Bringing India closer to its first data protection law, the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on August 9 with a voice vote. The bill will become law after President Draupadi Murmu grants her assent.
The bill was presented for passage in the upper house of the Parliament by Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Earlier on August 7, the bill was passed by the Lok Sabha.
Also read: Explained: What the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill means for you
The law has been sought by various sections of society ever since the Supreme Court deemed the Right to Privacy as fundamental – with reasonable restrictions – in 2016.
A Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill was introduced in 2018 and tabled in 2019, after which it was referred to a joint parliamentary committee. The panel studied the bill for two years and presented its report and a modified PDP Bill in December 2021.
But in 2022, the government withdrew the PDP Bill, citing compliance-related reasons and came out with the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill after a few months. The cabinet approved the bill in July, clearing its way to be tabled in the ongoing monsoon session.
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