Data nation's asset; must be secured: IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

Data is a nation's asset and it should be utilised properly for achieving prosperity, especially in sectors like healthcare, agriculture and education, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Pras said on Saturday. He also said that keeping this in mind, government has brought a data protection law which is being examined by select committee of Parliament.

Observing that data must be secured, Pras said government h in first week of December last year approved Personal Data Protection Bill that will spell out a framework for handling of personal data, including its processing by public and private entities.

Pras, who holds Law and Justice, Electronics and Information Techlogy and Communications portfolios, was delivering Late Thakur Pras Centenary Memorial Lecture on "Data Privacy, Data Security and Data Sovereignty".

programme was organised by an organisation called Aatma Bodh. Late Thakur Pras, a veteran Jan Sangh leer who served as a minister in Bihar in 1977, is far of minister.

"Data is a nation's asset. This great asset of data has to be properly used, processed and value ded for healthcare, agriculture and education. refore, t only data ownership but also data sovereignty becomes important," Union minister said.

"If data is a good asset it must be secured and vested into sovereign power of a country. refore, we have brought data protection law which is being examined by select committee of Parliament," Pras said.

He said that Digital India today has become a transformative programme whereby common Indians are getting empowered through techlogy.

"great JAM trinity- Jan Dhan, Ahaar and Mobile - has led to transformation in governance," he said.

central government has transferred close to Rs 11 lakh crore directly into bank accounts of poor under direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme and saved Rs 1.70 lakh crore which used to be pocketed by fake beneficiaries and middle men, Pras said.

A digital ecosystem generates a lot of data and vast size and population of India with 120 crore plus mobile phones and nearly 70 crore plus internet users have become a new tool in hands of common man, he said.

Union minister said that Ahaar itself undertakes three crore auntications every day.

Platforms like e-scholarship, e-hospitals, soil health card, GSTN, UPI, Ayushman Bharat are all game changing programmes which have improved governance and delivery, Pras ded.

Prominent among those who spoke on occasion included Patna High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Karol, former Supreme Court Judge and Chairman of Press Council of India Justice C K Pras, retired Chief Justice of J&K and Rajasthan High Court Justice S N Jha, former Jharkhand HC judge and judicial member of National Company Law Tribunal Ananth Vijay Singh.

y recalled Thakur Pras as a prominent public figure and a well-kwn senior lawyer of Patna High Court.

speakers also highlighted late leer's commitment to hard work, integrity and commitment to ideology. 

Im credits: PTI