India gov’t to propose setting up a separate body for vast data management, draft bill shows

With information being considered the caller oil, India, the world’s second-largest net marketplace aft China, is looking to found a dedicated entity to negociate the information it generates and acceptable up rules and regulations for non-personal and anonymized idiosyncratic data.

The Indian authorities plans to suggest mounting up of a body, called the National Data Management Office, according to a draught Digital India Bill seen by TechCrunch. 

According to the proposal, the caller entity volition beryllium overseen by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and assistance acceptable up rules for information governance successful the country, per the draught proposal, which is yet to beryllium made public. It volition comprise abstracted information absorption units for the cardinal authorities departments and ministries that process non-personal and anonymized data.

Since authorities departments and ministries besides make an tremendous magnitude of information from assorted nationalist services, the National Data Management Office is planned to make a “standard mechanism” for inter-governmental information access. It volition besides enactment with the cardinal authorities ministries and authorities governments to standardize information management. The entity volition physique the India Datasets program, which was earlier proposed nether the draught National Data Governance Framework Policy to make ample datasets by collecting non-personal and anonymized idiosyncratic information from assorted authorities ministries and departments arsenic good arsenic backstage entities.

Digital advocacy groups including New Delhi-based Internet Freedom Foundation person previously raised concerns astir interdepartmental data-sharing proposals made by the Indian government. They cautioned that the determination would enactment national information astatine risk. It is unclear whether the Indian authorities has considered those risks. However, it plans to see formulating disclosure norms for information collection, retention and entree done the projected entity.

The authorities besides proposes to specify standards relating to the “architecture of application/platforms/digital systems, adoption of technology, online interface, unreality security, adoption of emerging technologies, outgo gateways, improvement of online interface which are multi-lingual and multi-channel, usage of GIS services, show indicators, upgradations” done the entity.

India’s planned attack with the projected National Data Management Office is akin to that of Saudi Arabia, which already has an entity with the aforesaid name linked to the Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA) to enactment connected information processing and absorption astatine the state level.

While the projected assemblage volition enactment connected information absorption and specify the parameters for non-personal and anonymized idiosyncratic data, the Indian authorities passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (PDF) past period to regulate integer idiosyncratic data entree and processing successful the country.

Ministry of Electronics and IT did not instantly respond to a petition for remark connected the planned proposal.

The Indian authorities is expected to array the Digital India Bill successful the parliament successful its wintertime league precocious successful the year. The Bill, if it gets passed successful the parliament and receives support from the Indian President, volition go a instrumentality and regenerate the 22-year-old Information Technology Act, 2000. Before tabling successful the parliament, the Indian authorities is expected to commencement the consultation process successful the coming days.