India working towards framework on privacy : Nilekani

Infosys co-founder and chairman, Nandan Nilekani on Tuesday said that India is working on a framework towards protecting privacy and technology.

"India is in the process of architecting a framework towards technology and protecting privacy. We have had an excellent judgement on privacy by the Supreme Court a few days  ago by a nine-judge bench," Nilekani, who was speaking at a conference on 'Unlocking US-India Trade Potential', organised by the US Consul General, Chennai, said.

A nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court had ruled that Indians enjoy a fundamental right to privacy, that it is intrinsic to life and liberty and thus comes under Article 21 of the Indian constitution.

The bench, led by former Chief Justice J S Khehar, in August pronounced a unanimous judgement even if the judges   had slightly different arguments as to how privacy is intrinsic to right to life and liberty.

Nilekani also said that there might be cross border contentions over data. "There are going to be cross border discussions over the data. There would be discussions over data sovereignty, where data reside, whose data resides where, among many others," he said.

Aadhaar, which has been formed on open source, has recently been in controversy due to push for Aadhaar linked programmes promoted by the government and corporates.