Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday said the government was in the process of framing a data protection law, with the country emerging as a big centre of data analysis.
Responding to a question by Trinamool Congress (TMC) member Derek O’Brien in the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Prasad said the government had set up a committee headed by Justice Srikrishna, retired Supreme Court Judge, on the issue.
“The paper has been circulated. The field hearing is going on and very soon we will come with the data protection law,” he said.
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As regards cyber security, Mr. Prasad said the Prime Minister had publicly stated that cyber war was a bloodless war and, “from cyber drilling to cyber human resource development, to more training, to cyber auditing, all were going together, also by involving the private sector”.
The TMC leader also raised the issue of Facebook asking for Aadhaar card number before one could open an account, as reported in the media. To this, Mr. Prasad said: “Regarding Facebook in particular, I have also seen the news in media. They have also given a reply that it was directory, not mandatory. But I can only tell you, I will get the entire facts on record and revert to you.”
In reply to another question, the Union Minister said there was no proposal to make Internet availability a fundamental right, but said the government was committed to providing Internet connectivity to all citizens. “A paper transaction declaration of a fundamental right is one thing, while making it available without discrimination is the other,” he said.
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Stating that all efforts were being made to enhance Internet connectivity, Mr. Prasad said when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power in 2014, only 358 km of optical cable network had been laid. Since then, a total of 2.53 lakh kilometres of optical cable fibre has been laid. In all, about one lakh Gram Panchayats have been linked and of them, 57,000 have Internet facilities.
He said BPOs had been set up in 68% of small towns like Muzaffarpur, Bareilly, Kanpur and Imphal.