The Centre has said that it’s expecting to get parliament’s approval on the data protection bill by monsoon session even as efforts are underway to iron out the kinks existing in the present bill.
“Deliberations are underway over various aspects of the bill and the government aims to receive the Parliament’s approval by the monsoon session,” IT Minister Ashwinin Vaishnva revealed in a recent interview ith PTI.
During a panel discussion on Plunge Daily Twitter Spaces on Tuesday, Kazim Rizvi, founding director-The Dialogue; Sreenidhi Srinivasan, Principal Associate, Ikigai Law, Dr Aruna Sharma, ex Secretary Steel GoI; and Adnan Ahmad Ansari, Associate VP-9.9 Insights discussed the present structure of Data Protection Authority and its possible implications on India’s data governance.
Expressing concern over late stage inclusion of non personal data, Sreenidhi Srinivasan said, “Definition of non-personal data in the current draft bill is still unclear. It’s inclusion can potentially alter the nature of law. Till the time, clarity comes on these issues, it would be premature to say this law should be regulated.”
“Better to 1st focus on building out some solid methods & techniques for anonymization or understanding the principal rationale for what we’re trying to do with NPD,” she added.
She also pointed out that the Indian DPB has given more weightage to consent in comparison to other data laws across the globe.
“There is a slightly heavier focus on consent in this law than other global frameworks. It could be one way of conferring control but it might not be all and end all. It should not shift onus on individual alone because that might not bring desired results”
She also marked a word of caution on wide exemptions accorded to the government agencies under section 35.
“Government is leveraging emerging techs such as AI, data analytics for projects like smart cities, digital India as it looks to transform the digital ecosystem. In that light, these wide exemptions do raise alarm”
Dr. Aruna Sharma echoed Ms. Srinivasan’s views underlining the need for a a strict data regime in line with the 2017 Puttaswamy judgement
“The exemption for the government agencies has to be very limited with a strict regime if we genuinely want to follow the Puttaswamy judgement in spirit. It must not become a free for all under the name of sovereignty and security”
She also sought more clarity in the definition of non-personal data laws and questioned the need for bringing hardware testing under its purview when there is already an existing mechanism in place.
“It is imperative for us to distinguish between the personal, non-personal and the electronic segments. When we are talking about data privacy-the thin line between personal and non-personal data transition also needs to be defined,” she said
“My objection is to Section 49 of the bill that has brought hardware and software under its purview. That should be away from this law. There is a separate mechanism for hardware testing. So, it needs to be tested separately and that’s important even from the security point of view,” she added.
Sharing his views on cross border data law under the current draft bill, Mr Adnan Ahmad Ansari said, “At a time when we are signing Free trade agreements with emerging economies and encouraging free flow of capital and commodities, gate stopping the flow of data doesn’t look like a viable option.”
“This is a momentous exercise that has taken almost 4 and half years. The government has done wide-ranging consultations but this 11th hour entry of non-personal data makes no sense. We have covered so much space then why we want to falter when we are so close to the finishing line, he added.
