Data protection law

This refers to “Legalising the surveillance state” (November 28). The need for an effective data protection law was long felt in India and in this context it is expected that the new ‘Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022’ would fill the gap.

Though various responsibilities have been vested upon data fiduciary, data principal, data processor, data protection officer, etc., in the proposed Act, in reality no such distinction exists at present leading to misuse of personal data of data principal by various agencies.

Another glaring omission in the proposed Bill is the non-existence of distinction between ‘personal’ and ‘sensitive’ personal data. The latter involves information related to a person’s race, religion, political opinions, ethnic origin, religious beliefs, etc. Such information is widely circulated in social media sites leading to social unrest and communal tensions. Government also needs to bring in stricter controls when personal data are transmitted offshore to prevent its misuse.

Srinivasan Velamur

Chennai

Oral insulin pills

This is with reference to ‘How close are we to an insulin tablet’ (November 28). An oral pill will make it easier for patients to take insulin. Developing insulin that patients can ingest remains a scientific challenge because insulin can be degraded in the stomach by acids and enzymes before it’s used in the body.

Insulin that can be swallowed has been studied as a possible way to either hold off or prevent the development of Type 1 diabetes, but this approach has been found to be ineffective in human clinical studies.

P Sundara Pandian

Virudhunagar, TN

Sustainable buildings

It refers to ‘How to make the building industry sustainable’ (November 28). Building and housing projects are growing rapidly due to urbanisation and people from villages shifting to cities and people from tier-2/3 cities shifting to metros. Both embodied carbon and operational carbon need to be addressed in equal measure and it is unfortunate that spending on research is miniscule.

We must definitely take a leaf out of China and US’s book as to how to use building and construction materials which are conducive to a sustainable environment. Indeed, mass production of hydrogen-based steel must be undertaken without any delay.

Bal Govind

Noida

The crypto saga

The meteoric rise of cryptocurrencies and their trading platforms in a relatively short period has given room for suspicion for long, but the same has been overshadowed by the false hopes of quick riches (‘Lessons from FTX’, November 28). High speculation and suspected manipulation have been the bane of the crypto story.

The crypto bubble in India may also burst, if timely steps are not taken. Frauds and scams are not unknown even in highly regulated stock markets.

How can one expect the completely unregulated crypyo trading platforms to be honest to their investors? It was a surprise that the government had started taxing domestic crypyo trading and gave a kind of legitimacy to the system, without framing the necessary regulatory mechanism first.

In the light of the collapse of FTX, the revelation of the full spectrum of its dealings and the damage it has done to the investors is not just a wakeup call, but a severe jolt, for domestic investors as well as the government.

Kosaraju Chandramouli

Hyderabad

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