The Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 was tabled in the Indian Parliament by the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology on 11 December 2019. As of March, 2020 the Bill is being analyzed by a Joint Parliamentary Committee in consultation with experts and stakeholders. The JPC, which was let up in December, 2019, is headed by BJP Member of Parliament Meenakshi Lekhi. While the JPC was tasked with a short deadline to finalize the draft law before the Budget Session of 2020, it has sought more time to study the Bill and consult stakeholders. The JPC report is expected to be submitted by the second week of the upcoming Monsoon Session of the Indian Parliament. The Bill covers mechanisms for protection of personal data and proposes the setting up of a Data Protection Authority of India for the same. Some key provisions the 2019 Bill provides for which the 2018 draft Bill did not, such as that the central government can exempt any government agency from the Bill and the Right to Be Forgotten, have been included. Forbes India reports that "there are concerns that the Bill gives the government blanket powers to access citizens' data."
Background
In July 2017, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology set up a committee to study issues related to data protection. The committee was chaired by retired Supreme Court judge Justice B. N. Srikrishna. The committee submitted the draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 in July 2018. After further deliberations the Bill was approved by the cabinet ministry of India on 4 December 2019 as the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 and tabled in the Lok Sabha on 11 December 2019.
Provisions
The Bill aims to:
Criticism
The revised 2019 Bill was criticized by Justice B. N. Srikrishna, the drafter of the original Bill, as having the ability to turn India into an “Orwellian State". In an interview with Economic Times, Srikrishna said that, "The government can at any time access private data or government agency data on grounds of sovereignty or public order. This has dangerous implications.” This view is shared by a think tank in their comment number 3. Apar Gupta of Internet Freedom Foundation notes that "Privacy is mentioned just once in this voluminous document — 49 mentions of ‘security’ and 56 mentions of 'technology'" implying that the Bill doesn't do enough to protect an individual's privacy. Fresh criticism on the international level comes from an advisor to a group proposing an alternative text. A moderately critical summary is available from an India scholar working with an American co-author. The role of social media intermediaries is being regulated more tightly on several fronts. The Wikimedia Foundation is hoping that the PDP bill will prove the lesser evil compared with the Information Technology 2018|Draft Information Technology 2018.
