Data protection bill: Govt can’t violate privacy of citizen, says MoS IT

The government will not be able to violate the privacy of citizens under the proposed data protection law as it will get access to personal data only in exceptional circumstances like national security, pandemics, and natural disasters, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said. Speaking during an online discussion, the minister said the National Data Governance Framework Policy has provisions for handling anonymised data, which are not part of the draft Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill 2022.

Chandrasekhar also said the proposed Data Protection Board — which will adjudicate matters related to data protection — will be independent and will not have any government officer on the board.