Daily News Dose: EPFO lowers interest rate to 8.1% | Mar 12, 2022

Hello listener, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Vishnu, and these are the major news stories of the day:



1. EPFO lowers interest rate to over 4-decade low of 8.1%
2. Spanish woman lodges complaint against tattoo artist Sujeesh,  Bridal makeup artist flees to Dubai
3. Ukraine president defiant as Russian forces, despite setbacks, regroup near Kyiv
4. Nora murder: Toddler's granny arrested, father booked
5. Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur slam tons as India register massive 155-run win over West Indies


Let’s get into the details.

1) The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation on Saturday decided to lower the interest on provident fund deposits for 2021-22 to an over four-decade low of 8.1% from 8.5% for its nearly 5 crore subscribers. This is the lowest since 1977-78, when the EPF interest rate stood at 8%.

2) A Spanish woman has alleged that tattoo artist, P S Sujeesh, made sexual advances at his studio during her Kochi visit. The woman, who is currently in Spain, sent out an email to the Kochi City Police Commissioner revealing her harrowing experience at Inkfected Tattoo Studio, Cheranallur. She was in Kochi a few days ago and that's when she learned about the MeToo charges against the accused. Police are in the process of contacting her for more details. Sujeesh was arrested after he surrendered before the police a week ago. At present, there are five cases, including a rape charge, registered against him. Meanwhile, Anez Ansari, who has been accused of similar charges by his clients, has fled the country and is reportedly in Dubai. Police have issued a lookout notice for him.

3) Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the country is at a strategic turning point in the war as Russian forces bombarded cities across the country and appeared to be regrouping for a possible assault on Kyiv. Addressing his people from Kyiv, Zelenskyy said, “It is impossible to say how many days we still have to free Ukrainian land. But we can say we will do it. We are already moving towards our goal, our victory.” Meanwhile, US president Joe Biden, who this week banned US imports of Russian oil, said the G7 industrialised nations would revoke Russia's 'most favoured nation” trade status. He also announced a US ban on imports of Russian seafood, alcohol and diamonds.


4)  The grandmother of Nora, the one-and-a-half-year-old who was murdered in a hotel room in Kochi recently, has been arrested in connection with the case. Sipsi, who has been booked under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act for using her grandchildren as cover for sex work and drug peddling, was nabbed from Thampanoor in Thiruvananthapuram. A case has also been registered against Nora's father Sajeev. He is likely to be taken into custody on charges of not providing the toddler adequate protection.

5) Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur slammed centuries as India produced a splendid batting display to notch up a comprehensive 155-run win over West Indies and bring their campaign back on track at the ICC Women's ODI World Cup here on Saturday. The duo forged a 184-run stand for the fourth wicket, India's highest partnership for any wicket at the women's World Cup, to help the team post a challenging 317 for eight after skipper Mithali Raj won the toss and elected to bat. The 2017 edition finalists then returned to dismiss West Indies for 162 in 40.3 overs to keep themselves in contention for the knockout stage. By virtue of this win, India now lead the eight-team standings with four points from three games, ahead of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa because of a better net run rate.



Now, let’s check out the covid update

6) India on Saturday recorded its lowest single-day rise in Covid infections since May 12, 2020 as 3,614 fresh cases pushed the overall tally to 4,29,87,875, while the active cases dipped to 40,599.
The death toll climbed to 5,15,803 with 89 more fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.44 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was 0.52 per cent.


That brings us to the end of this episode! Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.