Data Protection Bill, Which Sparked Privacy Concerns, Passed In Lok Sabha

New Delhi:

The Lok Sabha today cleared a new digital rights law that seeks to impose heavy penalty for data breaches, despite privacy concerns raised by the Opposition.

The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill was passed by a voice vote amid sloganeering by Opposition members over the Manipur issue. Some of the amendments sought by the Opposition were defeated by voice vote.

The proposed legislation was tabled in the Lower House last Thursday amid demands of referring it to a parliamentary panel for scrutiny.

Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, moving the bill for consideration, said the Opposition members were raising slogans since they had little concern for issues regarding public welfare.

The bill includes a provision to impose up to Rs 250 crore penalty for data breaches as it seeks to curb misuse of individuals’ data by online platforms.

The Bill comes six years after the Supreme Court held right to privacy to be a fundamental right.

The Opposition had alleged the Bill will turn the country into a surveillance state. Critics of the bill fear feared the allowance for processing personal data without consent in nine broad instances could have serious implications for the fundamental right to privacy of citizens.

Exemptions to the state and a contentious clause giving broad exemptions for some companies have also sparked concerns.

Junior IT minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar had defended the centre’s access to citizens’ data as “lawful and legitimate in national security and emergencies”. He addressed the concerns in a video explainer and said the bill was developed after extensive consultations that he personally led with the stakeholders.

A top journalists’ body too had raised concerns that some provisions of the bill can have an impact on press freedom. The Editors Guild of India had said it creates am enabling framework for surveillance of citizens, including journalists and their source, and sought it to be referred to a standing committee.

The centre had previously introduced the Personal Data Protection Bill in 2019 but it was withdrawn last year after scrutiny by a parliamentary committee.