Revision summary
The 2018 Srikrishna Committee drafted a Personal Data Protection Bill after the Puttaswamy privacy judgment. Strengths are fiduciary duties, consent and purpose limits, user rights, a DPA with penalties, and a localisation push for enforcement. Weaknesses are broad State exemptions, weak real consent, start-up costs of localisation, and an incomplete surveillance reform. A DPA that is not independent cannot police either Big Tech or the government. Cyberspace protection needs the State under the same law as the company.
Model answer
Flow diagram
flowchart TD P[Puttaswamy privacy] --> R[Srikrishna Report 2018] R --> RG[User rights consent fiduciary] R --> DPA[Data Protection Authority] R --> W[State exemptions localisation gaps] RG --> PROT[Personal data in cyberspace] DPA --> PROT W --> PROT
Conclusion
- Pass a data law whose State exemptions are narrow, listed, and reviewable, not a second Official Secrets net.
- Pair it with surveillance and encryption rules that a court can test.
- Make the DPA as independent as a regulator that can fine a ministry’s vendor, not only a start-up.
- Use localisation only for truly critical data, with security investment, not as a slogan.
- Treat consent plus duty of care (fiduciary fairness) as the daily tool against cyber misuse.
The Srikrishna Report’s strength is a rights-based fiduciary statute, a regulator, and a serious draft after Puttaswamy. Its weakness is a State that can step outside those rights, an unfinished surveillance debate, and localisation that may cost more than it protects. Personal data in cyberspace will be safer when the law binds government as tightly as it binds the platform.
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India's proximity to two of the world's biggest illicit opium-growing states has enhanced her internal security concerns. Explain the linkages between drug trafficking and other illicit activities such as gunrunning, money laundering and human trafficking. What countermeasures should be taken to prevent the same? (250 Words, 15 Marks).
Next question in the 2018 paper (Q20). View answer →
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Did the 2018 report become the law as written?
No. It was a draft and a policy map. Later bills and the 2023 Act changed many balances. The question is about the report’s own strengths and gaps.
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Is localisation the same as privacy?
No. Keeping a copy in India can help a summons. It does not by itself stop misuse by an Indian fiduciary or a breach of an Indian server.
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