THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l saturday l January 04, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l 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. 10 jailed for life in Periya case; CPM ex-MLA, 3 others handed 5-yr terms LIFE IMPRISONMENT E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kochi In a major embarrassment for the CPM, the CBI court in Kochi on Friday awarded life imprisonment to 10 of its workers for the murder of Youth Congress activists Sarath Lal P K and Kripesh at Periya in Kasaragod in 2019. The court also sentenced four others, including CPM ex-MLA K V Kunhiraman, to five-year jail term. This could be the first time a former legislator in Kerala is sent to jail after being convicted in a murder case. The court awarded the life term under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 120(b) (conspiracy) to Peethambaran A, Saji George, Suresh K M, Anil Kumar K, Gijin, Shrirag R, Aswin A, Subeesh (accused 1-8), Ranjith T (10th accused) and A Surendran (15th accused). While Ranjith and Surendran were part of the criminal conspiracy, the other eight were part of the group that murdered the Youth Congress workers. Though two separate life terms were awarded to the 10 convicts for murder and criminal Peethambaran A, Saji George, Suresh K M, Anil Kumar K, Gijin, Shrirag R, Aswin A, Subeesh , Ranjith T and A Surendran Under IPC section 302 (murder) and 120-b (conspiracy) Kripesh’s father Krishnan speaks to the media after the verdict while Kripesh’s sister Krishnapriya (centre) and Sarath Lal’s sister Amritha look on | T P Sooraj Kochi: Parents and close relatives of murdered YC workers Kripesh and Sarath Lal P K said the CBI court verdict was not fully satisfactory. P4 5-YEAR JAIL TERM K V Kunhiraman (former Udma MLA and CPM Kasaragod district secretariat member), Manikandan (Kanhangad block panchayat president), Raghavan Velutholy alias Raghavan Nair (former CPM Pakkam local secretary) and K V Bhaskaran Under IPC Section 225 (obstructing lawful apprehension of another person) conspiracy, the court maintained that the sentences would run concurrently They have also been or. dered to pay `2 lakh each as fine — `1 lakh each for murder and conspiracy charges. Kunhiraman (former Udma MLA and CPM Kasaragod district secretariat member), Manikandan (Kanhangad block panchayat president), Raghavan Velutholy alias Raghavan Nair (former CPM Pakkam local secretary) and K V Bhaskaran were sentenced to five years of simple imprisonment under IPC Section 225 for taking away accused Saji George from a police vehicle after the crime. The court cancelled the bail granted to convicts, including Kunhiraman, and they were shifted to the Viyyur Central Jail.  ● More on P4 ‘Not fully satisfactory’ time T’Puram city to host State School Arts Festival — touted as the biggest students’ cultural event in Asia — from Jan 4 to 8 Sabarimala revenue touches K297 crore Pathanamthitta: During the 41 days of Mandala Mahotsavam, over 32 lakh devotees had darshan at Sabarimala. The temple recorded a revenue of H297 crore during the period. P5 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, turned fiery as two protesters sustained burn injuries after attempting self-immolation | P8 CM Pinarayi Vijayan will formally inaugurate the festival at 10am on Saturday Competitions will be telecast live on KITE Victers channel of the General Education Department Students from landslide-hit Vellarmala school in Wayanad will perform at the inaugural ceremony Food pavilion that can cater to 4,000 people at a time, put up at the Putharikandam grounds. Nearly Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan will inaugurate the valedictory on January 8. Actor Tovino Thomas will be the chief guest. students will take part in the festival across 25 venues Main venue - Central Stadium named ‘MT-Nila’ in memory of the late writer M T Vasudevan Nair New Delhi: The fate of Nimisha Priya, who is on death row in Yemen, remains uncertain as efforts to contact the family of the Yemeni national she is accused of murdering, to offer blood money, have not yet been successful. “We are unable to communicate with them,” said Nimisha’s lawyer. P7 Fiery Students during the final rehearsal of a dance recital for the inaugural ceremony of the 63rd State School Arts Festival at Central Stadium, the main venue, in Thiruvananthapuram, on Friday. The participants were trained by the Kerala Kalamandalam | Vincent Pulickal | P2 Kalolsavam Efforts to save Nimisha Priya continue ‘Creating counties in Ladakh not acceptable’ J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi 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 It’s E X PR E SS R E AD 15,000 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 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 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 PM 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. TNIE 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. 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 r i v e r, w h i c h 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, External 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 Union Territory of Ladakh,” he said, adding: “We have never accepted the illegal Chinese occupation of Indian territory in this area.” 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express Rural poverty fell to record low of Spl cells for transgender persons planned in more jails 4.86% in FY24: SBI Research report ‘ f o rwa r d - lo o k i n g p r o p osa l’ S h a n A S @T’Puram The prisons department is mooting a proposal to set up special holding cells exclusively for prisoners from the transgender community in all jails in the state that have the required infrastructure. Of the 58 jails in the state, only three — Palakkad district jail, Ernakulam district jail and Thiruvananthapuram subjail — currently have prison blocks or cells for transgender persons. Though the number of people serving jail term from the transgender community is very less in the state — only one at present — the department observes that, as in the case of the other two genders, the share of prisoners from the transgender community might also see an increase in future. As per the proposal, special blocks will be set up for transwomen in women’s prisons in Viyyur, Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram. Women officials will be in charge of supervising them. According to sources, the department plans to set up special blocks for transgender community members in at least one prison in a district. “Though we have 58 prisons, not all have the adequate infrastructure to house transgender prisoners. We will first identify the prisons where we can set up the facility and with the help of the public works department, we will complete the construction,” said an official. The official said the “forwardlooking” proposal was made in tune with the changing times. “People are now more comfortable identifying with their sexual orientation. Prisoners from transgender community are at risk of being subjected to bullying and sexual assault if they aren’t housed in exclusive cells,” ● More on P4 the official said.  E x p r e s s N e w s Se 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 re- port 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. Soumyakanti Ghosh, group chief economic advisor at SBI, urban poverty could decline further.