The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the Personal Data Protection Bill
which is expected to lay down a framework that will include processing of
personal and private data by public and private entities, among others.
“Will not be
able to share more details about the Bill as it will be introduced in the
Parliament soon," said Union minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters in
a briefing after the Cabinet meeting.
Broad guidelines
on collection, storage and processing of personal data, consent of individuals,
penalties and compensation, code of conduct and an enforcement model is likely
to be a part of the law.
Last week, IT
minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said the government will soon introduce a
robust and balanced Personal Data Protection law in the Parliament, adding that
India will never compromise on data sovereignty.
The development comes amid a controversy involving WhatsApp, where the
Opposition inquired if the government negotiated any deal or did any business
transaction with the Israel-based tech firm NSO that developed Pegasus spyware
to spy on 1400 users across the world, including 121 Indian journalists,
activists. Last week, they also sought the government’s reply from Prasad if
the government has made unauthorized use of the spyware.
In line with
European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the government had
last year introduced a draft personal data protection bill to regulate the use
of individual’s data by the government and private companies.
The draft bill,
titled The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018, was prepared by a high-level
expert group headed by former Supreme Court judge B.N. Srikrishna. However,
there was delay pertaining to its approval amid inter-ministerial consultation.
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