Digital Personal Data Protection Bill first in India to use 'she/her' pronouns for all genders

The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 has become the first law in India to use she/her pronouns while referring to all genders. .The bill's "Interpretation" provision clarifies that the pronouns “her” and “she” in the proposed legislation have been used for an individual, irrespective of gender..Commenting on this step, the Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the idea was in furtherance of the Prime Minister's philosophy of women empowerment."We have attempted in the philosophy of women's empowerment that Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji's government works, we have attempted to use the words she and her in the entire bill, instead of he and him and his. So, this is an innovative thing which has been attempted in the bill," he said while speaking to the press. .The law has been drafted with the aim to provide for processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognises the right of individuals to protect their personal data along with the need to process personal data for lawful purposes. .The bill has been shared by Vaishnaw seeking the public's views. .The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 11, 2019 by then IT Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad. The bill sought to provide protection of personal data of individuals and also establish a Data Protection Authority for the same.The bill was referred to the Joint Committee of the Houses for examination. The Committee submitted a report on the same to the Lok Sabha on December 16, 2021..Following the same, the Central government moved to withdraw it pursuant to the new recommendations made by the Joint Committee of Parliament. .According to a statement issued by Vaishnaw, the bill was deliberated in great detail by the Joint Committee of the Parliament (JCP)."81 amendments were proposed and 12 recommendations were made towards comprehensive legal framework on digital ecosystem," the statement said. Hence, considering the report of the JCP, the 2019 bill was withdrawn and instead, the present new one introduced.