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In an in-depth conversation at News18 Rising Bharat Summit, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw laid out the government’s ambitious trajectory for India’s technological and industrial transformation, spanning artificial intelligence, semiconductor manufacturing, digital regulations, and the modernization of Indian Railways.

Vaishnaw affirmed that India’s foundational artificial intelligence (AI) model is firmly on track. “Absolutely, we are on track,” he said. “We have already got 14,000 GPUs empaneled and another round getting soon. Combine these with our talent, and it gives a very good edge to developers and startups.”

The minister highlighted the global recognition India is receiving in the AI space, referencing a tweet by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, noting the country’s enthusiastic adoption of AI. “It’s phenomenal,” Vaishnaw added.

On the semiconductor front, Vaishnaw confirmed that India’s first Made-in-India chip is expected to roll out by September or October. “All the five units’ construction is going on very well... validation of the machinery is happening,” he assured.

<strong>India's tech space </strong>

Responding to concerns about India being late to the AI race compared to countries like China, Vaishnaw disagreed. “This is just the first chapter of the AI book... We are very much in the race,” he said. He emphasized the need for India to build its own large language models (LLMs) for two critical reasons—technological sovereignty and the elimination of cultural bias. “We must have the LLM within our ecosystem,” he asserted.

Discussing the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, the minister emphasized a principles-based, consultative approach. “We had more than 35,000 inputs from various stakeholders,” Vaishnaw shared, adding that the rule-making process is now in its final stages.

He also touched on the growing responsibility of digital influencers and content creators in the wake of controversial online content. “We must understand that we are living in a society,” he said. “Whether we are content creators or consumers... we should understand our responsibility.”

On Starlink’s entry into India and the legal dispute between Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) and the Indian government, Vaishnaw was firm: “Ultimately, every company... has to work within the framework of the Constitution and laws passed by the Parliament.”

India’s startup landscape, the minister noted, has exploded from a few hundred to over 1.5 lakh in the last decade. While acknowledging criticisms about the lack of deep tech, he defended the ecosystem's diversity. “There are more than 100 deep tech startups in IIT Madras alone,” he said. “There is a space for all.”

Addressing the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and critiques by economists like Raghuram Rajan, Vaishnaw stood by the policy. “Every country... started the same process,” he explained, citing Japan, China, South Korea, and Vietnam. He also stressed the scheme’s social impact: “Electronics manufacturing is giving meaningful employment to 25 lakh people... especially young women from rural areas.”

Amid global supply chain shifts, Vaishnaw highlighted India’s growing stature. “In 10 years, electronics manufacturing has grown five times... exports have grown six times,” he noted. India is now attracting major global players, including Chinese smartphone companies, which are encouraged to form joint ventures with Indian firms.

<strong>Modernizing Indian Railways</strong>

Turning to Indian Railways, the minister detailed a sweeping modernization plan. The upcoming inauguration of the Katra-Srinagar Vande Bharat by Prime Minister Modi is “a symbol of national unity and engineering tenacity.” Vaishnaw noted that 136 Vande Bharat services are already operational and the manufacturing continues apace.

He also underscored railway safety improvements and the rollout of the indigenous Kavach collision avoidance system. “Incidents have reduced by almost 80%,” he said, adding that Kavach deployment across 15,000 km of track is underway.

Looking to the future, Vaishnaw painted a vision of “Viksit Bharat” in 2047. “Safety will improve further... capacity will increase significantly... and new technology trains like Vande Bharat, Namo Bharat, Amrit Bharat, and the bullet train will redefine travel,” he stated. Additionally, a massive station redevelopment program covering 1,200 stations is in progress, with 100 set to be inaugurated soon.

When asked about his long working hours and the debate around a 90-hour workweek, Vaishnaw simply remarked, “Our Prime Minister has set a very good example. When we have to take our country to a totally new level, there is no option.”

“Not late, just starting strong”: IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on India’s AI leap

Recently, the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology responded to a query from Rajya Sabha lawmaker S. Niranjan Reddy regarding the web scraping of publicly available user data by social media companies for training Artificial Intelligence (AI) models.

The Andhra Pradesh MP asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) about the measures taken by the government to regulate and prevent the misuse of web scraping by social media companies for AI training purposes.

The query focused on ensuring that social media companies provide full transparency, obtain informed user consent before scraping data, and implement accountability mechanisms to prevent the unethical use of scraped user data.

