{"id":38162,"date":"2023-11-15T09:02:40","date_gmt":"2023-11-15T03:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=38162"},"modified":"2025-04-23T08:25:37","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T02:55:37","slug":"digital-india-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/digital-india-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital India Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in Today\u2019s Article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>Need for the Digital India Bill<\/li>\n<li>Key Provisions of the Digital India Bill<\/li>\n<li>Significance of the Digital India Bill<\/li>\n<li>The Challenges to Implementing Digital India Bill<\/li>\n<li>News Summary Regarding Centre\u2019s Plan to Access Anonymised Data of Big Tech Firms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in News?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Under the upcoming Digital India Bill, the Centre (MeitY) is considering issuing a directive to big tech companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon to share anonymised personal data in their possession with a government-backed database.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Need for the Digital India Bill<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Bill will replace the two\u00ad decade\u00ad old Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act).\n<ul>\n<li>The IT Act was crafted during a time when the internet was in its infancy, and has struggled to keep pace with the rapid changes in technology and user behaviour.<\/li>\n<li>Since its inception, India\u2019s internet user base has exploded from a mere 5.5 million to a staggering 850 million.<\/li>\n<li>The nature of internet usage has also evolved, with the emergence of various intermediaries and the proliferation of new forms of user harm, such as cyberstalking, trolling and doxing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Bill recognises these changes and aims to provide a comprehensive legal framework to address them.<\/li>\n<li>It is designed to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the dramatic growth of the internet and emerging technologies.<\/li>\n<li>The primary motivation behind the Bill is to bring India\u2019s regulatory landscape in sync with the digital revolution of the 21st century.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Key Provisions of the Digital India Bill<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/media\/editor_images\/2023\/11\/15\/13\/30\/35\/65547aa36ea81070f246a2ac_OI.PNG\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Bill is a key part of a comprehensive legal framework which encompasses various legislative measures such as\n<ul>\n<li>The recently-notified Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023<\/li>\n<li>The draft Indian Telecommunication Bill 2022, and<\/li>\n<li>A policy addressing the governance of non-personal data.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Bill places a strong emphasis on online safety and trust, with a commitment to safeguarding citizen\u2019s rights in the digital realm while remaining adaptable to shifting market dynamics and international legal principles.<\/li>\n<li>It recognises the growing importance of new age technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain and provides guidelines for their responsible utilisation.<\/li>\n<li>It upholds the concept of an open internet, striking a balance between accessibility and necessary regulations to maintain order and protect users.<\/li>\n<li>It mandates stringent Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements for wearable devices, accompanied by criminal law sanctions.<\/li>\n<li>It contemplates a review of the \u201csafe harbour\u201d principle, which presently shields online platforms from liability related to user generated content, indicating a potential shift in online accountability standards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Significance of the Digital India Bill<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The provisions underscore the proposed Bill\u2019s commitment in addressing the complexities of the digital age.<\/li>\n<li>It aims to not only encourage the adoption of the new age technologies but also to ensure that their deployment is in line with ethical-legal principles, data privacy principles and mechanisms for accountability.<\/li>\n<li>This means that the Bill does not just leave it to the market to dictate the course of these technologies but actively engages in shaping their development and use within a regulatory framework.<\/li>\n<li>And by doing so, the Bill strikes a balance between fostering innovation and safeguarding against potential harms.<\/li>\n<li>This forward-looking stance is not only beneficial for citizens and businesses but also positions India as a responsible player in the global technology landscape &#8211; harnessing the full potential of new age technologies while mitigating associated risks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The Challenges to Implementing Digital India Bill<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Potential impact on innovation and the ease of doing business: Stricter regulations, particularly in emerging technologies, could inadvertently stifle entrepreneurial initiatives and deter foreign investments.<\/li>\n<li>The review of the \u201csafe harbour\u201d principle: It could lead to a more cautious approach among these platforms, possibly impinging on freedom of expression.<\/li>\n<li>Challenges to effective enforcement: This will require substantial resources, expertise, and infrastructure.<\/li>\n<li>Balancing the interests of various stakeholders: Including tech giants, while ensuring the protection of citizen rights, poses a significant challenge.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>News Summary Regarding Centre\u2019s Plan to Access Anonymised Data of Big Tech Firms<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In its most basic form, anonymised personal data\/ non-personal data is any data set that does not contain personally identifiable information.\n<ul>\n<li>It could include aggregated information, such as the overall health data of a particular demography, weather and climate data of an area, and traffic data, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Under the upcoming Digital India Bill, the IT Ministry is understood to have added a provision which will mandate big tech companies to deposit all the non-personal data they hold to the India datasets platform.<\/li>\n<li>The move, if finalised, could see these companies claim intellectual property rights over such data, and initiate discussions around the ownership of such data.<\/li>\n<li>The government has long been interested in this issue since such datasets form the bedrock of artificial intelligence (AI) models in India by providing a \u201crobust foundation\u201d for data-driven innovation and development.<\/li>\n<li>Non-personal data held by the Indian datasets platform could also be monetised.<\/li>\n<li>The Centre\u2019s idea is that big tech companies have reaped dividends by building algorithms on the basis of Indians\u2019 non-personal data, and that they cannot claim exclusive ownership over it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1) Why was the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 enacted?<\/h3>\n<p>The Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023\u00a0seeks to empower individuals to take control of their personal data and to support organisations with their lawful processing of personal data.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Q2) What is the purpose of the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill 2022?<\/h3>\n<p>The Indian Telecommunication Bill 2022 provides that the central government will have exclusive privilege over establishing telecommunication networks and providing telecommunication services. The central government may issue a licence for these activities to private persons.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/centre-considers-seeking-access-to-anonymised-data-of-big-tech-firms-9026951\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Centre considers seeking access to anonymised data of big tech firms<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The primary motivation behind the Digital India Bill is to bring India\u2019s regulatory landscape in sync with the digital revolution of the 21st century<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":38163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-38162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}