| |AUGUST 20239TECH MINTAmazon claims to have digitized over 62 lakh (6.2 million) micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), enabled almost $8 billion in cumulative e-commerce exports, and created over 13 lakh (1.3 million) direct and indirect jobs in India to date.Amazon has vowed to digitize one crore (10 million) MSMEs, enabling $20 billion in cumulative e-commerce exports, and generate 20 lakh (2 million) employment in India by 2025, and it is on course to do so.About two years ago, Amazon unveiled the $250 million Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund, which will invest in technology-led startups dedicated to harnessing the potential of a digital India.The Venture Fund has made multiple investments in the last 24 months, including 'FreshtoHome,' 'XYXX,' 'Hopscotch,' 'Fitterfly,' 'Cashify,' 'MyGlamm,' 'M1xchange,' and' smallcase.Amazon has digitized over 6.2 million MSMEs, including retailers, craftspeople and weavers, delivery and logistics service partners, and so on.Furthermore, the corporation stated that its Global Selling initiative is focused on building a strong infrastructure to assist Indian businesses in reaching clients in over 200 countries and territories, generating global brands from India, and growing exports."The program is witnessing rapid momentum, and today there are more than 1.25 lakh exporters on the programme who are on track to cross $8 billion in cumulative exports by the end of 2023," Amazon said.In the last year, Amazon has helped create around 1.4 lakh direct and indirect jobs in areas such as IT, e-Commerce, Logistics, Manufacturing, Content Creation, Skill Development, and others, as well as additional indirect jobs in the seller community. According to Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the government anticipates putting the Digital Personal Data Protection law into effect in less than ten months. In spite of a walkout by opposition lawmakers over the Manipur issue, the Rajya Sabha passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023 by a voice vote.The Bill, which was introduced six years after the Supreme Court declared that the "Right to Privacy" is a fundamental right, contains safeguards to prevent online platforms from abusing users' personal data."We have started work on implementation. This kind of legislation will require a 6-10 month kind of frame. We will take every step with proper checks and balances. It is a guesstimate. We might do it faster than that," Vaishnaw says.He went on to explain the guiding principles, saying that the amount of data that should be gathered should be kept to the minimum necessary and that it should only be used in accordance with the law and for the intended purpose.Vaishnaw says, "Citizens will have the right to correct their data and it should be stored with entities till the time it is required and protected by putting in place reasonable safeguards"."The provisions of the bill will apply to data of Indian citizens stored overseas as well. Any person in India, even foreign nationals will get protection under the bill," Vaishnaw adds.In response to questions about modifications to the Right to Information Act, he stated that the Puttaswamy decision elevated the Right to Privacy to the status of a fundamental right. As a result, no personal information can be released in any public forum in any other way than through a method that has been permitted by the law. AMAZON DIGITIZED OVER 62 LAKH MSMESGOVERNMENT TO IMPLEMENT NEW DATA PROTECTION LAW IN 10 MONTHS
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