Morning Digest: Farmer unions say new draft policy is worse than three repealed farm laws; India protests China’s ‘new counties’ in Ladakh, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on January 4, 2024

The draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing (NPFAM), released recently for public comments by the Union Agriculture Ministry, is more dangerous than the three farm laws repealed in 2021, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella organisation of about 500 farmers’ outfits, said on Friday.

A mob attacked the offices of the Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police in Manipur’s Kuki-majority Kangpokpi district on Friday (January 3, 2025) evening. Photos of the SP with injuries on the forehead went viral on social media although there was no official confirmation.

India has lodged a “solemn protest” with China over the formation of two counties in the Hotan Prefecture that incorporates territory of India’s Ladakh. Speaking to reporters during the weekly briefing on Friday (January 3, 2025), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal reminded China that India “never accepted” Beijing’s “illegal occupation of Indian territory in this area”. He further stated categorically that India has also conveyed its “concerns” about building a mega hydro power project in the upstream Yarlung Tsangpo, which is the Tibetan name of Brahmaputra, that flows through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.

The Union Health Ministry said on Friday that it was closely monitoring the alleged outbreak of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) in China. The Ministry maintained that while China had reported a rise in respiratory illness, particularly HMPV, India hadn’t registered any unusual spike in winter respiratory diseases.

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has completed full-scale implementation of the new Centralised Pension Payments System (CPPS) to provide PF pensions under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS). Pension worth ₹1,570 crore, for the month of December 2024, was disbursed to more than 68 lakh pensioners in 122 pension disbursing regional offices, the Union Labour Ministry said in a release on Friday (January 3, 2025).

A New York court has ordered that the criminal and civil cases filed against billionaire Gautam Adani and others in a bribery scheme are “related” and will be assigned to the judge overseeing the criminal case.

The Union government on Friday (January 3, 2025) evening released the draft Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules, 2025, which will enforce provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. While the Act was passed over a year ago, the rules that will result in its enforcement have thus far been under development, and are only now being floated for public consultation. The DPDP Act provides a legal framework for “data fiduciaries” — entities that collect personal data from “data principals” or users — in order to protect that data against misuse and penalise firms who violate data protection principles.