BHUBANESWAR  SATURDAY  JANUARY 04, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 12  JEYPORE EDITION CHINA PLAYS DOWN REPORTS OF FLU OUTBREAK, SAYS IT’S SAFE TO VISIT China’s foreign ministry said there is no massive flu outbreak in the country and that its hospitals are not overwhelmed by the influx of flu patients ‘RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS LESS THIS YEAR’ INDIA ALERT, CLOSELY MONITORING SITUATION “Respiratory infections tend to peak during the winter season in the northern hemisphere,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing in response to a question on the spread of Human Metapneumovirus and influenza A. “The diseases appear to be less severe and spread with a smaller scale compared to the previous year,” she said ■ ■ The National Centre for Disease Control under the Union health ministry said it is closely monitoring influenza cases in the country, and is in touch with international agencies in the wake of reports of an outbreak of the Human Metapneumovirus in China Officials said there is no substantial increase in flu infections in India HMPV IS LIKE ANY OTHER RESPIRATORY VIRUS WHICH CAUSES COMMON COLD CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Govt notifies draft rules for digital privacy Children under 18 years will require parental consent to create social media accounts R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi DRAFT RULES MUM ON PENALTIES The draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules don’t mention penalties that were approved under the 2023 Act, which had a provision to impose a penalty of up to `250 crore on data fiduciaries in case of personal data breach DATA OF INACTIVE USERS TO BE DELETED If a company collects your data for a specific purpose but you don’t use it for a certain period, then it must delete your data. However, before deleting the data, the company must notify you 48 hours in advance CHILDREN under 18 will require parental consent to create social media accounts, according to the new draft regulations for the Digital Personal Data Protection Act. If data fiduciaries—entities that process data— transfer Indians’ personal data abroad, they will have to strictly comply with some additional rules set by the Central government. The draft, titled Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2025 and released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) on Friday, provides for the government and its agencies to process Indians’ personal data to provide subsidies, benefits, services, certificates, licences, or permits. The draft, which outlines how companies and government agencies should handle digital personal data, is open for consultation till February 18. As per the draft rules, any company or organisation using personal data must seek the individual’s consent. They must clearly inform the individuals (data principals) about the purpose of data processing. Also, they need to provide a detailed description of the goods or services that will be offered. The draft norms say data fiduciaries must implement reasonable security measures to protect personal data, such as encryption, access control, monitoring for unauthorised access, and data backups. In the event of a data breach, the data fiduciary must promptly notify all affected individuals. Under the new regulation, children below 18 years will need their parents’ consent to create social media accounts on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. When collecting a child’s personal data, the data fiduciary must obtain verifiable consent from the child’s parent. To ensure this, the company must verify the parent’s identity and age using reliable sources, such as government-issued IDs or digital locker services. FIERY PROTEST TO BHOPAL TOXIC WASTE Protest against transport of Union Carbide’s toxic waste from Bhopal, became fiery as two sustained burn injuries after attempting self-immolation | P8 CM declares unseasonal rain as natural calamity to facilitate aid for farmers @ Bhubaneswar CHIEF Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday declared the unseasonal rains in December as a natural calamity to facilitate payment of compensation to the affected farmers from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). Announcing the decision at the inaugural ceremony of the Krushi Odisha conclave here, the chief minister said farmers who have suffered crop loss of more than 33 per cent will be eligible for the ex gratia payment. The state govern- NEW Delhi has lodged a “solemn protest” with Beijing against its creation of two new counties last month in Hotan prefecture, as parts these regions fall within the Union territory of Ladakh. New Delhi also conveyed its concerns to Beijing about China’s plan to build a massive hydropower dam in Tibet on the Yarlung Zangbo river, which flows into India. The Yarlung Zangbo becomes the Brahmaputra as it exits Tibet and flows south into Arunachal Pradesh and Assam before entering Bangladesh. In a strong response, Exter- nal Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the creation of new counties will not affect India’s long-standing and consistent position on its sovereignty over the region, nor will it legitimise China’s “illegal and forcible” occupation of the area. “We have seen the announcement pertaining to the establishment of two new counties in Hotan Prefecture of China. Parts of jurisdiction of these so-called counties fall in India’s Union Territory of Ladakh,” he said, adding: “We have never accepted the illegal Chinese occupation of Indian territory in this area.” “Taking into consideration the huge loss suffered by the farmers, the decision was made to include the unseasonal rains as a natural calamity. This will facilitate c o m p e n s a t i o n p ay m e n t through SDRF,” Majhi said The rains which occurred in two phases between December 20 and 28 caused extensive damage to crops across several districts during kharif harvesting period, with Ganjam being the worst hit. At least, nine farmers have also lost their lives by suicide or shock over losing their crops. CONTINUED ON P5 GOVT AWAITS FAMILY’S WORD ON MEMORIAL SITE 30 kg gold looted from Manappuram’s Sambalpur office in daylight heist PA R V E Z S U LTA N @ New Delhi E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Sambalpur TWO adjoining sites measuring about 2,000 sq ft each within the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal in the Capital await approval from former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s family to house his memorial. They are yet to pick one. After the visit of senior officials of the ministry of housing and urban affairs, the staff on Wednesday cleaned up the spots and pruned the grass there. According to the officials, an estimate of construction has been prepared and the allotment formalities will be initiated once they get word from Singh’s family . Spread over about 45 acres, the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal complex is sandwiched between Ring Road and Salimgarh bypass along the Yamuna bank. The two sites are next to the memorial of P V Narasimha Rao. They are surrounded by paved pathways and flanked by the memorials of former presidents and prime ministers Zail