The Central Government withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 on Wednesday in Lok Sabha. The bill introduced in 2019 referred to a joint parliamentary committee that proposed 81 amendments.
Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw moved a motion in the Loksabha to withdraw the bill on Wednesday, which passed with a voice vote, and the bill was withdrawn.
According to Vaishnaw, a bill that fits into a ‘comprehensive legal framework’ would be presented later. IT Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar stated that the bill’s parliamentary panel report had identified several relevant issues but beyond the scope of modern digital privacy laws. He added that the privacy of citizens requires ‘global-standard cyber laws’.
The bill was introduced after the supreme court recognized the right to privacy as a fundamental right within the ambit of the constitution. It sets the rules for how personal data should be processed and stored and lists people’s rights with respect to their personal information. It also proposed to create an independent regulatory authority called the Data Protection Authority.
The bill defined data in three categories- personal, sensitive personal and critical personal. Each category has its own obligation and regulatory requirements, which were to be followed by Indian companies and foreign enterprises dealing with the data of Indian citizens.
If the bill had been passed, the businesses would have to tell users about their data collection practices and seek consumer consent. It gave consumers the right to access, correct and erase their data. The legislation also stated that sensitive personal data must be stored in India, and critical personal data notified by the Central Government cannot be transferred out of India.
Source: indiaai.gov.in
