Lok Sabha Clears Digital Personal Data Protection Bill

Lok Sabha has passed the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill despite disruptions from the opposition regarding the Manipur issue.

The objective of the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 is to ensure the processing of digital personal data in a way that respects individuals' right to protect their personal information while also allowing for lawful purposes, according to the Ministry of Information Technology.

Non-compliance and failure to implement reasonable measures to prevent data breaches can result in penalties for companies and institutions.

Additionally, they will be required to cease retaining user data if it no longer serves the original business purpose for which it was collected.

The objective of the enactment of the data protection bill is to empower Indian citizens with their privacy rights through transformative accountability measures taken by enterprises.

Data plays a crucial role in the digital age, and the processing of personal data is at the center of today's digital economies. With the advancements in AI, personal data can now be processed quickly and with great sophistication.

However, in India, the absence of a proper privacy framework has led to citizens having little control over their data, while businesses have struggled to collect and process personal data in legitimate ways.

The DPDP Bill aims to change this by providing a comprehensive privacy framework that will impact the lives of Indian citizens and businesses significantly.

Compared to the initial draft DPDP that was circulated for public consultation in November 2022, the bill has introduced more lenient penalty norms.

According to the bill, if a person is found to have breached the provisions of the Act or its rules, and the breach is deemed significant by the board, a monetary penalty specified in the schedule may be imposed after giving the person an opportunity to be heard.

Entities violating the norms may be subject to penalties ranging from a minimum of ₹50 crore to a maximum of ₹250 crore, as per the schedule.

According to the bill, the central government, the board, its chairperson, and any member, officer, or employee thereof cannot be sued or prosecuted for any actions taken in good faith under the provisions of this Act or the rules made under it.

The bill includes provisions that allow the Centre to block access to content in the interest of the general public, upon receiving a written reference from the board.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Electronics and IT, stated that once passed by Parliament, the bill will safeguard the rights of all citizens, promote the expansion of the innovation economy, and provide the government with lawful and legitimate access in matters of national security and emergencies such as pandemics and earthquakes.

The legislation aims to address the concerns and prevent the misuse and exploitation that often occurs on online platforms. It will put an end to these issues once and for all.

This legislation is expected to bring about significant behavioral change and impose severe penalties on any platform that misuses or exploits the personal data of Indian citizens.