was the Opposition opposing it?

The Bill was sent to the JCP in 2019 after it faced vehement protests from the Opposition who claimed it violated fundamental rights of citizens, as per the NDTV.

Opposition parties claimed that the law gave the government sweeping powers to access personal data of individuals under opaque conditions citing national security and other reasons.

Opposition members had alleged that the penalty provisions  in the Bill on fiduciaries if they breach or process data in an unauthorised manner were watered down  despite their objections, The Hindu reported.

What reason did the Centre give for withdrawal?

According to the statement circulated to Lok Sabha members on Wednesday, the 2019 Bill was withdrawn after the JCP proposed 81 amendments and 12 recommendations for a comprehensive legal framework for the digital ecosystem.

The JCP had in December 2021 submitted a 542-page report with 93 recommendations and 81 amendments.

The panel, headed by former Union Minister and BJP MP PP Chaudhary, also recommended 97 corrections and improvements to the Bill.

“Considering the report of the JCP, a comprehensive legal framework is being worked upon. Hence, in the circumstances, it is proposed to withdraw ‘The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019’ and present a new bill that fits into the comprehensive legal framework," the Centre’s statement read.

After the Bill was withdrawn, Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrashekhar tweeted that this will soon be replaced by a comprehensive framework of global standard laws including digital privacy laws for contemporary and future challenges and catalyse Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision.

He said the JCP report on the Personal Data protection bill had identified many issues that were relevant but beyond the scope of a modern Digital Privacy law.

“Privacy is a fundamental right of Indian citizens & a Trillion-dollar Digital Economy requires Global std Cyber laws," he said in another tweet.

‘Better to have a new bill’

Senior BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab,  a member of the JCP panel, told The Hindu, “The Bill had more than 75 amendments. The government had also moved around 12 amendments. Instead of moving all those amendments, it is better to have a new Bill. But it should come early. We need to have a data protection law. It should not be delayed.”

Biju Janata Dal’s Amar Patnaik welcomed the withdrawal of the Bill and hoped that the new bill would take into account the concerns of the JCP.

“There were 81 amendments, in a bill of 99 sections and I had also filed a dissent note even after the amendments stating that there should be State-level Data Protection Authorities. I support the withdrawal of the Bill in its existing form and hope that the revised bill would take into account our concerns,” he told The Hindu.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, speaking to The Hindu, claimed that there was pressure from the United States against the report of the Joint Select Committee.

He claimed that big tech companies will be very happy with the Centre’s decision.

“Both Ashwini Vaishnaw and Rajeev Chandrasekhar [the Ministers for Telecommunications and IT> were members of the Joint Committee. They are now ministers. Perhaps their views have changed,” Ramesh, also member of the panel, told the newspaper.

India says such regulations are needed to safeguard the data and privacy of citizens. Lawmakers have said that concerns about misuse of sensitive personal data have risen exponentially in India.

Companies including Facebook, Twitter and Google have for years been concerned with many other separate regulations India has proposed for the technology sector, often straining relations between New Delhi and Washington.

With inputs from agencies

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