Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Ashwini Vaishnaw withdrew the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill, 2019 in Parliament on Wednesday. The grounds for the withdrawal were outlined in a message to MPs, which stated that “considering the report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), a comprehensive legal framework is being worked upon. Hence, in the circumstances, it is proposed to withdraw the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 and present a new Bill that fits into the comprehensive legal framework.
Years of work and thought on a law necessary for the safety of every Indian in a digitised society have been negated by the decision.The Bill’s major goal was to protect citizens’ privacy by properly identifying personal data, establishing a Data Protection Authority (DPA), and developing a legislative framework for data use, including by top…
