NewzVille Desk
V. Ramasubramanian, Chairperson of NHRC said that safeguarding privacy as a human right in the digital world is necessary. He was addressing the participants in an open house discussion in hybrid mode on ‘Ensuring privacy and human rights in the digital era: A focus on corporate digital responsibility’, which was organized by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), India.
Member, Justice (Dr) Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi, Secretary General, Bharat Lal, senior officers, domain experts, industry representatives also present on the occasion.
The technological advancements should align with fundamental human rights and privacy protections. The responsibility must begin with the individual user. He highlighted that maintaining digital hygiene is crucial. He also pointed out the significant decline in value systems, cautioning that one must bear the consequences of this shift, Ramasubramanian said.
He reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to fostering inclusive discussions on digital rights and corporate accountability for developing a robust regulatory framework that balances innovation, security, and individual privacy.
NHRC, India Member, Justice (Dr) Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi raised concerns regarding the lack of digital literacy which make many people dependent on others who may dupe them. He said that simplifying the processes of digital technology to maximise its safe usage by the common people in the country.
NHRC, India Secretary General, Bharat Lal gave an overview of three sub-themes: ‘Establishing a proper regulatory framework and compliance mechanism’, ‘Building a culture of data privacy’, and ‘Identifying threats and best practices’. Citing data from 2023, he mentioned that over 20% of global data is generated in India whereas it has only about 3% of the storage capacity requiring a major role for Indian corporates.
He said that while the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and other regulations are in place, the challenges in the digital age are increasing. The draft rules have been notified and consultation process is going on.
He further said that collection, storage and processing of personal data ‘brings’ huge responsibility of entities and they keep this data as a ‘trustee’. Any breach of trust in this trusteeship is unacceptable.
He stressed that protecting people’s privacy online is a collective responsibility requiring joint efforts from individuals, private sectors which plays a major role and the government and its agencies.
The meeting extensively discussed the intensity of the problem that arises due to misuse of data and data breaches. Further, several key provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 were also discussed.
