Indian government to come up with a revised Data Protection Bill and Telecom Bill

• The government has withdrawn the Data Protection Bill 2021.
• A recent tweet from the Ministry of Electronics & IT hints that the new Data Protection Bill is just around the corner.
• 81 amendments were proposed, and 12 recommendations were suggested in Data Protection Bill 2021.

A month after withdrawing the Data Protection Bill, Information and Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the ministry will soon come up with a new version of the Data Protection Bill and Telecom Bill.
Information and Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “We will also be coming up with a new version of the Data Protection Bill; a Digital India Act is also being worked on. We are making the online world more accountable for what is published there.”
Data protection is the most significant issue being debated in public space due to digital transformation and its impact on the public. Because of this, the government has decided to withdraw the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 and develop more comprehensive legislation.
In August 2022, Ashwini Vaishnaw was granted permission to withdraw the bill from the parliament. As per Mr Vaishnaw, the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 was deliberated by the Joint Committee of Parliament (JCP). As per the JCP, 81 amendments were proposed, and 12 recommendations were suggested.
The Joint Committee of Parliament identified many issues in the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 that were beyond the scope of modern digital privacy law. All these flaws and drawbacks acted as a catalysed in eliminating the bill.

New bills to tackle the modern legal framework

Apart from the new Data Protection Bill, there is a new Telecom Bill and the amended IT Act of 2000, which are expected to create a legal framework for India’s digital economy.
Further talking about new bills, the minister said, “the 2019 Bill sought to bring a strong and robust data protection framework for India and to set up an Authority for protecting personal data and empowering the citizens with rights relating to their personal data ensuring their fundamental right to ‘privacy and protection of personal data.” The Bill also sought to create a policy framework for data usage, including by tech giants such as Meta and Google.”
On July 31, 2017, the Indian government constituted a committee on Data Protection, chaired by Justice BN Srikrishna, to analyse the issues relating to data protection. BN Srikrishna examined the issues on data protection and submitted his report on July 27, 2018.
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