Terming it “misinformation”, the Centre on Tuesday rubbished the claims of the Opposition parties, who are part of the Standing Committee for Information Technology and Communication, that the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill was not referred to them.

The standing committee chaired by Prataprao Jadhav of Shiv Sena, submitted its report in Parliament on Tuesday. The bill is slated to be brought in for passage in the ongoing Monsoon Session.

Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, in an exclusive conversation with News18, said, “The standing committee has taken up the subject of privacy and discussed extensively. The bill was never referred to the committee.”

In recent years, personal data protection issues have gained significant attention in public discussions and debates. “To address these concerns, it is crucial for laws and regulations governing the Internet to be built upon foundational principles of openness, safety, trust, and accountability,” the Committee has said in its report.

“…among the various recommendations made by the committee in its report tabled in Parliament, there has been a very strong recommendation to bring a law in place for privacy urgently,” Vaishnaw told News18.

Minister of State (MoS) Information and Technology (IT) Rajeev Chandrasekhar, in his reply on Twitter, said: “This is misinformation and completely wrong. No bill including the proposed DPDP (Digital Personal Data Protection Bill) can be referred to any committee unless it is done so by Parliament. In turn, the bill can be only referred to committee AFTER the Cabinet-approved bill is introduced in Parliament. DPDP has not been introduced into Parliament AND so question of considering it in committee doesnt arise.”

THE OPPN’s CLAIMS

“The report revolves around the bill that has been approved by the Cabinet, but not introduced in the House or referred to the Committee. This is why Opposition members in the committee staged a walkout over the report prepared before the final bill. Ruling party members in the Committee flouted norms and are in the wrong,” John Brittas, who is a member of the committee, tweeted.

Another member of the panel, Jawahar Sircar from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), tweeted, hitting out at Chandrasekhar, saying , “MoS IT @Rajeev_GoI questions why our IT Parl Standing Comtee discussed Data Protection Bill — says Parliament had not referred it. Go, challenge Chairman— but try to understand concerns of @JohnBrittas @KartiPC @MahuaMoitra @jawharsircar on your Pro-Corporate, pro-DeepState bill.”

Last week, members of the opposition parties, including MPs Karti Chidambaram Mahua Moitra, John Brittas, and Jawahar Sircar, had walked out of the meeting, arguing that their voices were not given any importance, and that ruling party was adopting a report to hold premise for a bill that was approved by the Cabinet, but the committee had no chance to examine it.

After over 21,000 suggestions and consultations with 88 organisations, the DPDP Bill was approved by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government in its cabinet meeting on July 5.