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The Wire
30-07-2025
- Politics
- The Wire
'Excessive Centralisation of Power': Lawyers, Activists, Journalists, MPs Express Fear Over DPDP Act
Law The organisers said that if the DPDP Act is enacted in its current form, activists, journalists, lawyers, political parties and organisations 'will become 'data fiduciaries' under the law'. New Delhi: A group of representatives from social movements, campaigns, civil society organisations, and including senior lawyers, retired judges, journalists, media and parliamentarians met for a day-long consultation on the implications of the controversial Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023. The meeting was organised by the Roll Back RTI Amendments Campaign (comprising the National Campaign for Peoples' Right to Information (NCPRI) and 30+ campaigns and groups) and Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR). The DPDP Act, the draft rules of which were notified in January this year, could curtail the freedom of the press and people's right to information, many have said, as it vests excessive powers in the Union government. Last week, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology told the parliament that The draft rules received 6,915 inputs and comments from the public, firms and other stakeholders, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MP Vaddiraju Ravichandra. In a press release, the organisers expressed that the DPDP Act can have a chilling impact on activists, journalists, lawyers, political parties, groups and organisations 'who collect, analyse and disseminate critical information as they will become 'data fiduciaries' under the law'. 'The excessive centralisation of power in the central government, including the constitution of a government-controlled Data Protection Board with powers to levy penalties of up to 250 crore (which can be doubled up to Rs. 500 crore), raises concerns about the weaponisation of this law against those seeking accountability,' they said. The meeting was attended by Justice Madan Lokur, Justice Rekha Sharma, senior lawyers and advocates CU Singh, Prashanto Sen, Prashant Bhushan, Huzefa Ahmadi, Trideep Pais, Nitya Ramakrishnan, Nizam Pasha, Ritwick Dutta, Sarim Naved, Gautam Bhatia, Apar Gupta, Suroor Mander, Soutik Banerjee, Cheryl D'Souza and Shahrukh Alam. Also read: Media Under Attack: India's New Data Protection Law Senior journalists, the President of the Editor's Guild of India and the President and Vice-President of the Press Club of India also spoke of its impact on media and investigative reporting, while MPs including V. Sivadasm (CPIM), Raja Ram Singh (CPIML) and Rajkumar Raut (BAP) also joined the session. Representatives of various campaigns and social movements including the Right to Food Campaign, the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, National Federation of Indian Women, Right to Education Campaign, talked about the challenges posed by the DPDP Act and how it will prevent public monitoring and scrutiny. RTI Activists including Anjali Bhardwaj, Nikhil Dey, Commodore Lokesh Batra, Jayaram, Bhaskar Prabhu, Praveer Peter, Amrita Johri and Rakshita Swamy flagged the severe dilution of the RTI Act through the DPDP Act. Economist Jayati Ghosh, former IAS officers and members of the Constitutional Conduct Group and Yashovardhan Azad, former Information Commissioner, CIC also attended the meeting. There was consensus that the DPDP Act, in its current form, is extremely problematic and the press release also stated that 'using the smoke screen of privacy and data protection, the government is diluting crucial rights'. Journalist bodies including the Editor's Guild of India and Press Club of India have earlier expressed fear that this law could end exposed corruption and silence whistleblowers, fundamentally altering India's media landscape. The issue also comes up as another significant threat has emerged regarding the weakening of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, due to an amendment brought through Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act, 2023. Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act amends the Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act by allowing government bodies to simply withhold 'personal information' without the safeguard provisions on public interest or other such exceptions. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
The Hindu
25-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Draft data protection rules have received almost 7,000 comments: IT Ministry
The draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, have received 6,915 inputs and comments from the public, firms, and other stakeholders, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology told Parliament on Friday (July 25, 2025). The Ministry was responding to a query by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MP Vaddiraju Ravichandra. The volume of comments reflects the back-to-back consultation sessions the government has held since the draft was published in January, with a lengthy written comment period, as well as sessions with State governments, private industry, and other groups of invited stakeholders. The comments are being held in confidence, the Ministry said, indicating it would not release them publicly in order to allow stakeholders to offer candid submissions. Long delay The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, enacted over two years ago, cannot come into effect until the DPDP Rules are notified. Almost seven months on, the government has long exceeded the weeks-long timeline that was indicated for the notification. The draft is not likely to be modified significantly, a key official had said in February. However, as India and the U.S. negotiate a bilateral trade agreement, with a major focus on the ease of doing business in India for technology firms, the government has held off on publishing the final Rules. In an informal interaction with reporters this month, a senior IT Ministry official declined to provide any reasons for the delay, or to provide an estimate of when the Rules can be expected to be enforced. Consent managers The DPDP Rules (and the parent Act) provide for penalties against firms that fail to take effective measures to safeguard personal information. They also put in place systems like consent managers, whereby individuals can keep watch on which firms have their data, and provide or withdraw consent for some of them. The Act draws out exclusions from penalties and key provisions for government agencies. The law's implementation has been awaited among privacy advocates, who hope that frequent data breaches will finally be met with accountability. The law has also drawn criticism from journalism bodies and transparency activists as it contains no provisions for protecting journalistic work, and amends the Right to Information Act, 2005 to prevent the disclosure of any personal information that is not already published proactively under the law.
Hans India
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
Stung by govt's PPP, BRS MP walks out of all-party meeting
Hyderabad: BRS Parliamentary Party Deputy Leader Vaddiraju Ravichandra on Wednesday announced his boycott of the state government's power point presentation, alleging it was organised with 'political malice.' The BRS leader had initially attended the presentation delivered by Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy at the Secretariat. However, Vaddiraju Ravichandra walked out of the meeting in protest against what he termed the Congress government's 'political malfeasance' in organising a Public Private Partnership (PPP) on the Godavari-Banakacherla linkage project. MP Ravichandra unequivocally stated that undertaking this project is illegal and unjust, and that his party strongly opposes it. He urged the state government to strongly voice its case before the Centre on behalf of the people of Telangana, opposing this project proposal and calling for its immediate cancellation. Mr Ravichandra, who exited the meeting expressing strong objection to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's accusations against KCR without considering BRS's suggestions and recommendations, said that as per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, if a state undertakes a new project, it must discuss the project details in the Apex Council and obtain approval. Ravichandra expressed regret that the Centre has taken steps to grant project approvals without convening an Apex Council meeting to discuss these actions taken by the Andhra Pradesh government in violation of the Reorganisation Act. 'We request the Chief Minister to write a letter to the Central Water Resources Department to immediately convene an Apex Council meeting. These issues that are hurting the interests of Telangana should be taken to Delhi soon,' said Ravichandra. He further urged the government to convene a special Assembly session where a unanimous resolution should be passed to stop the Polavaram Banakacherla project and sent to the Centre. BRS leaders K Kishore Goud, B Ramamurthy, J Jagan Mohan and others were also present.
Hans India
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
MP Vaddiraju flags off ‘Chalo Warangal' posse
Kothagudem: BRS Parliamentary Party Deputy Leader and Rajya Sabha member Vaddiraju Ravichandra flagged off the buses for the BRS party's silver jubilee meeting on Sunday. The MP flagged off the buses filled with BRS leaders and activists near Bayyaram in Illandu constituency in the district. On this occasion, former MLA Haripriya Nayak, former chairman of district Library Association Dindigala Rajender, and other prominent figures raised slogans like 'Jai Telangana Jai Jai Telangana,' 'Zindabad Zindabad BRS Zindabad,' 'Vardhillalli Vardhillalli KCR garu's leadership should flourish,', and others.
