AFTER MEETING a clutch of RTI activists, editors and domain experts in Parliament on Tuesday, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi flagged concerns that the Digital Personal Data Protection Act would adversely impact the right to information, and said he would discuss the matter with INDIA bloc leaders. “This legislation, under the pretext of safeguarding privacy, curtails access to public information which is essential for citizens and journalists to hold the government accountable,” he said. “The NDA government is attempting to shield itself from scrutiny, undermining transparency and weakening democratic oversight. In the interest of accountability and good governance, the Congress will discuss this issue with INDIA leaders and take necessary steps to protect the rights of our people.” His statement comes two days after Congress media department head Jairam Ramesh wrote to Union Minister of IT Ashwini Vaishnaw that the new law had completely eliminated the “proviso in Section 8 (1) (j) of the RTI Act, 2005 that gives citizens equal right to information as legislators who represent them”. Ramesh said this change was “unwarranted” as the original RTI Act “had enough guardrails to protect unwarranted invasion of privacy”. He urged the minister to “pause, review and repeal Section 44 (3) of the Data Protection Act 2023, which destroys the RTI Act 2005”. The concerns voiced by the Congress come in the wake of several RTI activists flagging several issues with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. A clutch of organisations dealing with the right to information and internet freedom launched a campaign against a section of the Act, which, they said, amends Section 8 (1) (j) of the Right to Information Act by imposing a blanket ban on the disclosure of personal information without consent – something that will endanger the right to information and journalistic reportage, and also empower errant officials by shielding their identity from any wrongdoing. Lawyers and activists such as Anjali Bhardwaj, Aruna Roy, Prashant Bhushan and Nikhil Dey, and former CIC M M Ansari have been at the forefront of the campaign. The DPDA Act, they say, requires individuals or entities processing personal data to necessarily seek the consent of the individual regarding whom they are processing data, unless the data are required for employment purposes or medical emergency. There is no exception for journalistic purposes in the Act, they contend, meaning that journalistic writing except interviews would be endangered by the law. This will, the activists underline, also make the RTI toothless, as under it personal information could be denied only if it was unrelated to public activity or public interest. As per their release, Rule 22 of the draft rules grants the Central government “unchecked authority to demand user data from data fiduciaries and intermediaries without any judicial oversight, transparency or safeguards”. The law, the release said, envisages a Data Protection Board, but Rule 16 of the draft rules “centralises its appointments and decision-making within the executive branch, raising concerns about political influence and lack of autonomy”.
