MeitY Invites Feedback On The Draft ‘Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022’

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been deliberating on various aspects of digital personal data and its protection, and has formulated a draft Bill, titled ‘The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022’. The purpose of the draft Bill is to provide for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognizes both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process personal data for lawful purposes, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

The draft Bill employs plain and simple language to facilitate ease of understanding and is available on Ministry’s website at https://www.meity.gov.in/data-protection-framework along with an Explanatory note that provides a brief overview of its provisions, which is available at https://www.meity.gov.in/data-protection-framework

The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill frames out the rights and duties of the citizen (Digital Nagrik) on one hand and the obligations to use collected data lawfully of the Data Fiduciary on the other hand. The bill is based on the following principles around the Data Economy:

The Bill will establish the comprehensive legal framework governing digital personal data protection in India. The Bill provides for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognizes the right of individuals to protect their personal data, societal rights and the need to process personal data for lawful purposes.

The Ministry has invited feedback from the public on the draft Bill. The submissions will not be disclosed and held in fiduciary capacity, to enable persons submitting feedback to provide the same freely. No public disclosure of the submissions will be made.

The feedback on the draft bill in a chapter wise manner may be submitted on https://innovateindia.mygov.in/digital-data-protection/ by December 17, 2022.

Noted Senior Public Policy Expert of the country and CMD of White Dolphin Media, Shri Mohan Shukla said “The Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 post several iterations has finally been released and is expected to be presented in the Winter session of parliament. The draft has done away with the contentious data localisation requirement proposed in the earlier version and allows the cross border transfer of data with certain nations which the Government would specify from time to time. Although, some of the provisions are akin to the 2019 version, giving the government broad powers to exempt any of its agencies from compliance with provisions of the Bill in the interests of sovereignty, and integrity of India, security of the State which could be misused for surveillance, and puts the interests of the state ahead of the right to privacy of individuals. Furthermore, setting up of the Data Protection Board would give the government the authority to decide the members of the DPB, decreasing its autonomy and effectiveness substantially. It has been two years since the PDP Bill was brought. The present draft bill still shows scope for improvement which I am hopeful will be done in days ahead”