Controversies Surrounding the Data Protection Bill and Its Effectiveness in Safeguarding Indian Privacy

Nearly 500 days after a draft data protection bill was handed over to Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad, it is likely to finally be tabled in the Winter session of the Parliament. As the Bill makes its way to Parliament, let’s examine why it has been controversial, what the state thinks of privacy as a fundamental right and how it treats data in today’s digital economy.