MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar holds consultations on proposed Digital India Bill

Union Minister for state for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday held consultations with stakeholders on soon-to-be introduced Digital India Bill.

Making a presentation on the objectives and goals of the Bill, the minister said that it aims to help India achieve the goal of becoming a trillion-dollar digital economy and be a significant trusted player in the Global Value Chains for digital products, devices, platforms and solutions.

Chandrasekhar added that the proposed digital India Act aims to help develop the country as a globally competitive innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem while at the same time protecting the rights of its citizens.

Stating that the tech ecosystem in general and Internet in particular has evolved significantly after Information Technology Act (IT Act) came into being in 2000, he said that the new law has to be evolvable and consistent with changing market trends, disruption in technologies, and keep in mind protection of digital nagriks from user harm.

“Internet that began as a force of good has today become vulnerable to various types of complex user harms like catfishing, cyber stalking, cyber trolling, gaslighting, phishing, revenge porn, cyber-flashing, dark web, women and children, defamation, cyber-bullying, doxing, salami slicing, etc. There is an urgent need for a specialized and dedicated adjudicatory mechanism for online civil and criminal offences,” the minister added.

Reiterating that the Bill is an attempt by the government to bring in global standard cyber laws, Chandrasekhar said that we want to ensure the internet is open, safe, trusted and accountable and accelerate the growth of innovation and technology and create a framework for accelerating digitalisation of government and to strengthen democracy and governance.

He also listed down dome of the guiding principles for the proposed legislation which include managing the complexities of internet and rapid expansion of the types of intermediaries addressing the risks of emerging technologies, protecting citizen rights, managing and setting guardrails for the varied intermediaries on the internet.

The minister spoke of promoting free market access, fair-trade practices, ease of doing business, and ease of compliance for Startups and delivery of public services through online and mobile platforms in a simple, accessible, interoperable and citizen friendly manner in the same thread.

Terming the bill as future ready, Chandrasekhar said that the new law should evolve through rules that can be updated and address the tenets of Digital India and designed on a principles and rule-based approach to regulation.

The proposed law, in addition to many aspects of the digital ecosystem, will deal in detail with the question of user harm on the internet. He said that the internet can be a responsible space and illegal content certainly does not find any place on the Indian internet.

“The Bill is a future ready legislation that aims to catalyse India’s ambition of being in the leading pack of nations that will shape the future technologies,” the Ministry of Electronics and IT said.

This is the first-time design, architecture and goals of a Bill are being discussed at its pre-introduction stage. The consultations are a part of the digital India dialogue in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s consultative approach to law and policy making, it added.