The contentious bill was tabled for discussion in the monsoon session of the parliament this year, along with 32 other bills.
In December 2019, the Ministry of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) introduced the draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 before the Parliament, which was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for further consideration. After carrying out a series of consultations with stakeholders, in December 2021, the JPC published its 256-page report, proposing 81 amendments to the 2019 bill along with the finalized Data Protection Bill 2021.
The Bill applied to the processing of both personal and non-personal data that has been collected, disclosed, shared, or processed in India, or to the processing of personal data by the government or government bodies, Indian corporate entities, and Indian citizens. Personal data was defined as data about or relating to a natural person who is directly or indirectly identifiable, having regard to a feature of identity or a combination of such features, and also includes inferences drawn from such data for the purpose of profiling.
In 2017, the Supreme Court declared personal data a fundamental right and directed the government to come out with a bill that protects the personal data of individuals. Following this in 2018, a committee headed by former Supreme Court Judge BN Srikrishna proposed the first draft of the data protection bill.
Several non-profit organizations, activists and politicians have contested the bill citing that it favors the government.
