Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that the ministry of electronics and information technology will soon release the rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 available for consultation. The ministry's goal to bring in large-scale manufacturing of electronics, components, and semiconductors remains unchanged. The DPDP Rules, he stated, are of the utmost importance, “AI is also a very important item. But first, we have to make sure that DPDP in its digital form comes into shape”.
The minister noted that the entire implementation process will be digital by design. Under the DPDP law, a Data Protection Board will function as a “digital office” to deal with issues related to personal data breaches in a “digital by design” manner. Similarly, an appellate tribunal, to which complaints can be escalated if they are not satisfactorily resolved by the Board, will also be a “digital office”.
The digital platform for the Data Protection Board is being built parallelly within MeitY, Vaishnaw said, adding it will be created by National Information Centre and/or Digital India Corporation.
“In parallel, we are working on creating the digital by design platform so that the implementation can be done in a digital form, which is a part of the Act. … It will be born digital. That exercise is also going on in parallel.”He, however, refused to share any timelines, but said the draft rules have made “good progress”.
“I reviewed it after four months and I was quite happy with the draft that was shown to me,” the minister said, adding lots of changes would be made to the draft rules based on inputs from the industry, stakeholders, lawyers, consultants, user groups, Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) and government organisations. “We will take all the views.”
Vaishnaw has had at least one meeting within MeitY on DPDP rules since reassuming office on June 11. The then minister of state, MeitY, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, had held a consultation with the industry on the draft rules in December 2023.
Stressing that DPDP rules are the priority right now, Vaishnaw said the overall aim of the government to create a new digital regulatory framework “remains intact”. “Our thought process of creating a new digital regulatory framework remains intact. The horizontals — which are the Telecom Act, the DPDP Act, the Digital India Act 3 remain intact,” he said.
The IndiaAI Mission, which was approved by the Cabinet in March with an outlay of ₹10,371.92 crore, remains on track, he said, adding officials continued to work on it during the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. “I will be reviewing it next week and then I will be able to give you more details,” he said.
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