Ashwini Vaishnaw: Data Protection Bill been approved by the IT panel
According to Union Minister for Communications and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw on March 03, 2023, the parliamentary standing committee on communications and information technology (IT) has granted the proposed Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill, 2022, a "huge thumbs-up" and would shortly table it in Parliament.
The proposal is the third iteration of the long-awaited data privacy law for the nation, which is scheduled for release in November 2022.
The Bill, which aims to uphold people's basic right to privacy, includes provisions for fines against data fiduciaries of up to Rs 250 crore for failing to take precautions to avoid personal data breaches. Furthermore, it mandates that before obtaining any personal data, fiduciaries get the user's explicit and informed consent.
When a joint parliamentary committee suggested 81 revisions to a Bill with 99 parts and made 12 suggestions, the administration withdrew the earlier draught, known as the PDP Bill, 2019, from Parliament in August of last year.
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"I would like to offer some great news that the parliamentary standing committee on communications and IT, which handles this topic, has in advance studied it before coming to Parliament and has awarded it a great thumbs-up," said Vaishnaw at the Technology and Leadership Conference 2023 of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom).
The most recent draught of the Bill has received support from the business community and lobby groups, notably Nasscom, for its laxer rules. "On cross-border data flows, the industry considered that a framework created in conjunction with government agencies, sectoral regulators, and public dialogues should provide a clear, reasonable, and enabling framework," Nasscom had stated in a previous statement.
The business appreciated that innovative ideas, such as the consent manager, were kept in place to help individuals manage their consent in an efficient manner. Prataprao Jadhav, a Shiv Sena member of parliament, chairs the parliamentary panel on IT, which is comprised of 31 members from both Houses of Parliament.
The bill is prepared to be introduced in Parliament during the current Budget session and will soon be handed to the Government, according to sources.
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"Several chief executive officers I met at Davos have either made a commitment to growing their supply chain headquartered in India or, if they are not already present, are considering establishing facilities in the nation. By the end of 2023, at least three of these businesses—who do not currently have a presence in the country—will have said they would conduct the groundbreaking ceremony there, according to the minister.
He also said that the nation will be put on a steady growth path by the government's public-private partnership programs. He stressed that the Prime Minister's priority was on having the fewest commonsense rules feasible that were in line with the objectives of the nation.
Nasscom president Debjani Ghosh said the law must be approved soon and hoped it will pass this year. Vaishnaw said IT rules are tough because every country views them differently.
He said India will consider her ambitions while making a decision and manage the situation properly, adding that no country should mimic another's rules. Vaishnaw, who attended the January World Economic Forum in Davos, said India is trusted more globally.
He warned that Indian enterprises entering the global supply chain must not overpromise. At the event, the minister advised the industry to focus on innovation and people.