Today, the Upper House of the Parliament, passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill. Earlier, the Lok Sabha passed the said bill on 7th August.

The Bill exhibits requirements for collecting online data , with exceptions for the government and law enforcement agencies.

It applies to the processing of digital personal data in India where the personal data is collected in digital form or in non-digital form.

According to the Bill, the personal data can be trasfered after taking the consent and for certain “legitimate uses”.

“Personal data” is defined under the Bill as “any data about an individual who is identifiable by or in relation to such data.”

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the bill lays down obligations on private and governmen entities around collection and processing of citizen's data.

This bill also gave power to the center to exempt government agencies from the application of provisions of the Bill in the interest of specified grounds such as security of the state, public order, and prevention of offences.

The draught Digital Personal Data Protection bill proposes to remove all restrictions on the disclosure of personal information, as well as the powers of Public Information Officers to allow disclosure of such information in the larger public interest.