Parliament today passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 with Rajya Sabha approving it. The Bill has already been passed in Lok Sabha. The Bill has provisions for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognizes both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process such personal data for lawful purposes. According to the Bill, a person may process the personal data of an individual for a lawful purpose on the basis of their consent and for certain legitimate uses. The Bill has a provision to set up the Data Protection Board of India. The Board on receipt of an intimation of a personal data breach will inquire into the matter and impose a penalty. While determining the amount of monetary penalty to be imposed, the Board will consider the nature, gravity, and duration of the breach and the type, and nature of the personal data affected by the breach. The Bill states that individuals have the right to correction, completion, update, and erasure their personal data to which they have previously given consent.

Moving the Bill in the House, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Bill has been brought after a lot of detailed consultations with stakeholders. He said the bill has provisions for storage limitation of personal data, reasonable safeguarding of data, and the principle of accountability with regard to data. The Minister said the Data Protection Board will be independent and have experts in the field. He said this is the first such Bill where ‘she’ and ‘her’ have been used instead of ‘he’ and ‘his’. He added that the language of the Bill has been kept simple so that the common man can understand the provisions. He clarified that the legislation does not undermine the provisions of the RTI Act.

Dr Amar Patnaik of BJD, S Niranjan Reddy and V Vijayasai Reddy of YSRCP, GK Vasan of Tamil Maanila Congress (M), and AIADMK’s M Thambidurai participated in the debate.