Data Protection Bill: Is Right to Information in Danger?

KAKALI DAS

The government is keen on bringing the Data Protection Bill in the Parliament. This bill is important for our digital future and the country.

Yet, a red flag is being raised in this regard – through this Data Protection Bill, the government is trying to run their agenda, to reduce its accountability.

The Right to Information (RTI) will too be amended in the process. Earlier, the people were able to extract critical information from the government by the help of RTI. But now, under the provisions of Data Protection Bill, the information that was already less available, will be zero.

What is the Data Protection Bill? Is Right to Information in Danger?

We say India is a democracy, and what separates democracy from any other government forms is the fact that people can question. It is the right of people in democracy to question their governments and ensure they are accountable. In fact, it is not merely a right, but also our duty to keep an eye on the government’s activities and to engage in an informed manner in the governance.

In India, the Right to information Act was introduced in 2005. It has been widely used by the people tremendously to extract information from their governments and ensure that they are operating properly.

Today, the same right to information is being attacked. The government has brought a bill – Data Protection Bill. Its draft was prepared by the government in November 2022 – in which, the Right to Information law is being amended. The right to information law, thus, will certainly be weakened.

There is section 8(1)(J) in the Right to Information Act, 2005 which is amended by the govt. And by amending this section, the government is ensuring that we cannot take any personal information under the law. That is how the RTI law is being enfeebled by the amendment. As per the government, the citizens cannot access personal information under this law, after amending 8(1)(J).

Data Protection Bill: Is Right to Information in Danger?

What is personal information? A person’s name, address, phone number – all those which are a person’s personal information, are called personal data. Now, it is said that we will not be able to access all these data under the law of information – these will all be out of our reach.

Imagine, there are a ton of public sector banks in our country that grant loans worth billions to big capitalists. And there are countless people, companies, who take these loans and run away. The banks, then, write off these loans, forgive these as bad loans. But, on the contrary, suppose, a small farmer takes a loan of a few thousand rupees from somewhere, can he run away?

Will public sector bank forgive our loan worth thousands or lakhs of rupees, in the same manner as it does with the capitalists? No. Never. So, isn’t it our right to know who are those people running away with our money, their names etc.? In 2022-23 alone, banks wrote off bad loans worth 2 lakh crore rupees. So, don’t we need such information in the country, in the democracy?

Similarly, our political parties receive a lot of funds especially during the time of election. And, it is obvious, that a party will work for those who fund it. Thus, don’t we have the right to know who shelled out money to all the parties during the election? Because if I go and cast my vote, that vote will be of use only when I know who gave money to the party, for whom the party will work after the election, and whom the policies will benefit later!

For the elections to be held properly, in most of the countries, voter lists are made public. What is the information that is in the voters’ list? Name, address, photograph – all are private information. If these voters’ lists were not made public, how would we know if a party used wrongful means like deleting names of voters from the community that may not vote for the party, or adding names to the list. The only way to stop this is to have the right to monitor and stop electoral fraud.

People fight against corruption by using information. The Prime Minister said that India should be a corruption-free country – but how are people fighting corruption? If there is corruption in ration, in pension, then people obtain the required information and file complaints against it – and thus fight against corruption.

If a woman is not getting her ration, then she asks for information – of the record of ration, in which it is written – who is getting ration, how much ration is being given. If there is a theft in MGNREGA – then people go and find out who is on the list, how much salary was given to whom, and in the same way, by exposing corruption, they take back their rights. If all such information stop reaching people, then officials sitting in Delhi cannot stop corruption.

So, now, if this data protection bill is being brought, which will amend the right to information law, then all our information will be out of our reach. There will be a big question whether we can access information or not thereafter.

Another way by which we get information in a democracy – through conducting surveys. Many organisations conduct surveys – asking questions to the people and noting their problems. These organisations mostly work in the villages, and create lists of people who does not have job card, who is not getting ration, etc. RWAs and political parties are responsible for the creation of these lists.

Now, according to the government, if any such institution, individual or body collects personal information of people, then they will be named as data fiduciary.

The government has put all kinds of restrictions and all kinds of obligations under the Data Protection Act. Now, if anyone wants to collect, keep, process and use the information, then a written notice will be required stating the reason as to why he/she is in need of the information. And, a written consent is also necessary to be taken asking if the information can be used for the concerned work, and if there is violation, then complaint can be filed against the inquirer.

How is this Data Protection Bill Dangerous?

The central govt. has stated that who will be judged as data fiduciary will be decided by the central govt. Meaning – the govt. will exclude itself and the crony capitalists who shell out tons of money to the party in power – irrespective of the amount of personal info they have already collected.

And people like you and I, small organizations, political opposition, people who raise their voices, ask questions – will be made data fiduciary – this law will be applied on us.

And, if there is a complaint by any chance, then whom/where is the complaint filed to? Of course, to the Data Protection Board. Now, this Data Protection Board is a government board. The govt. will decide how the selection of the chairperson and the members of the board will be, how it will be removed – the govt. will decide its management – which means that it will be a government board.

And if we notice, the Supreme Court has declared that such boards and institutions should be independent of the government. The government should not be involved in it.

Thus, the Supreme Court can be viewed indicating that the CBI has become a caged parrot, ED is under question for raiding places/people as ordered by the govt. The kind of suspicion and fear that is huge in the country today – is it possible that the data protection board that the govt. is forming has been given the power to impose a fine of up to 500 crores on any data fiduciary who collects and uses private data?

If you raise a question against the government’s policy, even if you are an opposition party, or a civil society – if you collect data and a complaint is filed against you, then the data protection board or the government board can impose a penalty of up to 500 crores on you.

The intention behind this law is crystal clear – the govt. is strongly aware of the fact that information is power. If there is information with people, then it should be with those talking good for the govt. If anybody possesses inconvenient information against the govt., then he/she can be brought to action under this law.

Conclusion

In the end, we are all aware that eternal vigilance is the price of democracy. In any democracy, as long as people do not have access to information, they are not alert, they cannot question – that is not democracy. India can be called a democracy, on the surface, but if people don’t have access to information and they cannot question – what is the point of that democracy?

We, Mahabahu, have always vouched for asking questions to everyone.

Don’t be silent. Your voice, your questions can move mountains. The govt. should be made accountable by your questions on them.

Kakali Das is the Assistant Editor of Mahabahu

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