Members voice concern over bill on personal data collection

NEW DELHI: Members in the Lok Sabha today voiced concern over a bill that proposes to amend the law on the end-use of data collected for statistical purposes, saying there is a possibility of misuse.

The government should say who will be using the data collected, the members said while participating in a debate on the Collection of Statistics (Amendment) Bill 2017 that proposes changes to the 2008 Act.

The bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 20, removes the provision under which the information collected could be used only for statistical purposes.

It allows the central government to determine the manner in which such information, collected by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, will be used.

Also, the earlier Act is not applicable to Jammu and Kashmir and the bill seeks to extend its jurisdiction to the state for the collection of statistics pertaining to subjects under the Union or the Concurrent list of the Constitution.

Criticising the legislation, BJD MP Tathagata Satapthy, said the bill deserves opposition as it gives arbitrary powers to the bureaucracy, which will get acess to sensitive data.

He said those supporting the legislation are unwilling to understand the dangers of the bill.

Satpathy then criticised the government on Aadhaar, saying it is being "dumped on the illiterates of the country".

Quoting an industrialist, he said, "data is the new oil" and by making Aadhaar compulsory, the government was "forcing people to give their data."

Congress member Deepinder Hooda said the government needs to clarify the intent on who will use the data.

"You want to take the data from people and don't want to say where you are going to use it," he said.

He also demanded strong laws to protect data and privacy of individuals on the lines of the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom.

Referring to the government's stand in the Supreme Court on Aadhaar, Hooda said, "The government has accepted that the right to privacy exists, but it cannot be treated as a fundamental right."

BJP MP Sunil Kumar said the bill, if passed, would serve as a foundation for a strong India as it will bring under its ambit the state of Jammu and Kashmir too.