Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman says new bill on data privacy will be ready 'soon'

On Wednesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured that the new bill on data privacy will be ready "soon". Addressing the India Ideas Summit, organised by US-India Business Council (USIBC) in New Delhi, Sitharaman informed that the Union Information and Technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has been diligently working on it. 

"We will soon have a new Data Privacy Bill, which will be a product of consultations and will address every such concern most of us had on the privacy Bill," she said.

Earlier this month, the Central government withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 from the Lok Sabha. Ashwini Vaishnaw had then informed that the bill was dropped because the Joint Parliamentary Committee recommended 81 amendments in a bill of 99 sections. "Above that, it made 12 major recommendations. Therefore, the bill has been withdrawn and a new bill will be presented for public consultation," he said.

Sitharaman says job creation & equitable income distribution are 'our top red-letter priorities'

Sitharaman further in her address to the US-India Business Council listed some of her top red-letter priorities which were jobs, equitable wealth distribution, and ensuring that India is still on the path of growth. However, according to her, the inflation is not as it was brought down to "some manageable levels".

According to National Statistical Office (NSO) data, India’s headline retail inflation fell to 6.71 per cent in July, the lowest level in five months, helped by an easing in food and oil prices. Notably, retail inflation declined significantly in July when compared with the previous month and remained higher than the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) upper tolerance limit of 6 per cent.

(Image: @nsitharamanoffc-Twitter)