Video: Does India’s data protection law undermine citizens’ right to know?

On March 28, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra in the Lok Sabha urged the Narendra Modi government to roll back a section of the data protection law that limits disclosures under the Right to Information Act.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, passed in August 2023, amended Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act. The earlier version of the section prohibited public authorities from sharing personal information unless it served a larger public interest.

The amendment removes this exception. Now, authorities can withhold any information by simply labelling it personal – even if it concerns a matter of significant public interest.

“As a result of this, you won’t get data on wilful [bank] defaulters or anything which the government doesn’t want you to get,” Moitra said. “This is completely undermining the RTI Act.”

Thirty civil society groups came together on March 21 to highlight the amendment's impacts. The activists pointed out that nearly half the RTI requests filed in 2024 were rejected on grounds that the information was personal.

Transparency activist Anjali Bharadwaj said the data protection law could be used to penalise journalists, whistleblowers or anyone who reveals information classified...

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