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Gujarat: Data Bill will make info out of reach for laymen

RTI activist Pankti Jog says the data protection Bill allows for data to be given to organisations that needed it for research

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Civil society organisations have warned that the newly proposed data protection Bill may make public data even more inaccessible to common man. At a discussion held in the city, Pankti Jog, an RTI activist said the Bill allows for data to be given to organisations that needed it for research.

"It stays mum on how do we determine how this data given to research organisations will be used. This means corporates will have access to data about demography and more for marketing purpose but at the same time a person who seeks information under RTI may be denied it on the pretext of data and privacy," said Jog.

She said the provisions of the data protection Bill also proposed to punish Public Information Officers (PIOs) if the information they give is used to harass or abuse someone. "This would practically mean no public information officer will bother to give any data claiming that it has the potential to be misused," Jog said.

She said at present it is difficult to get information even under RTI as the government is not committed to proactive disclosure but now with the threat of data protection, it is going to get tougher. "Interestingly, the bill also makes it easy for the powerful to seek data but for the common man to be denied it."

Suresh Mehta, former chief minister of Gujarat said the timing and intent behind every Bill need to be addressed and at present, this seems to be fishy. Talking about the now abandoned amendment to the RTI Bill, VC Vinod, a former joint secretary, who has trained government officials on RTI said the Centre's move to prescribe the term of the commissioners seemed like an effort to control the flow of information. "What is interesting is that the Centre said it will prescribe the term but did not mention how much it would be thus letting them decide whether a particular candidate for the job will be amenable to their demands or not before deciding his/her term," said Vinod.

DATA

  • RTI activist Pankti Jog says the data protection Bill allows for data to be given to organisations that needed it for research 
     
  • She said the provisions of the Bill also propose to punish Public Information Officiers if people’s data is misused 
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