Data protection bill big milestone in our digital ecosystem: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

New Delhi [India], August 9 : Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Wednesday said that Digital Personal Data Protection Bill is a big milestone in our digital ecosystem and the first building block of global standard cyber law framework that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is building for 1 trillion-dollar digital economy and India Techade.
MoS Chandrasekhar said that it will lead to a deep behavioural change among platforms and Digital Nagriks on how data is taken, asked for and processed.
He further said that the message is loud and clear that there is a new Data Protection regime in town with Indian citizens at the heart of it.
“Every platform will realise that it is in their interest that they adapt readily to this new expectation of respecting Digital Personal Data of Indian Citizens”, he said.
He added that there is an imminent need for Industry to transition from the current framework to this new one. We will give some transition period to Industry, he added.
“We will work with Industry to ensure that transition is not disruptive but orderly”, MoS Chandrasekhar said.
Earlier today, Union Telecom and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw called it a "landmark bill" in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Digital India.
"It is a historic day today. The Parliament of India passed a very important legislation. Today the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha. It is a landmark bill in PM Modi's vision of Digital India," Minister Vaishnaw said.
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 which seeks to set out requirements for firms collecting data online, with exceptions for the government and law enforcement agencies.
It also lays down the obligations of entities handling and processing data as well as the rights of individuals.
The Bill, which was passed by voice vote in the absence of Opposition leaders who earlier walked out of the House, apply to the processing of digital personal data within India where such data is collected online, or collected offline and is digitised. It will also apply to such processing outside India, if it is for offering goods or services in India.
The Bill amends the Right to Information Act, 2005 to remove public interest exemptions on disclosing personal information.
The RTI Act currently allows public authorities to disclose personal information, such as officials’ salaries, when it is in the public interest. The Bill would remove these caveats and completely disallow disclosing personal information.
The Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 7, proposes a maximum penalty of Rs 250 crore and minimum of Rs 50 crore on entities violating the norms.