HYDERABAD  SATURDAY  JANUARY 04, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 16 LATE CITY 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 NO MENTION OF PENALTY CLAUSE 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 in order to give 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 processing entity 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 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. Revanth orders 20 tmcft water to Hyd E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad INSTRUCTING the Water Board to draft a comprehensive plan to address the drinking water needs of Greater Hyderabad for the next 25 years, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Friday asked them to earmark 20 tmcft — instead of the proposed 15 tmcft — from Mallannasagar project as part of Godavari Phase-II project and also lay new pipelines parallel to the existing ones from the Manjeera project. The draft plan should keep in view the rapid expansion of Hyderabad, including the increased population, by 2050, the chief minister told a review meeting NEW Delhi has lodged a “solemn protest” with Beijing against its creation of two new counties last month in Hotan prefecture, as parts of 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.” with officials of the Hyderabad Water Board (HMWSSB) at the Integrated Command Control Centre here. He also directed the Water Board officials to include a sewage management plan alongside the water supply infrastruc- TG’s 5-yr green energy target: 20,000 MW EXPRESS READ Skill University to launch 3 new courses Hyderabad: The Young India Skill University on Friday announced three new industry-led courses in collaboration with AIG Hospitals, T Works and KIMS. These are:- a six month course offered by the AIG Hospitals in Endoscopy Technician; a two-month course in prototyping specialist by T Works and and a two-month course for medical coding specialist by KIMS. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad WITH peak demand projected to reach 31,809 MW by 2035, the state government has set the target of adding 20,000 MW of renewable energy and storage capacity by 2030. The state government will unveil the Telangana Renewable Energy Policy , also known as Telangana Clean and Green Energy Policy - 2025 (TGREEN) very soon. On Friday, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who also holds the Energy portfolio, sought feedback on the proposed policy . He said that the ambitious projects like Future City, AI City, Pharma City, Regional Ring Road, extension of Metro Rail and Industrial Corridor would result in higher energy consumption and the aim is to meet this demand with green CONTINUED ON P5 energy . Creating counties in Ladakh unacceptable: India to China J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi Chief Minister A Revanth chairs the review meeting on water with officials on Friday ture and suggested that they could consult external agencies if required. This was perhaps the first review meeting chaired by a chief minister on water needs of the city since the formation of Telangana 11 years ago. Officials apprised Revanth of the option of sourcing water from Mallannasagar or Kondapochamma Sagar for the Godavari PhaseII project. Reviewing various reports and feasibility studies, it was decided that the project will utilise Mallannasagar water. The CM told officials to earmark 20 tmcft instead of the 15 tmcft proposed earlier, to cater to the city’s growing needs. CONTINUED ON P3 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. One of the sites suggested to former PM Manmohan Singh’s family for his memorial | PARVEZ SULTAN GOVT AWAITS FAMILY’S WORD ON MEMORIAL SITE PA R V E Z S U LTA N @ New Delhi 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 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 Sthal also has Sadaiv Atal, a memorial park where former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was 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. ACB summons KTR on January 6 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad CLASH OF EMOTIONS Late on Day 1 of the final Test in Sydney, emotions took centre stage when Jasprit Bumrah was visibly upset with Australian opener Usman Khwaja for taking too much time to face the ball. Sam Konstas, at the non-striker’s end, got involved as tempers flared before Bumrah had Khwaja’s wicket off the last ball of the day | AP | P11 THE Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has summoned former Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) minister KT Rama Rao to appear for questioning on January 6, 2025, as part of its investigation into the transfer of `55 crore to Formula-E Operations Limited. The funds were allegedly transferred without necessary approvals, violating Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines. The ACB has also summoned senior IAS officer and former MAUD Special Chief Secretary Arvind Kumar and former HMDA chief engineer BLN Reddy, though dates for their ap- pearance have not been confirmed. The case was registered on December 19, 2024, under the Prevention of Corruption Act (Sections 13(1)(a) and 13(2)) and Sections 409 and 120(B) of the IPC based on a complaint by MAUD Principal Secretary M Dana Kishore. According to the complaint, the funds were transferred without Cabinet approval or authorisation from the Finance department, violating RBI norms. The government re- portedly incurred penalties from the Income Tax department due to this violation. ACB officials recorded Dana Kishore’s statement over seven hours to understand the alleged violations during the Formula-E race agreements in two phases. Earlier, the ACB had sought permission from the Governor to proceed against Rama Rao under Section 17A of the PCA, since the BRS working president is also a member of the state Legislature. After consulting the Attorney General of India, the Governor granted permission. Similarly, the ACB received authorisation from the chief secretary to file cases against Arvind Kumar and BLN Reddy . This newspaper had on Thursday reported that the government had decided to allocate land to a trust to be set up for the construction 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. The Cong ress veteran 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 2013, the then government had resolved not to allow separate memorials for dignitaries near Rajghat because of scarcity of space. IMD issues yellow alert, says mercury will dip Hyderabad: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday forecast a drop in temperature, with the mercury dropping below the 100C mark at many places. Issuing an orange alert for Asifabad and Nirmal districts for the next two days, the IMD said that minimum temperatures are likely to drop by 20C to 40C during the next three days across the state | P2 FIERY PROTEST TO BHOPAL TOXIC WASTE A leaderless protest in Madhya Pradesh’s Pithampur town against the transport of Union Carbide’s toxic waste from Bhopal, became fiery as two protesters sustained burn injuries after attempting self-immolation | P8 Allu Arjun granted regular bail in stampede case EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad THE Metropolitan Sessions Court, Nampally on Friday granted regular bail to actor Allu Arjun in the Sandhya Theatre stampede case on a personal bond of `50,000 with two sureties, with the condition that he appears before the Chikkadpally SHO between 10 am and 1 pm every Sunday for two months or till the filing of the chargesheet in the case, whichever is earlier. The court also ordered Arjun not to leave the country without prior permission. The ac- tor was also ordered not to tamper with the investigation in any manner nor directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any witness. Arjun was arrested on December 13 and was granted interim bail till January 9 by the Telangana High Court the same day . Advocates appearing for the actor have argued that Section 105 (culpable homicide) of BNS did not apply to Arjun as he was at least 30 feet away from the crime scene, nor did he order his private security to push the crowd.