New Delhi: Days after Union minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that a parliamentary panel has given “big support” to the draft data protection bill, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) issued a clarification saying the minister did not that the bill has been passed. “allowed”.
Speaking at the NASSCOM Technology and Leadership Forum on Thursday, IT Minister Vaishnav reportedly said Said“I want to share some good news that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT and Communications, which is the committee that deals with this subject (data protection), has examined the Bill before it is taken to Parliament, and then a Gave big thumbs up”.
The central government had published the draft of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill, 2022 in November last year.
Nasscom, the apex body for the technology industry, issued a clarification on the matter on Friday. Said That Vaishnav has “assured the industry that this is a high priority and all steps are being taken to introduce the Bill in Parliament at the earliest, including review and discussion with the Parliamentary Committee on Communications and Information Technology”.
It added that the minister “did not state that the Bill has been ‘approved’ by the committee”.
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disputes, issues
Soon after Vaishnav’s statement, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, who is also a member of the parliamentary committee, took to Twitter rebuttal it and termed it as “false”.
Karti wrote: “The draft Bill was released for public consultation in November 2022. In December, during the discussion on privacy and data protection of citizens, the committee had also held a preliminary discussion on the draft bill. The members raised several issues with the draft… The DPDP Bill has not been formally referred to the Committee and hence the “Big Thumbs Up” claim by Ashwini Vaishnav is a lie.
Sources in the committee have confirmed to ThePrint that discussions on their issues with the current draft are “long pending” and that the government is “acting in a hurry”.
Although experts, broadly speaking, Agreed While the introduction of such a policy framework is necessary, there were concerns about the current draft of the bill.
Technical policy experts are of the view that there is a need for specificity on the powers to be exercised by the government over personal data of citizens, compensation for personal data breaches and 18 years (upper limit) as the age limit for online presence. Recognition.
But Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar Maintained The bill will protect citizens including children and the ministry will ensure that there is “consensus”.
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what next?
Kazim Rizvi, founder of tech policy think tank The Dialogue, told ThePrint that the bill will get cabinet approval before it reaches Parliament.
“The [draft] The Digital Data Protection Bill 2022 was put up for consultation in November 2022, and the next step is to introduce the bill in Parliament after cabinet approval. We hope and expect that the Bill will be introduced in Parliament during the Monsoon Session.
After the Bill is tabled for debate, it will be referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology.
“Once the Bill is introduced in Parliament, it may be referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology or a Joint Parliamentary Committee like in the case of the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019. In this scenario, the committee will deliberate on it. It will present the bill and a report to the parliament which will be considered by the ministry to fine tune the bill. Apart from this, it also depends on the ministry whether it takes the recommendations provided by the committee or not.
(Editing by Anumeha Saxena)
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