Govt to bring Data Protection Law to secure nation's strategic asset: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Union Law and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday asserted that the country will not tolerate 'Data Imperialism' and that the Centre will soon bring out a data protection law. The IT Minister affirmed that the government will never compromise on the sovereignty of the data. Prasad also informed that a select committee of the Parliament is already examining the matter. 

Speaking at a virtual lecture, the Union Minister said, "Data is a nation's asset. This great asset of data has to be properly used, processed and value-added for healthcare, agriculture and education. Therefore, not only data ownership but also data sovereignty becomes important."

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

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The Union Minister has been firm on his resolution to protect the data of citizens. Prasad had also lauded the Centre's ban on 59 Chinese mobile apps recently on grounds of security and termed it as a 'Digital Strike' on neighbouring China. 

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Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019

The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 was introduced in Parliament in December last year. The Bill seeks to provide for the protection of personal data of individuals, create a framework for processing such personal data, and establishes a Data Protection Authority for the purpose. At present, the usage and transfer of personal data of citizens is regulated by the  Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2011, under the IT Act, 2000. The Personal Data Protection Bill aims at regulating personal data related to individuals, and the processing, collection and storage of data.

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