In response, Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, stated, "Web scraping of any publicly available user data by any intermediary, including social media companies, for training AI models or any other purpose is regulated under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) and its rules."

He further explained, "Section 43 of the IT Act imposes penalties for unauthorized access to computer systems and provides compensation for damages to affected parties. Additionally, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, require intermediaries, including social media platforms, to prevent users from hosting, displaying, uploading, or sharing content that violates any law. These companies must also implement measures to ensure data protection and prevent unauthorized data access."

Expanding on the issue, Prasada added, "The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act), mandates that organizations involved in digital personal data processing, including web scraping of publicly available user data, implement robust compliance measures. This includes obtaining consent for specified purposes before processing digital personal data and respecting individual rights."

Furthermore, the DPDP Act establishes a strong accountability framework to ensure the lawful processing of digital personal data. The Data Protection Board of India serves as an independent adjudicatory body empowered to investigate complaints, conduct inquiries, and impose penalties of up to ₹250 crore for non-compliance with the Act's provisions, Prasada stated.

MeitY reiterates its stance on web scrapping of personal data

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Academy, in collaboration with PSA Legal and Tsaaro Consulting, has released a comprehensive white paper titled 'Navigating Cookies: Recalibrating your cookie strategy in light of the DPDPA' to commemorate Data Privacy Day. The white paper explains in detail how granular consent takes shape in India towards building better privacy standards.

India may not have a dedicated cookie law, but the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA) sets clear principles for obtaining granular consent from users, especially in cookie banners and privacy statements. Since cookies collect and store user data, consent under the DPDPA must comply with Sections 5 and 6 of the Act.

Under Section 5(1)(i), data fiduciaries must provide users (referred to as "data principals") with a notice outlining the personal data being collected and the purpose of its use before requesting consent. This mirrors Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR, which requires data subjects to be informed about each purpose for processing their data before giving consent.

Section 6(1) of the DPDPA highlights that consent must be free, specific, informed, unambiguous, and given explicitly for a specific purpose. It further limits the use of personal data to that stated purpose alone. Moreover, Section 6(3) mandates that consent requests must be presented in plain, simple language, ensuring clarity for users. Importantly, under Section 6(4), users retain the right to withdraw their consent at any time.

These provisions align closely with Article 4(11) and Article 7 of the GDPR, which define consent as freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous. The GDPR also requires that consent requests be clear, accessible, and understandable, and ensures users can withdraw consent whenever they wish.

The DPDPA’s emphasis on specificity and clarity ensures compliance with global standards, paving the way for the adoption of granular consent mechanisms in India.

<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/digital/asci-academy-releases-white-paper-on-navigating-cookies-in-the-age-of-dpdpa-54761.htm">Read more: ASCI Academy releases white paper on navigating cookies in the age of DPDPA</a>

How India is catching up on user data protection with DPDPA

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) recently released draft regulations to implement the digital privacy law, bringing about a change in how companies and government agencies handle personal data. Children's data privacy is a rather important aspect of this, and has been emphasised several times in the Didigtal Personal Protection Data (DPDP) Act .

A report by Moneycontrol quoted a government official saying that among steps to escalate security for the youngsters, emerging digital identity frameworks such as the Apaar ID — a unified national digital ID for students — and state-level family IDs can be used to verify parents or guardians for processing children's data under the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules.

The Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) ID is a student identification system that is part of the "One Nation, One Student ID" programme.

While a centralised family ID system does not yet exist at the national level, several states, including Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan have already implemented state level local identification systems for families. These frameworks can be integrated into the verification process for parental consent under the DPDP Rules.

Adopting verifiable parental consent mechanisms to safeguard children's personal data is an important aspect of the draft of the DPDP Act. Data fiduciaries store, collect and process personal data, and are now responsible for ensuring its protection under the DPDP Act. The draft says that the data fiduciaries must implement technical and organisational measures to verify the identity of parents or guardians. This also includes checks using government-issued IDs or digital tokens linked to trusted services such as digital locker providers. 

There are still questions about how state-level systems will share data and protect privacy. The DPDP Rules aim to tackle these issues by requiring strong security measures and appointing consent managers to oversee data handling and ensure compliance with audit standards.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw assured on January 7, that privacy will remain central to the rules of the Act. He said that virtual tokens used for verifying children's data will be temporary and deleted after a single use. The DPDP rules draft was released for consultation on January 3, and is open for people to send their feedback and suggestions till February 18.

DPDP ACT