Digital personal data protection among 6 bills to be move in Rajya Sabha today

New Delhi [India]: Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 is among six other Bills listed in Wednesday’s legislative business for consideration and passage.

Other Bills include The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023; The Pharmacy (Amendment) Bill, 2023; The Anusandhan National Research Foundation Bill, 2023; The Coastal Aquaculture Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023; and The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2023.

All these Bills, which were earlier passed by the Lok Sabha, will be moved in the second half of the day.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 7, sets out requirements for firms collecting data online, with exceptions for the government and law enforcement agencies.

The Bill also amends the Right to Information Act, of 2005 to remove public interest exemptions on disclosing personal information. Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw will move the Bill to provide for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognises both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process such personal data for lawful purposes.

The RTI Act currently allows public authorities to disclose personal information, such as officials’ salaries, when it is in the public interest. The Bill would remove these caveats and completely disallow disclosing personal information.

The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023 is the first among all the six listed Bills which will be moved to the Upper House for passage. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar will move the Bill to the House.

The Bill amends the Constitution (Scheduled castes) order 1950 to modify the list of scheduled Castes in the state of Chhattisgarh. The Bill includes Mahara and Mahra communities as synonyms of the Mehra, Mahar, and Mehar communities in Chhattisgarh.  The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 1.

Besides, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandavia is to move the Pharmacy (Amendment) Bill, 2023 to amend the Pharmacy Act, of 1948. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 7. The Bill amends the Pharmacy Act, 1948 which regulates the practice and profession of pharmacy.

Registration under the Pharmacy Act, of 1948 is mandatory to practice pharmacy in India. The Bill looks at the insertion of new section 32C, which provides a special provision relating to persons registered or qualified under the Jammu and Kashmir Pharmacy Act, 2011.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh will move the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Bill, 2023 in the House to establish the Anusandhan National Research Foundation to provide high-level strategic direction for research, innovation and entrepreneurship in the fields of natural sciences including mathematical sciences, engineering and technology, environmental and earth sciences, health and agriculture, and scientific and technological interfaces of humanities and social sciences, to promote, monitor and provide support as required for such research.

The Lok Sabha on August 7 passed the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Bill to set up a national agency to fund research across universities in the country.

Union Minister Parshottam K. Rupala is to move the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in the House to decriminalise the offences committed in carrying out the coastal aquaculture activities and ensure ease of doing business. The Lok Sabha passed the Bill on August 7. The Bill seeks amendment to the Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act, 2005.

Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is scheduled to move the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2023 in the House as the last among the six Bills for its passage.