Question : Data Protection Law

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has taken any steps to prevent the falling of supersensitive and personal data into the hands of unscrupulous elements and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Justice Srikrishna Committee on data protection has submitted its report and if so, the details and the major recommendation thereof;
(c) whether the committee has identified thirteen categories of sensitive and personal data and if so, the details thereof;
(d) the steps taken by the Government to protect the same; and
(e) the reasons for delay in enacting law pertaining to data protection?

(a): Yes, Sir. At present the Information Technology Act, 2000 has provisions for protection of sensitive personal data, wherein section 43A provides for privacy and security of Sensitive Personal data. Further, to strengthen the protection of personal data, the Government constituted a committee of experts on data protection, chaired by Justice (Retd.) B.N. Srikrishna, Supreme Court of India to look into all aspects relating to personal data protection. The committee gave its report, along with draft Personal Data Protection Bill on 27th July, 2018.

(b): Yes, Sir. The Report & the Draft Bill of the Srikrishna Committee are available at: https://meity.gov.in/data-protection-framework.

(c): The Committee in the referred draft Bill proposes definitions and short list sensitive personal data under section 3(29) and 3(35) respectively.

(d) and (e): Wide consultations were held on the draft bill and open feedback was solicited on the contents of the bill. These are currently being processed and it is proposed to table the bill in Parliament.

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