New Delhi [India], April 11 (ANI): CPI-M MP John Brittas claimed that the Digital Data Protection Act 'infringes' on the Right to Information Act, while Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said that the Act had 'devastated' another Parliamentary Act, the Right to Information Act.

He stated that the RTI Act empowered citizens.

John Brittas told ANI on Thursday, 'The INDIA alliance is agitated over Digital Data Protection Act because it infringes on Right to Information Act. At a stroke, they nullified the Right to Information Act, which was actually paving the way for Indian democracy as a modern democracy. This used to empower the citizens, activities and media...'

At an INDIA alliance press conference here, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi expressed concern over the Bill's various implications and noted the 'draconian impact' of the recent amendments on citizens' rights and freedom of the press.

'Digital Data Protection Act was passed, the entire country witnessed a no-confidence motion in Parliament in the year 2023 which was brought in the context of Manipur. Therefore, this important bill, which should have been deliberated and discussed upon, govt passed it. Since then, we have been studying various implications of this bill...the recent amendments have had a draconian impact on the rights of citizens and freedom of the press...we have made a joint petition...in which, the most important thing is the Digital Data Protection Act devastated another act passed by Parliament, which is Right to Information Act,' he said.

Menawhile, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, is in harmony with principles of transparency in public life as enacted in the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a letter addressed to Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh.

Vaishnaw's reply came after the Congress leader urged the government to 'pause, review and repeal' Section 44 (3) of the Data Protection Act claiming otherwise it would 'eliminate' the provisio in Section 8 (1) of the Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005, which gives citizens equal right to information.

Clarifying to Jairam Ramesh, Ashiwni Vaishnaw wrote that the Data Protection Act is in harmony with principles of privacy and principles of transparency in public life, maintaining that Right to Privacy is closely linked to the protection of personal information

'The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 is in harmony with privacy principles as enshrined in the Puttaswamy judgment and the principles of transparency in public life as enacted in the Right to Information (RTI) Act,' Ashwini Vaishnaw wrote in his letter.

'In the Puttaswamy judgment, the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India held that the Right to Privacy is an integral part of the Right to Life protected as a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. This right to privacy is closely linked to the protection of personal information. Therefore, throughout the extensive consultation process, both with the civil society and in multiple parliamentary fora, the need for harmonious provisions between the right to information and the right to privacy was emphasized,' he added.

Noting Section 3 of the Data Protection Act, Vaishnaw said that the act does not apply to 'personal data that is made or caused to be made publicly available by any other person who is under an obligation under any law for the time being in force in India to make such personal data publicly available'

'Therefore, any personal information that is subject to disclosure under legal obligations under various laws governing our public representatives and welfare programmes like MGNREGA, etc will continue to be disclosed under the RTI Act,' Vaishnaw clarified.

Jairam Ramesh, on March 23, pointed that Data Protection Act, 2023, states that, 'In section 8 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, in sub-section (1), for clause (j), 2005, the following clause shall be substituted, namely, (j) information which relates to personal information', Ramesh argued that 'the implications of this on Section 8 (1) (j) of the RTI Act, 2005, are that almost everything in it gets deleted.'

Ramesh said that the Provisio in Section 8 (1) of RTI Act, 2005 gives citizens equal right to information as legislators who represent them is eliminated

'The existing Section 8 (1) (6) of the RTI Act, 2005, had enough guardrails to protect unwarranted invasion of privacy. In the interests of transparency and accountability, I would urge you to pause, review and repeal Section 44 (3) of the Data Protection Act, 2023, which destroys the RTI ACT, 2005,' Ramesh told Vaishnaw. (ANI)