Roundtable Discussion in progress |
The Supreme Court’s ruling of ‘Right to Privacy’ as a
fundamental right formed the basic premise for an effective data privacy
mechanism. In order to ensure a secure digital future focusing on empowerment
and equal access for all citizens, it is imperative to address the regulatory
concerns and ensure protection to personal data from the evolving risks of a
data based economy.
India is close to having its own data protection law
with the draft Personal Data Protection Bill which will be a significant step
towards the protection of data privacy. Recently, the
Expert Committee headed by retired Justice Srikrishna convened to draft a
personal data protection Bill, which is expected to be tabled in the Parliament.
Although the new Bill is set have serious implications for technology and
digital services companies that do business in India, it aims to create a “big
data-ready” framework.
In this context, a roundtable discussion on “Personal Data in the Digital Economy: Rights
& Safeguards” was organized by the Governance & Public
Policy Initiative-Centre for Policy Research (GPPI-CPR) on 13 December, 2018. The discussion was chaired
and moderated by Prof Rajeev Gowda (MP, Rajya Sabha). Participants included a
multi-party group of Members of Parliament representing both Houses as well as
political leaders. Three specialists analysed and explained the details of the
draft Bill through their presentations.