New data protection bill draft in next few days, says IT Minister

The government will be coming out with a fresh draft of the data protection bill in the next few days, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday.

Inputs received from various stakeholders have been considered while formulating the bill, Vaishnaw said at the third edition of the Global Fintech Fest here.

“It’s a matter of a few days only when the bill will be uploaded for consultation,” he said.

The government had in early August withdrawn the personal data protection bill, which was first presented in late 2019.

Vaishnaw said the joint parliamentary committee which went through the original draft suggested 88 amendments to a bill of 91 sections, which led the government to decide that there was “no option” but to withdraw the original bill completely.