New Data Protection Bill to be presented in parliament by budget session

The drafting of the new data protection bill is almost complete and it would soon be uploaded for consultation, Union Minister of Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said, adding that the new bill will be presented in the parliament by the Budget Session.

Speaking to Sansad TV, Vaishnaw said that given the evolving technology and digital economy landscape in the country, it was important to withdraw the earlier Personal Data Protection Bill, 2021. The government withdrew the Bill early last month.

“The digital economy in India is today a very significant part of India’s total economy. We need to have legislation which is absolutely in tune with the times, in tune with the changing technologies, in tune with what the experience of people across the world has been on data protection so far,” Vaishnaw said.

“We have to draw that fine balance between privacy, innovation, making sure that the regulation is highly implementable,” he said, adding that the fresh bill has been drafted at a “very good pace”.

At the time of withdrawal of the Personal Data Protection Bill, the government said that the new bill would be introduced in the Winter Session of the Parliament. However, the timeline seems to have been increased till the Budget Session now.

The Personal Data Protection Bill, originally drafted by a panel led by retired Supreme Court Judge BN Srikrishna, was introduced in the Parliament in 2019. However, it received criticism from various opposition parties, and was referred to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) for examination. Inc42