ILNU Holds Foundation Day Celebration And Panel Discussion On Data Protection

Institute of Law, Nirma University organized its 11^th foundation day celebration on 18^th August 2018. A Panel Discussion on the theme ‘The Relevancy of Personal Data and its Protection in the Digital Age, Addressing Challenges to Individuals Privacy’ was organized as a part of the celebrations.

The welcome address delivered by Dr. (Prof.) Purvi Pokhariyal (Director and Dean ILNU) that expressed gratitude towards Chief Guest of program Hon’ble Mr. Justice N.V. Anjaria (Judge, High Court of Gujarat) and Guest of Honor Shri D.P. Chhaya (hon. Advisor (A&GA), Nirma University) and Shri K. K. Patel (Vice President, Nirma University).

The panel discussion included Dr. Arghya Sengupta, Research Director, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, New Delhi; Mrs. Anjali Bhardwaj, Co-Convenor, National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, New Delhi and speaker Mr. Srijan Pal Singh Founder, Kalam Centre and Cyber Law Expert, New Delhi. The panel discussion revolved around Data Protection Bill, as well as Justice B.N. Sri Krishna Committee report on data protection.

The first speaker commented on how human beings had been treated as a subject till now standing at the mercy of some big corporations in California. Further, he stated that social media platforms have gated us as a community in last 20 years. Addressing the problems, he shared his experiences as a member of the Committee and advocated for a fiduciary relationship rather than data ownership.

The second speaker discussed the current Right to Information structure where the government at times withholds information in the name of secrecy. The third speaker stated that government can hold information for a certain time, subject to permission. The true right to privacy meaning always includes the right to be forgotten, which is not the current scenario as most of the social media platforms have only a deactivation policy but not deletion of the information.

Pursuant to questions from the students, a vote of thanks was delivered by Dr. Pranav Saraswat.