In A First In India's Legislative History, Digital Personal Data Protection Bill Uses 'Her' & 'She' To Refer To Individuals

Section 3(3), Interpretation Clause of the Bill states that the pronouns "her" and "she" have been used for individuals, irrespective of gender.

"For the first time in India's legislative history, "her" and "she" have been used to refer to individuals irrespective of gender. This is in line with the government's philosophy of empowering women," the explanatory note issued by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology said.

The note also said that the bill has been drafted in plain and simple language so a person with basic understanding of law can understand it.

"We have attempted in the philosophy of women's empowerment that Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji's government works to use the words she and her in the entire bill, instead of he, him and his. So this is an innovative thing which has been attempted in the bill," the Minister of Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw told the media.

The proposed legislation aims to provide for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognises the right of individuals to protect their personal data, the need to process personal data for lawful purposes and for other incidental purposes.

According to the ministry, to enable correction, update, completion and also erasure of personal data where it's no longer needed, specific provision in the nature of a right has been included in the Bill.

"Right to file complaint with Data Fiduciary and right to file grievance with Data Protection Board in case of lack of response or unsatisfactory response has been specified in the Bill," the ministry said.

The ministry also said that since cross-border interactions are a defining characteristic of today's interconnected world, "it has been provided in the Bill that personal data may be transferred to certain notified countries and territories. An assessment of relevant factors by Central Government would precede such a notification."

The government uploaded the draft Bill for public consultation on Friday, more than three months after it withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 from the Lok Sabha in August. A Joint Committee of the Parliament had suggested 81 amendments to the Bill of 2019.

The new Bill has been drafted taking into account the discussion and debates on the PDPB, 2019.

"Taking into account these consultations and deliberations, the Government of India has now prepared a draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 ("Bill"). The current draft of the Bill carries forward the understanding that emerged during consultation with stakeholders in the process of drafting the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019," the ministry said.

It added that the government considered the global best practices, including review of the personal data protection legislations of Singapore, Australia, European Union and prospective federal legislation of the United States of America. "The Government has also considered our 1 trillion-dollar Digital Economy goals and the rapidly growing innovation and startup eco-system," according to the note issued by the ministry

The last date to submit feedback on the bill is December 17, 2022. The feedback may be submitted here.