‘She’ and ‘her’ for all genders feature in draft Data Protection Bill

By just focusing personal data, the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill has done away with regulating the use of non-personal data. (Representative image)

In possibly the first time, the central government has used the female pronouns of "she" and "her" to refer to individuals in its draft Personal Data Protection Bill published on Friday, three months after its abrupt withdrawal from the lower house of the Parliament.

The interpretation section of the draft Bill stated, "In this Act... the pronouns “her” and “she” have been used for an individual, irrespective of gender."

And further, under the section of deemed consent, the draft stated, "A Data Principal is deemed to have given consent to the processing of her personal

data if such processing is necessary."

"In a situation where the Data Principal voluntarily provides her personal

data to the Data Fiduciary and it is reasonably expected that she would

provide such personal data."

Elaborating in an example, it added, "‘A’ shares her name and mobile number with a Data Fiduciary for the purpose of reserving a table at a restaurant. ‘A’ shall be deemed to have given her consent to the collection of her name and mobile number by the Data Fiduciary for the purpose of confirming the reservation."

Read more: Government publishes draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill for public views

This draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill mandates penalties of up to Rs 500 crore for non-compliance and making of a regulator. By just focusing personal data, it has done away with regulating the use of non-personal data.

The Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday shared a link to the PDF of the draft bill, seeking public opinion.

Seeking your views on draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022.

Link below: https://t.co/8KfrwBnoF0 — Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) November 18, 2022

The draft bill will undergo extensive consultation and the government is aiming to introduce in Parliament by the next Budget Session.