Thread by @internetfreedom

The #MonsoonSession of the Parliament concluded on August 8 and was the 17th Parliamentary session to be cut short. Read how this session fared for your digital rights in terms of productivity, unanswered questions posed by MPs & key legislations. 🧵1/7
internetfreedom.in/monsoon-sessio…

Last month we identified 2 legislation pieces to be debated in this Session:
1⃣Competition (Amendment) Bill, '22
2⃣Draft Data Protection Bill, '21
The former was introduced in the Lok Sabha & the latter, shockingly withdrawn.

How does this impact you? 2/7
internetfreedom.in/legislative-br…

Leaving Indians vulnerable without a data protection law, this withdrawal not only sets us back 4 years but, coupled with the unproductivity of this session, reveals a huge setback for digital rights in the country. 3/7

https://twitter.com/internetfreedom/status/1557613870838976513

Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha witnessed low productivity rates of 47% & 42%, respectively. Furthermore, this Session was adjourned 2 days before schedule with the suspension of 23 MPs, along with approximately 500 Questions being lapsed in Lok Sabha & 350, in Rajya Sabha.

4/7

A few key responses received in the #MonsoonSession:
👉@GoI_MeitY blocked 1122 Twitter URLs in 2022, till June itself
👉@MIB_India revealed that @NCRBHQ doesn't maintain centralised data on internet shutdowns, violating the IT Standing Committee's recommendations
5/7

Alarmingly, @MIB_India refused to "subscribe to" the @RSF_inter report that ranks India's press freedom in the bottom 30. @MEAIndia further disregarded global concerns on India's abysmal press freedom record, stating, “uninformed comments are unhelpful and should be avoided.” 6/7

IFF hopes that parliamentary proceedings are conducted in good faith in future sessions, to improve the quality of India's digital rights policies & their implementation.

For regular Parliamentary updates & analyses, check out our work on @IFFonParliament & follow us there! 7/7