Data privacy bill sooner than later, says finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (File Image)

India will introduce a new data privacy bill “sooner than later” after having withdrawn an earlier version, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on September 7.

“I would credit the minister for having been very open about withdrawing the bill which was in the parliament which was felt not addressing all issues,” Sitharaman said while speaking at the India Ideas Summit organised by the US-India Business Council.

“And he has assured that soon enough we will have the new data privacy bill which will be a product of consultations and will address every such concern most of us have had on the privacy bill,” she added.

The new bill would be comprehensive enough to address all issues as consultations have happened both within India and also with experts from outside, the minister said.

The Centre had on August 3 withdrawn the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, which had drawn criticism from privacy experts as it was seen as being more in favour of the government rather than protecting privacy, which the Supreme Court held as a fundamental right.

Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said that following a Joint Parliamentary Committee report, a comprehensive legal framework was being worked on and a new bill would be presented that would fit into the comprehensive legal framework.

The Personal Data Protection Bill was first drafted by an expert committee headed by retired Supreme Court Judge BN Srikrishna in 2018. The Centre introduced a draft of the Bill in 2019 in the Lok Sabha, which was referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee in December that year. The bill included both personal and non-personal data under its ambit, which would be dealt with by a Data Protection Authority.

The bill's previous mandate was limited to personal data and the move to bring non-personal data under its ambit was criticised by many.

Srikrishna has said that data protection laws must accord top priority to the people.