With 820 million internet users, India deserves to shape its own internet destiny: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Right)

Asserting that India does not have to follow any other country or global practice for its policy making on the future of internet, Union Minister of Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said that over 820 million internet users deserve to have their own way to decide what kind of internet they want.

“European GDPR is considered a gold standard for privacy and data protection. But we would like to disagree.," Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said at the India Global Forum held in Dubai.

"With more than 820 million internet users, we have the largest presence on global internet and deserve an opportunity to shape our own destiny. We will chart our own course and build a framework suitable for us,” he added.

Last month, the government unveiled the much-awaited and revised digital personal data protection legislation that governs everything from data processing by companies to tracking of children's data.

Speaking about the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill that is now open for consultations, the minister said, “Protecting the digital rights of our citizens is an obligation of the government. But we do not see this as a binary at the expense of slowing down the ecosystem for innovation that exists in India and in partnerships with other countries."

To reign in the data collection, protection and processing practices of tech companies, the bill also includes penalties of up to Rs 500 crore for non-compliance with the rules.

Chandrasekhar said the government would not strongly regulate the internet but is committed to the principles of open, safe, trusted and accountable internet.

Talking about the India Stack, Chandrasekhar said the digital public architecture has helped build trust between the government and its citizens.

"It has removed bottlenecks and ensured transfer of government funds to beneficiaries easy. The India Stack is open for other countries to adopt too. It represents an opportunity for Global South or countries that have not been able to afford the digitalisation to rapidly climb up the ladder of digitalisation," he added.

Government officials generally refer to public technology platforms like Aadhaar, UPI, Cowin etc as India stack that is helping the government deliver services to people at their doorstep without any hassle.

“Given the proliferation of clouds and the borderless nature of Internet, the data flow across geographical boundaries is almost like a given. We will identify trusted geographies or 'trust corridors' where data can be stored and processed to ensure that data of all Indians are protected."

Although the issue of data localisation was thought to be an important part of the proposed regulation, the bill only says that the central government may notify countries or territories outside India to which a data fiduciary may transfer personal data, in accordance with terms and conditions that may be specified later.