Centre tables Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 in Lok Sabha

Union Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tabled the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 in Lok Sabha on Thursday.

Opposition members AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, TMC MP Saugata Roy and Congress MP Manish Tewari strongly opposed the introduction of the bill and said that the bill violates the fundamental right to privacy. They demanded that the bill should be sent to the standing committee for scrutiny. They said the government had withdrawn a bill on data protection last year and the new bill needs more scrutiny.

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the issue of Right to Privacy was involved and the government should not rush with the bill.


Vaishnaw said that it is not a money bill and all issues raised by the opposition will be answered during the debate.

The bill provides for the processing of digital personal data in a manner “that recognises both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process such personal data for lawful purposes”.

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury demanded for the bill to be sent to a standing committee or any other forum for discussion saying it will trampled upon the Right to Information Act and the Right to Privacy.

The Digital Personal Data Protection bill, 2023, may give advisory powers to the Data Protection Board (DPB) to recommend to the Centre to either have content taken down, or intermediary access blocked in “public interest.” This is if the board notices two or more instances of rule breaches by a platform, official sources told ET earlier.

(With inputs from ANI)