Today too we will continue our series on the Srikrishna Committee report on Data protection. The draft for the personal data protection law proposes exemption of personal information from disclosure under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, which can cause harm to the person concerned. The report, prepared by a 10member committee set up last year under the chairmanship of the retired Supreme Court judge, Justice BN Srikrishna, said the data protection law is designed to limit the processing of personal data to legitimate reasons where the flow of information is beneficial and respects autonomy of the data principal. The report which was submitted to the government last week has proposed amendments to the Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act which mentions exemptions from the disclosures under the Act. The report noted that nothing contained in the data protection bill will apply to the disclosure under Section 8(1)(j) section. This is to prevent privacy from becoming a stonewalling tactic to hinder transparency. On this edition of ‘The Big Picture’ we take a closer look at Personal Data and RTI?


Guests:

Anjali Bhardwaj, Coconvener, National Campaign for Peoples' Right to Information

Yashovardhan Azad, Information Commissioner

Piyush Singh, Advocate, Supreme Court

Anchor: Frank Rausan Pereira