Lower age of children to 15: Opposition MPs propose amendments to data protection bill

The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill was introduced in the Parliament on August 3

Opposition MPs have moved the Lok Sabha, proposing amendments to the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill, which includes changing the definition of children to mean those below 18 to those below 15, introducing a three-member committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and so on.

The amendments have been proposed by Revolutionary Socialist Party's (RSP) N K  Premachandran, Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s (CPIM) AM Arif, Janata Dal (United)'s (JDU) Alok Kumar Suman and Indian National Congress' Benny Behanan.

These proposed amendments are likely to be heard when the government moves the Lok Sabha to pass the bill on August 7.

Earlier Opposition MPs, at the time of the introduction of the bill in the Parliament on August 3, had alleged that the bill, currently, went against  Right to Privacy, and urged the government to send it to a Parliamentary Committee.

CPIM's AM Arif has proposed that the definition of children be lowered from meaning those below the age of 18 to those below 15. Earlier, Moneycontrol had reported how many stakeholders were opposed to the current definition of children in the bill.

Also read: DPDP Bill: Restrictions on processing children's data will curtail innovation, say experts

RSP's Premachandran has proposed an amendment, which would impose an additional requirement on platforms to obtain consent from users in the form a written signature.

In line with that, Premachandran has sought an amendment to the definition of data breach, to mean acquiring data "without obtaining consent in writing with signature".

He also sought a revision in the "legitimate uses" clauses of the bill, which gives provisions to government and platforms to access data without consent of an individual.

In certain cases, the MP has said that the government should take permission of a three-member committee consisting of a retired judge of Supreme Court, and two retired High Court judges as members.

JDU's Alok Kumar Suman in a proposed amendment to the bill has recommended that the chairperson of the data protection authority be appointed from the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community.

Congress' Behanan proposed that the chairperson and members of the data protection board have at least seven years of experience.

Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw will move for the bill to be passed in Lok Sabha on August 7. If the bill is passed in the Lok Sabha, it will then go the Rajya Sabha, where again, if it's passed, the Bill will be enacted into a law. Currently, Bharatiya Janata Party has a majority in the LS, but lacks a clear majority in the RS.