Experts divided over Govt decision to withdraw Personal Data Protection Bill

Industry experts are divided over the government’s decision to withdraw the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill, 2019, and replace it with a new ‘comprehensive legal framework’ and ‘contemporary digital privacy laws’ for regulating online space. The bill was revoked after nearly four years of it being in the works, where it went through multiple changes including a review by a Joint Parliamentary Committee and faced pushback from a range of stakeholders including tech companies and privacy activists.

“The withdrawal of the PDP bill is personally disappointing to me, especially since the industry has already been waiting for four years for this draft to be taken forward,” Dr Rishi Bhatnagar, Chairman, IET Future Tech Panel told indianexpress.com.