The Collection of Statistics (CoS) Act, 2008 (7 of 2009) was enacted by Parliament on 7th January, 2009. The Act provides for disclosure of information in certain cases and restrictions of their use. The Act inter-alia provides that the information collected from individuals would be kept confidential and would be used only for statistical purposes. In case, there is a need to publish/ disclose individual information, it would be done only after suppressing the identification details of the individual.

Further, in accordance with National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP), 2012, formulated by the Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India, the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India notified the Guidelines on Statistical Data Dissemination on April 1, 2019. It provides for classification of data as shareable and non-shareable, guidelines for dissemination and pricing, etc. within the overall framework laid down in NDSAP 2012.

The data collected by MoSPI through National Sample Surveys are categorized into shareable and non-shareable; wherein, the data containing information, which may compromise national security and/or those containing identification particulars of individual informants/establishments, are not shared. Any data, which directly or indirectly attempts to reveal the identity of individual informant, are also not shared.

The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 has been enacted on 11th August, 2023 that casts obligations on Data Fiduciaries to safeguard digital personal data, holding them accountable, while also enshrining the rights and duties of Data Principals. The DPDP Act, acts as a framework and sets out key principles in respect of processing of personal data. As per Section 17(2) of the DPDP Act, processing of personal data that is necessary for research, archiving or statistical purpose is exempted from the provisions of the DPDP Act, provided that such processing is undertaken in the form and manner prescribed thereunder.

This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Shri Rao Inderjit Singh in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

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