The draft for the discussion paper is designed as an evolvable and agile framework for good data governance, given the rapid pace of change in this arena, the think tank said on Thursday.Policy think tank Niti Aayog on Friday sought suggestions and comments on the ‘Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA)’ draft which aims to promote greater user control on data sharing.
“The Data Empowerment & Protection Architecture will empower individuals with control over how their personal data is used and shared while ensuring that privacy considerations are addressed. Seeking your comments on the draft document, before October 1,” it posted on Twitter today.
The draft for the discussion paper is designed as an evolvable and agile framework for good data governance, given the rapid pace of change in this arena, the think tank said on Thursday.
The Data Empowerment & Protection Architecture will empower individuals with control over how their personal data is used & shared while ensuring that privacy considerations are addressed.
Seeking your comments on the draft document, before 1st Oct
🖇️ – https://t.co/Rdux9Xs8V7 pic.twitter.com/Urg5pK5wem
— NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) September 3, 2020
Overall, the DEPA empowers people to seamlessly and securely access their data and share it with third-party institutions. Opening up an Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) based data sharing framework would bring significant innovation by new fintech entities, it said.
“India needs a paradigm shift in personal data management that transforms the current organisation-centric data sharing system to an individual centric approach that promotes user control on data sharing for empowerment,” the discussion paper said.
It also noted that DEPA is predicated on the notion that individuals should have control over how their personal data is used and shared.
Besides this, the draft for discussion paper also pointed out that a well designed data governance framework for the Indian context would enable, not just secure data protection, but also grant users control over data through a safe and seamless protocol to share data across institutions, leading to individual empowerment and well-being.
According to the discussion paper, other countries have responded to data protection challenges by implementing efforts to improve data protection and consent-based sharing (such as Open Banking in the UK or General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU), which India can learn from.
“However, these approaches have not addressed the issue in a manner that is fully relevant to India’s scale and diversity, and to our objectives around accelerating financial inclusion, economic growth, and data democracy,” it said.
In his foreword, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant wrote that “in an evolving and fast paced digital landscape, headlines world-over have squarely placed data protection, privacy, and unauthorised data sharing or misuse in the limelight.”
“In India, we not only need stronger data protection, but also data empowerment: everyday Indians need control over their own personal data to improve their lives. They should be able to leverage their digital history to access growth opportunities offered by different institutions,” Kant wrote.
(With PTI inputs)