What ails Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019?

The 30-member Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill, 2019, headed by BJP MP PP Chaudhary, presented its much-awaited report recommending several changes to the draft bill.

Some of the proposed changes to the Bill include having a single Data Protection Authority (DPA) for personal and non-personal data and provisions for localisation and cross-border flows of data.

MPs including Manish Tewari, Mahua Moitra, Jairam Ramesh and Derek O’Brien gave dissent notes to the committee. Congress MP Manish Tewari rejected the Bill in its entirety, citing an inherent design flaw. 

The contentious Clause 35 highlighted by Tewari gives wide ranging powers to the government to exempt any of its agencies from the purview of the data protection bill for purposes of ‘security of the state’, ‘friendly relations with foreign states’ and ‘public order’.

While the Bill seeks to promote a free and fair digital economy, it increases the compliance burden on startups with its burdensome rules on data storage and transfer.

Panel Chairperson PP Chaudhary has said his panel suggested “enough safeguards” to protect individual privacy but it cannot override national security.

The panel has also recommended that all social media platforms that do not act as intermediaries should be treated as publishers and be held accountable for the content they host.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee’s recommendations are not binding on the government. The Centre has the option to make changes to the draft bill before tabling it in the Parliament. But in its current state the bill may undermine the privacy rights of citizens.

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