Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday said the government will come up with a robust data protection law which will set a global benchmark.
The minister said the government has formed a committee to give a structured report on data utility, data privacy and data availability.
He said data of people should be available for innovation and research. The minister said India’s digital economy is going to be $1 trillion and stakeholders of the economy have said it will become $2 trillion in the next 5-7 years.
The minister said digital transactions increased from 3,700 per day in November 2016 to 54 lakh per day at present.
Enumerating achievements of the government in the last three years, he said 93 mobile manufacturing companies have come in India and there is scope for medical, defence, automobile electronics in the country.
He said the information technology revolution is also to be respected, accelerated and in this larger framework issue of privacy has to be considered. The minister said the Supreme Court judgement has said Right to privacy is not an absolute right.
The minister quoted from the apex court judgement that “Like the right to life and liberty, privacy is not absolute. The limitations which operate on the right to life and personal liberty would operate on the right to privacy”. He said the apex court judgement on privacy is a landmark judgement.
By Baishakhi Dutta
