Digital India Bill to Open for Public Consultation Within 15 Days

The Government of India is in the active pursuit of launching the new Digital India bill, which will not be an amendment to its first counterpart, but a whole new bill made from scratch. Its draft was expected to be made public earlier this month for consultation but was temporarily held back to obtain expertise from leading executives of the industry. This draft will be open to public consultation within fifteen days, as per the Economic Times. Its official date is expected to be announced in the coming week.

A government official told the publication, “There was some feedback received, and we have gone back to the drawing board to reconsider some of the points. There is a need for additional work on some (issues) such as fact-checking and misinformation. We also need a more expansive framework for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing etc.” The Digital India bill will also have defining guidelines for digital crimes, which may not be aptly covered by the Indian Penal Code (IPC). This bill will also have provisions for some of the biggest facets of information and technology for the future, including Artificial Intelligence and quantum computing.