What Are the Insights from the 6,915 Inputs on the Draft Data Protection Act?

New Delhi, July 27 (NationPress) The proposed Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2025 has garnered a total of 6,915 inputs from both citizens and stakeholders, as reported by the government.

This legislation serves as a comprehensive framework for governing the management of digital personal data, ensuring a balance between individuals' rights to safeguard their data and the necessity for lawful data processing.

According to Jitin Prasada, the Minister of State for Electronics and IT, during a session in the Rajya Sabha, "The Indian government's policies are designed to foster a secure, reliable, and accountable cyberspace for all users. Building capacity and raising awareness are crucial elements of our IT security strategy."

The government conducts regular training initiatives across various sectors to enhance IT security skills among officials and professionals. Public awareness efforts, including Cyber Security Awareness Month and Safer Internet Day, aim to promote online safety, secure digital transactions, and good cyber hygiene, the minister noted.

The CyberShakti initiative, launched in October 2024, focuses on creating a skilled workforce of women in cybersecurity. As part of the Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) program, 3,637 workshops have been held, reaching over 820,000 participants from various sectors, including academia, law enforcement, government, women, and the general population.

Additionally, multilingual educational materials such as handbooks, videos, posters, and advisories (including topics like deepfakes) are widely distributed.

To bolster cybersecurity, key measures have been implemented, including the establishment of the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) aimed at safeguarding the nation’s critical information infrastructure (as per Section 70A of the IT Act, 2000); the designation of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) as the national agency for addressing cybersecurity incidents (under Section 70B of the IT Act); and the operation of the National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC), which is managed by CERT-In to detect and mitigate cybersecurity threats through inter-agency coordination.

The DPDP Act seeks to provide a thorough framework for protecting individuals' digital personal data while holding Data Fiduciaries accountable for any data breaches. These fiduciaries are mandated to adopt suitable technical and organizational measures to prevent personal data breaches through reasonable security precautions.