The draught of the Data Protection Bill has been approved by the Centre, and a fine of Rs. 250 crore is proposed for violations

An official source said on Wednesday that the Union Cabinet has cleared the draught Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill 2023 for tabling in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament.

The bill seeks to charge a penalty of up to Rs. 250 crore on organisations for each infraction of the law's rules.

"The Cabinet has approved the draught DPDP bill." It will be introduced in Parliament during the next session, according to the source.

Parliament will have its monsoon session from July 20 to August 11.

According to the source, the bill incorporates practically all of the provisions of the previous draught that was submitted for comment by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

According to the source, the proposed bill does not give broad exemption to government bodies.

"In the event of a dispute, the Data Protection Board will rule." Citizens will have the right to seek restitution in civil court. "A lot of things will evolve gradually," according to the insider.

Once the law is in effect, individuals will have the right to request information regarding their data collection, storage, and processing, according to the source.

Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar claims that the impending Digital Personal Data Protection Bill will cause "deep behavioural changes" among Indian platforms that have long abused or mishandled personal data. He also attempted to assuage worries about the government-appointed fact-checking organisation, claiming that the measure is not about censorship, but rather provides the Centre an opportunity to clarify and respond to any disinformation about it, which is vital in a democracy.

He stated that misinformation should not be confused with the right to free expression. Misinformation, according to the minister, travels 10-15 times faster and reaches 20-50 times more people than truth. He highlighted that in a democracy, "the government must have an opportunity to say no, this is not true" if someone says anything untrue about the government in order to inspire hatred, incite violence, or just to generate suspicion.