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WhatsApp case proves India needs strong data protection law says Expert

Agencies
June 28, 2019

New Delhi, Jun 28: As the Indian government steps up the pressure on Internet and social media giants to store consumers' data locally -- especially the payments-related data -- the road ahead is not easy for over one billion citizens as Internet giants have lobbied against the data protection law in the country for long, says the man who has taken the Facebook-owned WhatsApp to the court.

Reacting to an ET report that WhatsApp has set up data storage facilities in India for its soon-to-be-launched Payments service, advocate Virag Gupta said on Thursday that the truth would only come out on July 17 when the Supreme Court takes up the next hearing in the NGO's plea against WhatsApp.

"I do not know whether there is any truth here. Internet giants have lobbied against data protection laws for long. Right noises are also being made at the G-20 and World Economic Forum but why should the sovereign Parliament wait? India should promptly enact data protection law and notify IT Intermediary Rules," Gupta said.

"In addition, Internet giants ought to comply with the Indian laws, including the appointment of Grievance Officer in India and data localisation," added Gupta who represents Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC) which says WhatsApp has not complied with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) circular on data localisation norms.

In the last hearing on May 3, WhatsApp told the Supreme Court that the company is conducting a trial run of its payment service and will fully comply with the RBI norms on data localisation.

WhatsApp conducted the Payments trial last year with almost 1 million people to send money to each other in a simple and secure way.

"In response to India's payments data circular, we've built a system that stores payments-related data locally in India," a WhatsApp spokesperson had earlier told IANS.

With over 200 million users, India is the largest market for WhatsApp.

"WhatsApp payment is useful for people in their daily lives and we hope to expand the feature to all of India soon so we can contribute to the country's financial inclusion goals," the spokesperson added.

According to Gupta who represented RSS ideologue KN Govindacharya before the Delhi High Court in 2012, Internet companies make huge money out of selling consumers' data.

"Sadly, few Indians are concerned over data misuse. Overall, data is the new oil wherein India despite its biggest user base, hardly gets any value out of it. This is primarily because the internet giants are not taxed properly in India," said Gupta who has just released a new book titled "Taxing Internet Giants: American Companies & Data Protection in India".

"The top 15 Internet companies alone have amassed a value of over Rs 20 lakh crore due to their Indian users. The companies' value could be a major chunk of the Indian economy but is serving no purpose to Indians," he lamented.

On June 14, Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTy) has finalised the much-anticipated Personal Data Protection Bill and the next required step is a Cabinet approval before the Bill goes to the Parliament.

"We have finalised the data protection law. I will take it to the Cabinet. We have had 3-4 rounds of consultation," Prasad said while addressing the CII's National Council meeting in the Capital.

Emphasising on data security and the country's hold over its data, the Minister said: "India will uphold its data sovereignty. It will not be negotiable. India is a huge country producing a lot of data."

With the government saying it will not relax the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) norms for data localisation, the road ahead has become tough for global digital payment providers who have sought more time to comply with the guidelines.

The RBI guidelines say that all digital payment firms like Google Pay, WhatsApp and others must store data locally for their businesses.

"The entire payment data shall be stored in systems located only in India. The data should include end-to-end transaction details and information pertaining to payment or settlement transaction that is gathered / transmitted/processed as part of a payment message/instruction," say RBI guidelines.

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News Network
February 5,2020

Mumbai, Feb 5: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday said there was no need to fear the Citizenship Amendment Act, but asserted his government will not allow the proposed National Register of Citizens to be implemented as it would "impact people of all religions".

Throwing out Bangladeshi and Pakistani migrants out of the country was an old demand of the Shiv Sena, the chief minister said in the third and concluding part of his interview to party mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

"I can confidentally say the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) is not meant to throw Indian citizens out of the country. But, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is going to impact Hindus as well," the Sena president said.

India has the right to know the number of minorities from neighbouring nations who applied for Indian citizenship after being persecuted in their home countries, he said.

"When they come here, will they get homes under the 'Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana'? What about employment and education of their children? All these issues are important and we have the right to know," hesaid in the interview to Saamana's executive editor and Sena MP Sanjay Raut.

"As chief minister, I should know where will these people be relocated in my state. Our own people don't have adequate housing. Will these people go to Delhi, Bengaluru or Kashmir, since Article 370 is now scrapped?" he wondered.

Several Kashmiri Pandit families are staying like refugees in their own country. The CAA is not to throw citizens out of the country, Thackeray said.

"However, the NRC will impact Hindus and Muslims and the state government will not allow it to be implemented," he asserted.

Under the NRC, all citizens will have to prove their citizenship. In Assam, 19 lakh people could not prove their citizenship. Of these, 14 lakh are Hindus, Thackeray claimed.

In a veiled attack on his cousin and MNS chief Raj Thackeray, who will lead a rally in support of the CAA and NRC in Mumbai on February 9, the chief minister said the NRC is not yet a reality and there is no need for a 'morcha' in support of or against it.

"If the NRC is enforced, those who are supporting it will also be affected," he said.

Under the NRC, even Hindus will have to prove their citizenship. "I will not allow the law to be enacted. Whether I am chief minister or not, I will not allow injustice to anybody," he said.

The chief minister also took a veiled dig at the Centre's decision to give the Padma Shri award to Pakistani-origin musician Adnan Sami.

"A migrant is a migrant. You can't honour him with the Padma award. Throwing out illegal migrants was the stand of (late Shiv Sena supremo) Balasaheb Thackeray," he said without naming anyone.

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News Network
April 21,2020

New Delhi, Apr 21: India's count of positive coronavirus cases reached 18,985 after 1,329 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Tuesday.

Out of the total cases, 15,122 are active cases, 3,259 have been discharged or cured and one has migrated. With 44 new deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the toll stands at 603.

As per the evening update by the ministry, Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state with 4,669 cases, out of which 572 patients have been discharged and cured and 232 deaths.

Delhi's total count of confirmed cases stand at 2,081, which includes 431 cured or discharged cases and 47 deaths.

Gujarat has reported a total of 2,066 positive COVID-19 cases, out of which 131 patients have recovered or discharged, while 77 patients have lost their lives.

Madhya Pradesh's count of COVID-19 cases stand at 1,540, including 127 cured or discharged cases and 76 deaths.

Rajasthan has so far reported 1,576 positive cases, out of which 205 patients have recovered or discharged and 25 people have lost their lives.

Tamil Nadu's COVID-19 figure has risen to 1,520, with 457 patients recovered and 17 fatalities. Uttar Pradesh has reported 1,294 cases, out of which 140 patients have recovered and 20 are dead.

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Agencies
February 10,2020

New Delhi, Feb 10: After an hour-long standoff between the security forces and the students on Monday, the police resorted to a lathi-charge on the protesters near Holy Family hospital which is within walking distance of Jamia Millia Islamia.

A scuffle ensued when police confronted the protesters who tried to push forward towards Parliament. The lathi-charge was made to push back the protesters.

In the melee that ensued, many from both sides fainted.

Some security forces personnel resorted to the lathi-charge while others pushed back the protesters when they threw water pouches at the security forces and abused them.

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