LS Clears Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023

The Lok Sabha on Monday cleared the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 in spite of ruckus by Opposition parties over the Manipur violence issue.

The government on Thursday tabled the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023 in the Lok Sabha with an aim to protect the privacy of Indian citizens while proposing a penalty of up to Rs 250 crore on entities for misusing or failing to protect the digital data of individuals.

This is India's second attempt at framing a privacy legislation, and comes after at least three previous iterations of a data protection law have been considered, and shelved, by the government. Next, the Bill will have to be passed by the Rajya Sabha before it becomes law.

The bill which comes after six years of the Supreme Court declaring the "Right to Privacy" as a fundamental right has provisions to curb misuse of individuals' data by online platforms.

Earlier, concerns have been raised about potential uncertainties in cross-border data flows and the negative impact on people's rights. The group warned that the bill's provisions could lead to mass surveillance and serious privacy violations.

Some said that the legislation failed to adequately address data protection concerns and instead seemed to facilitate data processing activities of both state and private actors. The organization raised particular concerns about the broadening of exemptions for government instrumentalities, which could potentially enable increased state surveillance.