New Delhi: The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 now only needs the President’s approval in order to become law. The Rajya Sabha passed the Bill on Wednesday (August 9).
Parliament’s upper house was not nearly at full strength when it passed the Bill, as opposition parties had staged a walkout to protest Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unavailability to discuss the Manipur violence.
The controversial Bill was passed by voice vote, a method by which legislators vote on Bills by calling out ‘aye’ or ‘no’.
Legislators in the Lok Sabha first cleared the Bill on Monday (August 7).
Union information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw criticised the opposition for not being present to debate the Bill.
“It would have been good had the opposition discussed the Bill today [in the House]. But no opposition leader or member is concerned over the rights of the citizens,” he said according to news agency PTI.
He added that the Bill was tabled in parliament after extensive public consultation, although doubts have been raised about the transparency of that process.
The government says the Bill will protect the right to privacy of Indian citizens and introduce important regulations on how their personal data is processed.
But critics of the proposed legislation say it exempts the Union government too broadly from the consequences of how it processes this data, and that its provisions may dilute India’s existing right to information (RTI) laws.
Also Read: Ten Reasons Why The Digital Personal Data Protection Law Doesn’t Empower Citizens
Soon after the Bill was cleared by parliament, the Internet Freedom Foundation said the Bill “prioritises … a regime that facilitates the processing of personal data by state and private actors”.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 is closer to becoming the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, having been passed by the Rajya Sabha. We are disappointed with the version of the Bill that may ultimately become India’s data protection legislation. 1/3 https://t.co/UkcZhWMpQv
— Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) (@internetfreedom) August 9, 2023
The Hindu reported in July that while current RTI laws allow for personal information to be disclosed under its ambit if its release is “in the larger public interest”, the Data Protection Bill removes this caveat.
An organisation called the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information cautioned against this change in a statement on August 3.
“It is well established that access to granular information, including personal information, is critical to empower people to undertake collective monitoring and ensure they are able to access their rights and entitlements,” it said.
“This principle is well recognised and has been adopted in various welfare programs and schemes. The proposed Bill will potentially place impediments and restrictions on such public disclosures.”
Journalist groups have also raised fears that the Bill will enable censorship of their work.
The Editors Guild of India and DIGIPUB said in a statement on August 6 that the Bill could be used to widen the government’s existing powers of censorship, because Clause 37(1)(b) will allow the Union government to “censor content on vague and unspecified grounds ‘in the interest of the general public’”.