Daily News Dose: Palakkad rocked by political murders. RSS activist latest to be killed | Apr 16, 2022

Hello, 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. Palakkad rocked by political murders. RSS activist latest to be killed.

2. Resign if unable to pay us salaries, KSRTC employees lash out at MD and Transport Minister

3. Police to grill court staff over leaking of actress assault visuals

4. Ukraine says fighting rages in Mariupol, blasts rattle Kyiv

5. IMD forecasts average monsoon rains for 2022

Let's get into the details:

1. In a likely tit-for-tat attack, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist was hacked to death at Melamuri in Palakkad Town on Saturday. The incident occurred a day after the murder of a Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) functionary at Elappully.On Saturday, Sreenivasan, a former Sharik Shikshan Pramukh (physical training instructor) of the RSS, was hacked at a shop by five assailants who arrived on three bikes. A witness claimed Sreenivasan was hacked over 20 times with swords. At the time of reporting, the gang of five has not been identified. Sreenivasan was targeted even as the district is on security alert following the murder of SDPI functionary Subair.

2. The Kerala State Road Transport Employees' Union (KSRTEA) on Saturday lashed out at Transport Minister Antony Raju for failing to resolve the current crisis that has engulfed KSRTC, the state-owned public transport corporation. The Union, part of the Centre of Trade Unions (CITU), has threatened extreme steps including the boycott of duties if salaries are not paid immediately. It has also demanded the reinstation of employees who were previously part of KSRTC's empanel system. The Union urged Raju to not forget the role the organisation played to see him become the minister. "The minister must not forget the promises he has made," KSRTEA state secretary Shanthakumar said. The Union has also locked horns with KSRTC Chairman and Managing Director Biju Prabhakar, demanding that he resign if he can't find a resolution. Though the Kerala government sanctioned Rs 30 crore to KSRTC for disbursing salaries, the Corporation maintains that it has not received it. In any case, Rs 30 crore won't even cover half of the amount needed. The Union estimates at least Rs 82 crore is needed to meet employees' salaries. Where talks have failed, the Employees' Union has decided to intensify protests. Now, both the Transport Democratic Federation (TDF) and the CITU have called for a strike. While TDF's strike is slated for May 6, CITU's indefinite strike will begin on April 28.

3. Court employees are set to be questioned by the police over the leaking of the visuals of the sexual assault of an actress in 2017. Two employees of the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court will be questioned in the first phase, Crime Branch sources said. The court had on April 4 allowed the investigation team to interrogate its staff. The court officer and a clerk, who was in charge of keeping the material evidence, will be questioned in the first stage. The police sought permission to question the court staff after a forensic report revealed that the memory cards containing the visuals of the sexual assault kept in the lower court were accessed and their hash value had been changed during the custody of the court. According to the forensic report, the hash value was changed on December 13, 2018. The Crime Branch sought the court's permission to question the staff who were on duty that day. Meanwhile, the Crime Branch, which is probing the 2017 case regarding the sexual assault of the actress, on Tuesday filed a petition before the trial court seeking cancellation of bail granted to actor and co-accused Dileep. The application in this regard was filed after a few rounds of discussion between the investigators and the legal teams. The probe team reportedly has enough evidence to prove how Dileep, who secured a bail after spending two months in jail in 2017, violated bail conditions by trying to thwart the investigation of the case in various ways.

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4. Ukraine said on Friday it was trying to break Russia's siege of Mariupol as fighting raged around the city's massive steelworks and port, and the capital Kyiv was rocked by some of the most powerful explosions in two weeks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the military situation in the south and east of the country was "still very difficult," while praising the work of his armed forces. "The successes of our military on the battlefield are really significant, historically significant. But they are still not enough to clean our land of the occupiers. We will beat them,” Zelenskyy said in a late-night video address, calling again for allies to send heavier weapons and for an international embargo on Russian oil. Meanwhile, Russia said it struck what it described as a factory on the outskirts of Kyiv that made and repaired anti-ship missiles, in apparent retaliation for the sinking on Thursday of the Moskva, the flagship of Moscow's Black Sea fleet. Mariupol has seen the worst fighting of the seven-week-long war. Home to 400,000 people before Russia's invasion, the city has been reduced to rubble. Thousands of civilians have died and tens of thousands remain trapped in the city.

5. India is likely to receive normal monsoon rains this year, the state-run weather office said, raising prospects of higher farm and general growth in Asia's third-biggest economy. The rains, which usually lash the southern tip of Kerala state around June 1 and retreat by September, are expected to be 99% of the long-term average this year, the India Meteorological Department said in a statement. New Delhi defines average, or normal, rainfall as ranging between 96% and 104% of a 50-year average of 87 cm (35 inches)for the four-month season beginning in June. "The encouraging forecast of a normal monsoon in 2022, coupled with healthy reservoir levels in all regions, augurs well for a timely onset of summer crop sowing," said Aditi Nayar, chief economist at rating agency ICRA, the Indian arm of Moody's. The monsoon is crucial for the $2.7-trillion economy, as it brings nearly 75% of the rain needed by farms, besides replenishing reservoirs and aquifers.

That brings us to the end of this episode. We at Onmanorama wish you a joyful Easter. Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.