In the new privacy bill it is considering, the government may decide against including a plan to establish a centralised data protection authority (DPA). The Personal Data Protection Bill, which the government withdrew earlier this month in response to harsh criticism from privacy groups and technology businesses, included the DPA concept.
According to the Hindustan Times, the government plans to replace the DPA with a grievance redressal system for aggrieved individuals. The report quoted a government official as saying, “A lot of the functions that were assigned to DPA were outside of its remit; the collection, storage, and sharing of personal data will either be worked into the law itself or be included in the rules that will be made under the law.”
The official stated that the government does not want to overburden a single authority or increase small enterprises’ compliance costs.
