Data protection bill likely to be delayed

The joint parliamentary committee, which was expected to submit its report on Personal Data Protection Bill in the Budget session, will now get around three more months to submit its report. While the committee was asked to submit its report by the second week of the monsoon session of Parliament, it is now slated to in the second week of the winter session of the Parliament (which usually starts December).

It seeks to regulate the use of an individual’s data by the government and private companies and lays down norms on accountability of entities processing such data. Cleared by the Cabinet in December 2019, the bill has been criticized mainly on the grounds that it gives unlimited power to the Centre.

“Since the bill is compassionate (towards the needs of citizens) and other countries are also looking forward to this law, the bill should be discussed by a committee comprising members from both houses of the Parliament,” IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad observed last year.