Singh, Shankar Dayal Sharma, R Venkataraman, K R Narayanan, Chandra Shekhar and I K Gujral. The Sthal also has Sadaiv Atal, a memorial park where former Prime Minister A t a l B i h a r i Va j p aye e w a s cremated. The staff posted at the Sthal was expecting a visit by Singh’s family on Friday. However, no information was available about the visit till late evening. This newspaper had on Thurs- IN a daring daylight heist that caught Sambalpur police napping, a group of armed robbers barged into the office of Manappuram Finance Ltd along Budharaja Main Road here and decamped with over 30 kg gold worth around `20 crore and `4 lakh cash on Friday. The incident took place at around 11.30 am. A Manappuram staffer said around an hour after the branch opened, a group of masked miscreants entered the office with sharp weapons and firearms. They held three staff hostage and tied the hands and feet of the branch head. Some of the robbers held the staff at gunpoint while others got the keys and password of the vault. Several others stood guard outside the branch while their accomplices committed the crime inside. Subsequently, the robbers looted gold jewellery and cash from the vault and fled the spot. On being informed, police reached the crime scene and launched an investigation. Norther n range IG Himanshu Lal and Sambalpur SP Mukesh Bhamoo also rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. Police said no staff or customer present in the branch office suffered any injury in the incident. Subdivisional police officer (SDPO) Tophan Bag said around seven to 10 miscreants carried out the heist. All of them were wearing helmets and face masks. After committing the crime, they fled on motorcycles. “Police are scanning the footage of CCTV cameras installed in the area. The employees of the finance office are also being interrogated. All evidence are being examined. Security has also been heightened in the area. The SP is leading the investigation and the miscreants would be nabbed soon,” the SDPO added. In a statement, Sambalpur police said following the incident, the affected staff and customers are receiving counselling. “We want to reassure all affected customers of the branch that their assets would be compensated by the company,” it stated. Creating counties in Ladakh unacceptable: India to China J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi ment will provide `291.95 crore from SDRF as input subsidy to the far mers for damage to crops through DBT mode. The move assumes significance as the state government has announced that all farmers who have suffered crop loss due to the rains will be compensated, irrespective of insurance coverage. Unseasonal rains was not listed as a calamity in the Relief Code making it difficult for the government to provide compensation to farmers who don’t have insurance cover. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE China’s state-owned media Xinhua reported on December 27 that the government of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region announced the establishment of two new counties in the region — He’an County and Hekang County. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the State Council approved them, it said. As for the dam, “The Chinese side has been urged to ensure that the interests of downstream states are not harmed,” Jaiswal said. “We will continue to monitor and take necessary measures to protect our interests,” he added. EXPRESS READ `847 cr push for agri-enterprise, rooftop solar units to get subsidy Black panther with cub roaming central Odisha forest fuels excitement Bhubaneswar: In a bid to encourage entrepreneurship in the agriculture sector and boost employment generation, the state government on Friday approved a five year budget of `847.14 crore for the Mukhyamantri Krushi Udyog Yojana. The cabinet also approved a proposal to grant subsidy of `25,000 up to 2 KW and `10,000 subsidy for an additional kilowatt per house for installation of rooftop solar units | P3 Bhubaneswar: The sighting of a melanistic leopard carrying its cub in its mouth in the forests of Odisha’s central region has brought joy to wildlife enthuciasts across the country. Though this not the first time black panthers have been detected in Odisha’s forests but a melanistic big cat seen with its cub was definitely a first instance. What is even more interesting is at least five black panthers have been sighted in the camera traps in the central Odisha landscape, sources said | P2 One of the sites suggested to former PM Mammohan Singh’s family for his memorial | PARVEZ SULTAN 1 2 4 3 5 6 SPOT THE SITES 1. Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s memorial 2. P V Narasimha Rao’s memorial 3. R Venkataraman Samadhi 4,5: Vacant sites suggested to Manmohan Singh’s family for building his memorial 6. I K Gujral’s memorial day reported that the government had decided to allocate land to a trust to be set up for the construc- tion and maintenance of Singh’s memorial after receiving approval from his family “The trust to be set . up in Manmohan Singh’s name will build the memorial. The response of the family is awaited. The allotment formalities can only be initiated after the constitution of the trust. It may take about a week. This has been the practice. In the case of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a trust in his name had already existed. A senior official of the ministry was on Thursday entrusted with the task to inform the family about the possible location of Singh memorial,” said officials. Singh passed away on December 26 and his funeral took place three days later at Nigambodh Ghat. After Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge sought space for a memorial, the Union Cabinet set the ball rolling. In 2000, the then government had resolved not to allow separate memorials for dignitaries near Rajghat. SBI RESEARCH Rural poverty fell to record low of 4.86% in FY24: Report E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Mumbai HIGHER consumption in the lowest 0-5% decile and government support programmes have significantly brought down poverty in India — both rural and urban — an SBI research report released on Friday said. Rural poverty crashed to 4.86% in FY24 from a high level of 25.7% in 2011-12, while urban poverty dropped to 4.09% from 13.7% in the same period, the report noted. In FY23, rural and urban poverty rates were 7.2% and 4.6%, respectively . “The sharp decline in rural poverty ratio is on account of higher consumption growth in lowest 0-5 per cent decile with significant government support and such support is important as we also find that change in food prices has a significant impact on not just food expenditures, but overall expenditure in general,” the report said extrapolating the latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation. The survey showed that consumption inequality in both rural and urban areas declined during the August 2023-July 2024 period compared to a year ago. According to Soumyakanti Ghosh, group chief economic advisor at SBI, urban poverty could decline further. “At an aggregate level, we believe poverty rates in India could now be in the range of 4-4.5% with almost minimal existence of extreme poverty,” the report said.