10 ISSUES AND INSIGHTS NEW DELHI | MONDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2018 1 > the requirement of the entire set of per- DPA may suggest model clauses for the sonal data collected to be mirrored in industry, but they need not be made > CHINESE WHISPERS At cross purposes? India sounds excessive. I’m not sure mandatory and require approvals. how my shopping history is critical for Let us not forget India has been one The draft Indian Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 appears to be in the security of India unless I am pur- of the biggest beneficiaries of global chasing guns to be brought in to India. data flows, making it the world’s largest A note of thanks conflict with the very ideas on which it is based If all countries start mandating local- destination for IT and outsourcing isation, there will be no cloud left. services. This has had a ripple effect, seeds of a global mindset in me. He was But the draft Bill works at cross purpos- Further, requiring data centres to be in causing private sector companies to light years ahead of most politicians then es with this thought process. India could increase costs, especially for employ millions of people and increas- and even today. It’s a little sad now; coun- Extra territorial applicability: The draft users and start-ups. They would stand to ing service exports multi-fold. Global tries are thinking backwards. The recent Bill makes the law applicable to offshore lose access to globally available resources data flows together have raised the proposed data localisation and control entities providing goods and services to and cloud infrastructure. Indian resi- world GDP by 10.1 per cent over what on data transfer is one such example. Indians. The Supreme Court of India has dents would also lose out on unique serv- may have resulted in a world without Data is now being touted as the “new recognised the validity of extra-territorial ices being provided by foreign compa- any cross-border data flows. If India oil”, and countries are trying to create provisions only when events outside the nies, such as DNA analysis or certain sets an example of putting artificial trade barriers based on data. Recently, I territory of India have some impact on kinds of artificial intelligence tasks. Some barriers on the basis of data, others will reviewed the proposed Indian Personal the interests, welfare or security of India of those entities may not have the where- reciprocate the same way. Manipur Director General of Police L M Data Protection Bill 2018 (draft Bill); or Indians. In short, there must be a rea- withal to localise their data in India. Over the last several decades, I have Khaute was full of praise for Delhi NISHITH DESAI especially the provisions on data local- sonable nexus not just peripheral. In this Data transfer: In the case of data witnessed the tussle between business- Police, especially its elite Special Cell isation, data transfer, and extra-territo- context, over-prescriptive extra-territori- transfer from India to abroad, one of the es wanting to globalise freely and coun- unit, in a recent letter written to Delhi rial applicability. In my view, they are al laws would not fall within this ambit. If alternatives the draft Bill provides is that tries trying to impose trade barriers. Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik. inoba Bhave is one person to excessive when you take into account for any reason some countries require the Indian transferor can only use claus- Everyone recognises the end benefits In the letter, Khaute named several whom I would give singular cred- individual autonomy, the object sought some protection, international comity es approved by the Data Protection of minimising barriers, leading to sar- officers from the Cell and outlined Vit for my being what I am today — to be achieved and a sustainable digital requires that it would be preferable to Authority in its data transfer contracts. vodaya, but most don’t want to suffer how their co-operation has led to the — an international lawyer and a global- economy. The Srikrishna Committee, develop a treaty network on the lines of There will be thousands of legal agree- the temporary pains of the journey. I arrest of many alleged insurgents isation expert. When I was growing up in which drafted the report, has itself TRIPS, where countries arrive at mini- ments which will have to be approved. hope the draft bill is suitably modified to from the north eastern state. A special the 1960s, I heard him extolling the recognised that India should shape the mum protection benchmarks. This provision is taking us back to the effectuate the true tenor of the mention was a case where the Delhi Indian politicians: “15 years ago the slo- global digital landscape in the 21st cen- Data localisation: I agree that cer- licence raj. Rather, since the data fiduciary Srikrishna committee report. cops had helped their Manipur gan was ‘hail India’, today’s slogan is ‘hail tury, and that ensuring protection of tain critical data may be required to be in India is any case liable for violations, it counterparts in arresting a man whose the world’.” He always described him- personal data and facilitating growth of processed only within India, taking into should be left to the data fiduciary to The author is founder and managing alleged audio threat to the state chief self as a global citizen. That sowed the the digital economy are not in conflict. account security concerns. However, ensure compliance by foreign parties. The partner, Nishith Desai Associates minister went viral. While inter-state coordination among police forces is key in solving and preventing crime, the Special Cell, because of the anti- terror operations it carries out round the year, often has to venture way beyond the city borders which leads to A record of salutary economic reforms turf wars. This time, however, the case was different. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's large heartedness and ability to transcend ideological barriers enabled him Sending feelers to implement far-reaching economic reforms, says the author in the first of a three-part series The Aam Aadmi Party is moving fast in ILLUSTRATION BY BINAY SINHA trying to put the Delhi unit of the Congress ment. Let me start with infrastructure. electricity minister, the late Rangarajan under pressure to agree to a seat Infrastructure Kumaramangalam, asked me as the adjustment for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The Vajpayee government undertook director general of NCAER to have the On Saturday, the AAP leadership requested major infrastructure initiatives and the act drafted. NCAER was reluctant, hav- former Bharatiya Janata Party leader transformation of Indian roads can be ing no expertise in drafting legislation. Yashwant Sinha to contest from the New attributed to him, as a number of com- This was a bold departure from standard Delhi constituency. Sinha currently leads mentators have noted. The National practice where almost all acts of drafted the 'National Forum'. There are leaders, Highway Development Project (NHDP), within the government. But Minister both in the AAP as well as the Congress, which began with the conceptualisation Kumaramangalam felt that his min- who believe the two parties will lose all of the Golden Quadrilateral and the istry’s bureaucracy was unwilling and the seven seats in Delhi in a three- north-south and east-west highways, has incapable of an exercise that would cornered fight against the BJP. The AAP is already transformed the Indian trans- result in significant reform, and insisted keen to field credible faces to force the RAKESH MOHAN portation sector. Investment in this on NCAER taking up the exercise. We Congress to agree on a seat adjustment. expanded highway programme contin- took up the challenge, with the help of ues till today. As a complementary ini- in order to just capture the available the issue of allotting licences for new pri- the redoubtable Gajendra Haldea who ormer Prime Minister Atal Bihari tiative, the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak licences. It had become obvious that vate sector landline companies arose. conducted extensive consultations with Vajpayee, who passed away two Yojana (PMGSY) was also started almost these companies would not be able to Whereas the majority of the Authority all stakeholders and submitted a draft to Remembering veterans Fweeks ago, was noted by his friends at the same time. Thus the needs of the pay their committed obligations: if the voted to again recommend an auction the ministry in less than two years. The Bharatiya Janata Party held its and political foes alike for his large heart- metropolitan national as well as the local government had insisted that they com- for these new licences I issued a dissent Unfortunately, Kumaramangalam national executive meeting over the edness and ability to transcend ideolog- rural economy were addressed simulta- ply with their commitments they would note arguing for a fixed license fee and passed away suddenly after a brief unex- weekend in New Delhi. With former ical barriers across the political spectrum. neously. Both these ambitious pro- have gone bankrupt and the progress of allotment of many licences so that the pected illness, but was ably succeeded by prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee It was these qualities, perhaps, that grammes could be undertaken simulta- telecom connectivity would have suf- new tariffs would not be burdened by the Suresh Prabhu who piloted the Bill suc- having passed away less than a enabled him to carry out far-reaching neously because they were financed by fered a severe setback. So the govern- obligation of these new companies to pay cessfully and got it passed in Parliament month back, the leitmotif of the economic reforms.