6 January 2025 : PIB Summary For UPSC

1. Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules

(Source – https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=2090271&reg=3&lang=1 )

Topic: GS2 – Governance

Context

The draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules aim to safeguard citizens’ data rights while balancing regulation and innovation in India’s digital economy.

Introduction

• The draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules aim to safeguard citizens’ rights regarding the protection of personal data.
• These rules operationalize the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) and aim to strike a balance between regulation and innovation to support India’s growing digital economy.
• They also address challenges such as unauthorized data use, digital harms, and personal data breaches.

Key Features

• Citizens are placed at the core of the framework, ensuring data fiduciaries provide clear information about data processing to obtain informed consent.
• Empowered with the right to demand data erasure, appoint digital nominees, and access user-friendly data management mechanisms.
• The rules also aim to enhance trust in digital platforms by ensuring rights like informed consent, grievance redressal, and parental control over children’s online safety.

Balance Between Innovation and Regulation

• The rules foster innovation while prioritizing citizen welfare, creating a new global model for data governance.
• Lesser compliance burdens are placed on small businesses and startups, with adequate time for compliance transition.

Digital-First Approach

• The rules embrace a “digital by design” philosophy, ensuring ease of living and business through digital consent mechanisms and grievance redressal.
• The Data Protection Board will function digitally, enabling citizens to lodge complaints without physical presence.

Addressing Stakeholder Concerns

• A pragmatic framework ensures lower compliance for startups and MSMEs, while Significant Data Fiduciaries face stricter obligations.
• The Data Protection Board ensures quick, transparent resolution of complaints, balancing citizen protection and fair adjudication.
• The draft rules reflect global best practices and gather inputs from diverse stakeholders.
• Public feedback is invited until February 18, 2025.

Awareness Initiatives

• The government plans a comprehensive awareness campaign to educate citizens about their rights and responsibilities under the new framework.
• India demonstrates leadership in creating an equitable digital future, ensuring data protection while promoting innovation-driven growth.

PYQ: What are the different elements of cyber security? Keeping in view the challenges in cyber security, examine the extent to which India has successfully developed a comprehensive National Cyber Security Strategy. (UPSC CSE (M) GS-3 2022)

Practice Question:  Discuss the key features of the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2023, and evaluate their potential impact on India’s digital economy. (250 Words /15 marks)

 

For more such UPSC related Current Affairs, Check Out – PIB: January 04, 2025