Questions arise on Digital India Act, other tech regulations in coalition govt

livemint.com:

Mint in November. Now, two senior policy officials who work closely with Meity told Mint that the Act itself could be revised and replaced by an entirely new regulatory approach.Prioritization of tech policy, as a result, remains a concern.

One of the two senior policy officials who work closely with Meity said that “it will depend entirely upon the incumbent cabinet minister for IT, and their personal interest in it, to bring tech legislation to the fore—at present, this looks unlikely, and this does not spell confidence for the DIA."Policy consultants also raised concerns around how this may impact the future of India’s tech ecosystem. Isha Suri, research lead for technology and telecommunications at policy think-tank Centre for Internet and Society, said, “It is definitely an encouraging prospect to have substantial opposition in Parliament.

The previous government went through multiple tech and telecom policies, but left much to be desired in the actual implementation of what the impact of these policies on the ground could be. For instance, the Telecommunications Act, 2023 saw the previous government promise to replace the previously draconian laws in the telecom space, but questions have been raised in terms of the on-ground impact and implementation of this Bill."“Similarly, the impact of the Digital Personal Data Privacy Act, 2023 remains yet to be seen as its rules are yet to be notified.

This remains pending for the next government, and it will be crucial for the opposition to raise a strong voice of concern against unchecked powers of surveillance that the previous government afforded itself. All of this can potentially change, but it is unclear how important tech policy itself will be in the next term," Suri