NEW DELHI: The Centre seek response from state governments on the proposed data protection law, Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Prasad said the report by Justice Srikrishna panel on data protection as well as the draft law had been uploaded on the ministry’s website and said he welcomed suggestions as well as a detailed debate on the issue on the floor of the House. “The Secretary will write to Chief Secretary of all states for consultation of the data protection law. I would like to have an elaborate debate here before framing the law,” Prasad said.

He said data is a necessity and there is a need for a balanced approach on it. “We have to work in balance. There has to be a balance between data availability, interpretation, utility and privacy so that India becomes a global centre,” he said.

In its report, the panel has called for a new legislation to protect an individual’s right over data. It says neither the right to privacy, nor the Right to Information is absolute and that the two will have to be balanced against each other in certain circumstances.

During Question Hour, Prasad also said social media platforms must weed out circulation of fake news on their own and that the government will not tolerate abuse of data by companies like Cambridge Analytica for influencing elections in India.

He said the government has ordered a CBI investigation into alleged misuse of data of Indian Facebook users by the British political consultancy firm. “Any foreign entity, Facebook or Cambridge Analytica, cannot abuse the data of Indians to influence elections of India. India's elections are very transparent, sanctified,” Prasad said in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour.

The minister’s response comes on the back of much circulated rumours on social media platforms which are believed to have triggered lynching incidents across the country.

