Digital Personal Data Protection Bill passed in Rajya Sabha

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill by a voice vote that was held after Opposition MPs staged a walkout as no discussion on the Manipur violence was being held.

The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday and bill will become law once it receives the President’s assent.

This was Centre’s second attempt at framing the legislation for data protection, and comes after at least three previous iterations that were considered.

“It would have been good had the opposition discussed the bill today [in the House],” Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Upper House. “But no opposition leader or member is concerned over the rights of the citizens.”

Although Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP John Brittas and V Sivadasan had moved the motion to send the Gill to the select committee, it was not put to vote due to their absence.

The Bill lays down obligations on private and government entities around collection and processing of citizen’s data.

The Bill also requires data fiduciaries to obtain consent for processing a citizen’s personal data as a matter of routine and grants the individual the right to access, correct, erase, port, and restrict their data. It proposes a penalty of...

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