MeitY is almost ready with the final draft of Data Protection Bill, likely to table it in February 2023

The citizens of India as well as the authorities have often lamented the fact that India does not have any legislation related to the protection of our data, digital or otherwise. While we had the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill 2021, it had to be withdrawn in August this year. Now, it seems that the renewed Personal Data Protection bill is in its final stages.

The PDP Bill 2019 was first introduced in Lok Sabha on December 11, 2019. The bill was referred to Joint Parliamentary Committee, which tabled its report in Lok Sabha on December 16, 2021. The committee proposed a single law for dealing with both personal and non-personal datasets. The report was also under dispute as it suggested moving towards complete localisation of data.   The withdrawn Bill had proposed restrictions on the use of personal data without the explicit consent of citizens. It had also sought to provide the government with powers to give exemptions to its probe agencies from the provisions of the Act, a move that was strongly opposed by the opposition MPs who had filed their dissent notes. When the bill was withdrawn, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, “This will soon be replaced by a comprehensive framework of global standard laws, including digital privacy laws, for contemporary and future challenges and catalyse PM Narendra Modi’s vision of India ‘Techade’.”   A statement that was circulated among the members of Lok Sabha also stated the government was working on a comprehensive legal framework considering 81 amendments and 12 recommendations proposed by the JPC. Just last month, Chandrasekhar said that the new data protection bill will be “very simple and modern,” at the event CyFY2022, organised by Observer Research Foundation. Sources at the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology have revealed that that the Data Protection Bill is in its final draft stage and will be tabled soon. Moreover, the bill is likely to be released by the end of November or in early December for public consultation and is likely to be tabled in Parliament during the budget session of Parliament in February next year.