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Updated July 9th, 2021 at 11:39 IST

Jairam Ramesh frets over fate of Data Protection Bill's JPC after 5 members made ministers

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh pointed out on Thursday, that five members of the Joint Committee on Personal Data Protection Bill have now taken charge as ministers

Jairam Ramesh, JPC
IMAGE: PTI/ANI | Image:self
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As Modi cabinet's new members take charge, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh pointed out on Thursday, that five members of the Joint Committee on Personal Data Protection Bill have now taken charge as new ministers. Wondering what will be the fate of the Committee, he requested the draft report of Bill to be circulated to its members as the new Ministers had a lot to say on the issue. The Personal Data Protection Bill is up for passage this monsoon session in Parliament.

Jairam Ramesh frets about JPC on Personal Data Protection Bill

Ministers take charge

As per reports, five members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill have been inducted into the Union Council of Ministers -  Chairperson Meenakshi Lekhi, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Ajay Bhatt and Bhupender Yadav. While Lekhi has taken charge as MoS External Affairs, Chandrashekar as MoS Electronics & I-T, Bhatt as MoS Defence and Tourism, the other two ministers- Yadav & Vaishnaw have taken charge as Union Minister of Railways and Environment respectively. As per Parliamentary rules, a minister cannot hold membership or chairmanship of parliamentary committees, necessitating the JPC to be reshuffled. The committee has since then held several meetings with Twitter, Facebook, and other data companies' officials.

In a massive reset at the midway of PM Modi's second tenure, the Union cabinet was expanded and rejigged to induct 36 new ministers taking the total size to 77 - excluding the Prime Minister. With the exit of 12 Union ministers including Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar and Dr Harsh Vardhan, top BJP MPs like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Narayan Rane, Anurag Thakur, Kiren Rijiju, Sarbananda Sonowal were inducted as cabinet ministers. The cabinet has also introduced the first-ever Ministry of Co-operation to provide a separate administrative, legal, and policy framework which will be headed by Amit Shah.

What is Personal Data Protection Bill?

The Bill aims to lay down a framework for the processing of personal and private data by public and private entities, allowing exemptions for certain kinds of data processing, such as processing in the interest of national security, for legal proceedings, or for journalistic purposes. It also has a data-localization clause, which states that certain critical personal data must be stored solely within the country and also calls for national-level Data Protection Authority (DPA) to be set up. The Bill which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2019 was recommended to a Joint Parliamentary committee. 

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Published July 9th, 2021 at 11:39 IST

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