Media Protests DPDP Act’s Impact on Right to Information

• Media professionals and the National Campaign for the People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) argue that the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, dilutes crucial rights.

• The DPDP Act, which is part of the 2023 data privacy law, would erode the right to information and limit information that can be refused to seekers.

• The “Roll Back RTI Amendments Campaign” has gathered nearly two dozen press bodies across India, including the Press Club of India (PCI), to urge the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to undo the Act’s amendment.

• Union IT Secretary S. Krishnan assured the press bodies that the Act would not impede their work.

• Justice A.P. Shah, a former Chairperson of the Law Commission, warns that the RTI Act’s amendment would worsen India’s transparency framework