Hope data protection law is in place in next few months: MoS IT

Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday said he hopes that the personal data protection law might be in place in the next few months and the Joint Parliamentary Committee may place the Bill during the upcoming session of the Parliament.

He said the Supreme Court has held that privacy is a fundamental right and the government is committed to protecting the fundamental rights of every citizen.

"That is the property of the Joint Parliamentary Committee and I hope in the next few months it becomes a law. Once that law is in place and a data protection authority is in place, an important architecture the governance architecture will fall in place," Chandrasekhar told reporters.

He was responding to a query on the Personal Data Protection Bill on the sidelines of India Internet Governance Forum curtain raiser event.

He said the data protection law establishes the rule of the internet for data intermediaries.

When asked when the Bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament, Chandrasekhar said, "It is not in my power. It is with JPC and I hope they submit it before the winter session."

The minister also shared that the government is hosting a big event on semiconductor industry where large companies, investors and other stakeholders are being invited where discussion around electronics chips will be held.

During the event, Chandrasekhar said India is one of the largest connected nations and also largest unconnected, with 40 crore people still not connected to the internet.

"We need to bridge this gap," the minister said.

He said that as a member of Parliament, he had put pressure on the previous government in 2010-11 to withdraw the stance of India to move the internet governance regime under the United Nations in 2010-11.

"There was an attempt by the then government along with its then close friend China to move governance of the internet to the United Nations.

"It was envisaged at that time in some dark room in Delhi or Beijing that a group of global bureaucrats will meet once and twice a year and decide the future and direction of the internet," Chandrasekhar said.

The minister also said he supports the multi-stakeholders model that continues to govern the internet at present.

At the event, Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG) Chairman Ajay Data said there is a need to ensure that government systems and companies in India start supporting e-mail communications in Indian language scripts but it is not being adopted widely at present.

India Internet Governance Forum chair and NIXI CEO Anil Kumar Jain said the internet for the people of India is a multilingual internet because only 15 per cent of people in the country speak in English.

"IDN is available in 22 languages, which is the highest in the world and an e-mail service is also available in all 22 languages. Now, the time is to populate it and increase its adoption," Jain said.

Chandrasekhar said that enhancing the adoption of internet services in local languages is a high-priority area for the government.