Digital Personal Data Protection Bill passes the Lok Sabha floor

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Lok Sabha Monday passed the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill by a voice vote amid some slogan-shouting by Opposition members seeking a debate on the Manipur issue. On Monday, the bill was presented for passing and consideration by Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who said that the DPDP will safeguard the digital personal data of 1.4 billion citizens. The passage of the bill in the lower house brings India on the penultimate step of the country finally having its own digital data privacy law.

The bill will now be presented for consideration and passing in the Rajya Sabha, following which it will be sent to the President for her assent and then be notified as a law. “Today, about 90 crore (900 million) Indians are connected to the internet. Even the smallest of villages are connected.

In such a connected world, this bill has been brought to protect the rights, ensure safety and privacy of citizens,” Vaishnaw said, while presenting the bill for consideration and passing in the Lok Sabha. The bill, he said, had been discussed in several forums including the Joint Parliamentary Committee and the Parliamentary Standing Committee, over the years and then been presented before the house. The bill, Vaishnaw said, relied on the principles of legality, purpose and storage limitation, data minimisation, accuracy, reasonable safeguards, and accountability.