India Has Approved A Fresh Digital Personal Data Protection Bill (Dpdpb) That Prioritizes The Privacy Of Users

Today India become 5th largest Economy in the world, as well India is the top service-based economy after Modi become prime minister of India little bit more booster of the Indian economy and focused of the become independent of all sectors, but after govt implement the digital India we are facing data privacy theft and we are unable to stop this crime as well we are not prepared amendment bill also. But now Indian president Draupadi Murmur on 11th Aug 2023 granted assent to the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill (DPDPB) after it was passed by Lok Sabha and rajya sabha last week, one of the boldest steps taken by govt of India for securing people's information.

 

"This bill provides for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognizes both the right of individuals to protect their data and the need to process such personal data for lawful purposes and matters connected therewith or incidental thereto," the government of India told.

 

This bill defines the collection of data online and offline (Personal data) which is required only for the lawful purpose of an individual and only stores what is necessary for the properly defined.

         
This bill was initiated in 2018 and same as year July 2018 first draft is released continuous updates of this bill five years later ministry of Electronics and information technology (Meity) released a draft version of the bill in Nov 2022.

 

According to the government's statement, the bill prohibits any form of processing that could harm the well-being of children or includes activities like tracking, behavioral monitoring, or targeted advertising involving them.

 

Subject to obtaining the consent of the Data Principal, the Data Fiduciary is authorized to share, transfer, or transmit personal data to any other Data Fiduciary. Additionally, the Data Fiduciary can enlist the services of a Data Processor to handle personal data on its behalf, provided there is a valid contract in place. This Data Processor may, if allowed by its contract with the Data Fiduciary, involve another Data Processor in the data processing activities, again contingent on a valid contract being established.

                        
By the DPDP Act, a Data Protection Board (DPB) is mandated to be formed, consisting of members selected by the government. Their role involves addressing complaints, probing data breaches, and imposing fines, considering factors such as the gravity, duration, and frequency of such incidents.

 

The Board is empowered to seek assistance from police officers or officials of the Central Government or State Government as needed for the implementation of this section. These officers must comply with such requests for assistance.

 

For employment-related objectives, encompassing the prevention of corporate espionage, safeguarding trade secrets, intellectual property, and classified data, as well as matters like recruitment, employment termination, provision of services or benefits requested by employee Data Principals, attendance verification, and performance evaluation.

 

Unlike the previous version of the bill, there is now a more lenient approach. Companies dealing with personal data are permitted to transfer it to any foreign country for processing unless expressly forbidden by the central government. In contrast, the prior version only permitted cross-border data transfers to a defined list of countries and territories.

 

Entities that mishandle or inadequately protect individuals' digital information or neglect to inform the DPB about a breach could be subject to fines of up to ₹250 crore ($30.1 million). The rulings of the board can be contested and brought before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal for re-evaluation within a span of 60 days.

 

DPDPB 2023 act is not sufficient to safeguard our personal data privacy and we hope that it will upgrade coming days in India.  

For more study refer to this link: https://www.meity.gov.in/writereaddata/files/Digital%20Personal%20Data%20Protection%20Act%202023.pdf

Content By: Vybhav B N

Email ID: vybhavbn1994@gmail.com