Surveillance, privacy and the policy challenges: Decolonizing personal data protection in India

This article explores the conditions and continuities of coloniality in India’s data protection regime by analysing the personal data protection legislation. With poststructuralist policy analysis, the article traces the evolution of personal data protection legislation from to the . In doing so, the article draws on the coloniality of the data protection regime and problematizes its underlying rationales that give excessive power to the state. Privacy, surveillance and data protection in India need to be understood in relation to the long history of colonialism and surveillance infrastructures built by the colonial British. Understanding the nuances of colonialism’s influence on data protection involves critically examining how histories, power relations and policy frameworks intersect within contemporary contexts. Surveillance and data protection concerns often strike between protecting privacy against narratives of innovation and national security. Finding a balance is a major challenge in establishing a robust legislative framework for data protection. This article attempts to address the challenges posed by the data protection regime with a decolonial approach.