Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda demands new law on data privacy

New Delhi, March 28: Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda on Tuesday urged the government to bring a new legislation on data privacy, pointing out that people are facing the risk of data theft, especially with a system like Aadhaar in place.

Participating in a debate on the Collection of Statistics (Amendment) Bill, 2017, Hooda pointed out that the Unique Identification Authority of India had to go to police to file a complaint against data misuse by Axis Bank, business correspondent Suvidhaa Infoserve and e-sign provider eMudhra.

'You are making Aadhaar mandatory.

You are collecting so much data and last month the UIDAI authorities had to go to police and report three companies that used the data for unauthorised transaction by bank employees,' Hooda said. 

'People don't have the right to know how much donation a political party gets and from whom, but you



want all information about people,' the Congress member said.

He pointed out that hearing was on in a case in the Supreme Court where the Attorney General had taken a position that data privacy was a right, but not a fundamental right.

'Ultimately the Supreme Court will decide. But the government must study data privacy policy in other countries. The European Union has declared data protection a fundamental right,' he said.

The MP went on to ask why the government was collecting all the data, but added that he did not doubt their intention.

'Bring a new legislation on data privacy,' he said.

Talking about the Collection of Statistics (Amendment) Bill, 2017, Hooda said the bill had a provision under which refusal to give government details for the National Sample Survey Organisation would invite fine and punishment.