Morning Digest | Roll-out schedule of 3 new criminal codes will be notified by January 26; Top Hamas official Saleh Arouri killed in Beirut blast, and more 

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on January 3, 2024

Home Ministry seeks to pacify truckers protesting new hit-and-run law

As transporters across the country struck work to protest the increase in punishment in hit-and-run cases in the yet to be implemented Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) convened a meeting with the All India Motor Transport Congress on January 2. Transporters, including bus and taxi unions, have called a nationwide strike from January 1 to January 30 to protest Section 106 of the BNS, which prescribes a maximum of punishment of 10 years in cases of rash and negligent driving. 

Roll-out schedule of 3 new criminal codes will be notified by January 26

The date to implement the three criminal codes that were passed by the Parliament in December 2023 will be notified before January 26, a senior government official said on Tuesday. The official added that it will take nine months to a year for the three criminal laws to be implemented across the country, and a pilot project is all set to begin in Ahmedabad in the next two months.

312 COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 cases detected in India

A total of 312 cases of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 have been detected in the country so far, with about 47% of them recorded in Kerala, according to the INSACOG’s data updated on Tuesday. Ten States and 2 Union Territories have so far detected the presence of the JN.1 sub-variant of the virus. They are Kerala (147), Goa (51), Gujarat (34), Maharashtra (26), Tamil Nadu (22), Delhi (16), Karnataka (eight), Rajasthan (five), Telangana (two), and Odisha (one), according to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG).

Transport unions’ protest at Jantar Mantar on January 3 against new provisions on hit-and-run