The government is likely to release draft data protection rules for public consultation within a month, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Monday. The rules are crucial to operationalise the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, which was passed by Parliament last year. The minister said the final draft of the rules was reviewed last week, and it is expected to be in the public domain within a month. “The framework is ready, and the draft rules for consultation are expected to be released within a month,” Vaishnaw told reporters. Last year, Parliament passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 after several previous iterations of the bill went through a number of deliberations over the span of over half a decade. However, while the law has been passed, it is yet to be enacted. At least 25 rules to operationalise the law are also yet to see the light of day. The law has been controversial, over its relatively easy norms for the private sector and major exemptions it offers to the government and its agencies. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 has also addressed two key long-standing demands of the industry — by allowing relaxations around the age of consent for children, and by significantly easing cross-border data flows, both of which was reported by The Indian Express earlier.
