Keywords: TRAI, AI, Telecom Sector, DPDP
It is desired that autonomous, expert-filled bodies are permitted to establish a clear path under the nation’s executive machinery at a time when the Ministry of Electronics and IT is prepared to champion India’s “techade” through legislation like DPDP. Recent proposals on utilizing AI and big data in line with the National The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has announced the Digital Communications Policy, 2018. . . TRAI advised, among other things, that the regulatory system should be centered around an independent statutory entity for the aim of properly developing AI.
India’s thriving telecom sector has been skilfully steered by TRAI, which was established in the late 1990s. Prior to TRAI, the central government was in charge of telecom service regulation. The draught Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, which was published in the latter part of last year, aimed to scale back TRAI’s authority.
TRAI must currently be consulted before the central government can introduce a new service provider or change the license’s terms and conditions. The drafted Telecom Bill, however, did away with this demand and retained the government’s authority to issue licenses on its own, forgoing the advantages of the TRAI’s subject-matter expertise.
TRAI’s position appears to have been reinstated in a revised version of the law, according to recent sources, but this looks to be part of a larger trend where domain knowledge and regulatory independence are being sidelined in favor of centralization.
A recent example is the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 (DPDP). In earlier versions, a data protection authority was given regulatory jurisdiction. The DPDP’s proposed data protection board will effectively function as a tribunal with very little regulatory authority. And while the board is anticipated to include subject-matter experts in data governance, ICT, the digital economy, techno-regulation, etc., the precise rules that must be written to implement DPDP’s general principles will be done by the center alone. Why use this expertise solely for adjudication of the question? Currently, India’s carbon credit trading scheme is created by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), a statutory organization, under the direction of the Ministry of Power. On TRAI, the Department of Telecom still depends.
In a similar vein, it is anticipated that independent, expert-filled bodies are permitted to establish a clear route under the country’s executive machinery at a time when the Ministry of Electronics and IT is set to advocate India’s “techade” through legislation like the DPDP and the upcoming Digital India Act.
BUSINESS LINE
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/business-laws/indias-techade-needs-expert bodies/article67190215.ece (last visited on 13-08-2023)
Written by- Kameshwari Gaur , College name- Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University Semester- 5th semester (3-year Ll.b. programme)
