LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE DIGITAL ECONOMY IN INDIA: DATA GOVERNANCE AND COMMUNITY DATA STEWARDSHIP FOR URBAN DATA

India’s digital economy is increasingly dependent on data infrastructures embedded in urban life, including integrated command-and-control centres, sensor-based mobility systems, and surveillance networks. India’s data governance frameworks, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, the Non-Personal Data Governance Framework, and the National Data Governance Framework Policy 2022, address these urban and community datasets only in a fragmented and cautious manner. This article critically examines India’s emerging data governance architecture, with a focus on community data and its legal regulation. It argues that while India has made progress in protecting individual data rights, it still lacks coherent legal and policy frameworks for recognizing and governing community data rights.