The Union minister, in an interview with ET, said that the central government will float a new National Data Governance Framework and Policy – to govern citizen data and set standards for its storage, collection, and use.
This is intended to replace the Draft India Data Accessibility & Use Policy, which was introduced on 21 February 2022 and was met with widespread concern and criticism.
The draft policy suggested that “high value” datasets that have undergone value addition or transformation may be “priced appropriately” and sold to the private sector. Without a data protection law in place, however, such a move could prove to be privacy nightmare.
More on the controversial policy here.
Crucially, according to the report, the new policy:
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Does not have any provisions related to monetisation
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Will not be applicable to private entities
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Won’t include restricted datasets (like Aadhaar’s) in overall data sharing
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Envisages the setting up of an India Data Management Office (IDMO) responsible…