The Indian government on Wednesday withdrew the 2019 Personal Data Protection Bill, two years and seven months after it was introduced in parliament. The Data Protection Bill is supposed to usher in a new era of data protection and privacy laws in India for Indian citizens as currently there is no general regulation to protect individual privacy, even though the Supreme Court of India has granted the right to privacy as a basic right of citizens.

According to an official statement issued by Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, the Personal Data Protection Bill is being reviewed by the Joint Parliamentary Committee which suggested more than 81 amendments and 12 main recommendations for the bill. It was therefore decided to withdraw the data protection bill completely and work on a new bill summarizing all the amendments suggested by the CPM.

“The Personal Data Protection Bill was withdrawn because the JCP recommended 81 amendments to the 99 parts of the bill. Beyond that, he made 12 top recommendations. Therefore, the bill has been withdrawn and the new bill will be presented for public comment,” Ashwini tweeted last night after announcing the developments.

Nearly 10 years have passed since AP Shah on privacy, 5 years since Puttaswamy’s decision and 4 years since the Srikrishna committee report – all signaling the urgency of data protection laws and surveillance reforms. Every lost day causes more injury and damage. 3/3

—Apar (@apar1984) August 3, 2022

The IT minister also told Reuters the government had started work on a new bill that was “well progressing” and planned to present it during the parliamentary budget session in 2023.

The Personal Data Protection Bill proposes regulations on the processing, storage and transfer of personal data in various sectors and gives users more control over their personal data. This has raised concerns with Big Tech companies like Google, Meta and many others, as it can lead to increased costs due to conditions such as data localization. Meanwhile privacy advocates are concerned about the powers it gives the central government, such as provisions to exempt government agencies from data protection laws in the interest of national security.

It remains to be seen how the new data protection bill will take shape and whether it will be strong enough to protect the privacy of more than 1.38 billion people.

About me: Siddharth reports on gadgets, technology and sometimes you’ll find him testing the latest smartphones on Digit. However, his love affair with technology and futurism goes far beyond that, to the intersection of technology and culture.
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