Data Protection Bill: Select committee holds talks amid privacy concerns

The joint select committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill is holding public consultations amid concerns regarding privacy and exemptions granted to government for processing data in case of national security. The stakeholders are required to send their comments in three weeks, after which more meetings may happen to evolve a consensus around the Bill.

The Bill, which was cleared by the Cabinet in December 2019 and later tabled in Parliament, was sent to the select committee as many activists expressed apprehensions regarding a clause in the Bill, which allows processing of personal data without explicit consent of the owner in cases of national security and also seeks to empower the government to exempt any government agency from the provisions of the proposed legislation. The Bill, based on the recommendations of the Justice Srikrishna committee, was finalised after holding multiple rounds of meetings between various stakeholders.