DPDP Bill will protect user rights, make compliance easy for startups: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill will "protect rights of all citizens,” Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on August 3 after the proposed law was introduced in Parliament amid protests that it allegedly violates the right to privacy.

The much awaited bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by communications, electronics and information technology minister Ashwini Vaishaw.

In a video message, Chandrasekhar said the bill addressed aspects that every legislation should achieve -- protecting the citizens rights, creating a compliance-friendly regime for startups and the digital economy and define the clearly emergent situations under which the government has access to the personal data of citizens during law and order, national security and other emergent situations.

"These three seemingly contradictory objectives are met by this very modern, very simply adopted legislation that has been introduced into Parliament today," the minister said.

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In the last few years, technology companies have been "creating business models by misusing and exploiting digital personal data of citizens".

The DPDP Bill would create a deep-lasting behavioural change and “create punitive consequences, high penalty punitive consequences for any or all platforms that misuse or exploit the personal data of any Indian citizen", he added.