Lok Sabha to consider and pass Digital Personal Data Protection Bill today

The Lok Sabha is set to take up the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill, 2023 on Monday for consideration and passing.

Earlier on 3 August, Union Communications, Electronics, and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw introduced Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 in Parliament. Vaishnaw said that it is not a money bill and all issues raised by the opposition will be answered during the debate.

ABOUT THE DATA PROTECTION BILL

The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill or data protection Bill provides for the processing of digital personal data recognising the right of individuals to safeguard their information and the need to process personal data for lawful purposes.

It defines a personal data breach as unauthorised processing of personal data or accidental disclosure, acquisition, sharing, use, alteration, destruction of, or loss of access to personal data, that compromises the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of personal data.

Once approved by Parliament, the norms will apply to personal data collected within India from data principals online, and personal data collected offline, but subsequently digitised. It will also apply to such processing outside India if it is for offering goods or services to individuals in India.

The proposed provisions of the Act do not apply to personal data processed by an individual for any personal or domestic purpose, personal data caused to be made publicly available by data principle, say a blogger sharing personal data on his/her social media blog.

Personal data can be processed only for a lawful purpose for which an individual has given consent and for certain legitimate uses.

So if a bank is processing customer KYC, they have to send notice to the individual concerned describing the data and purpose of processing.

Consent of the individual needs to be a clear affirmative action, agreeing to the processing of personal data only for the specified purpose.

Meanwhile, the Opposition members have strongly opposed the bill. They have said that the ill violates the fundamental right to privacy. They demanded that the bill should be sent to the standing committee for scrutiny. They said the government had withdrawn a bill on data protection last year and the new bill needs more scrutiny.