Central minister MJ Akbar resigns over allegations of sexual harassment by multiple women
Calls for MJ Akbar to step down had grown louder after over a dozen women accused him of sexual harassment, sexual assault and inappropriate behaviour.
In a huge victory for the #MeToo movement in India, Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs MJ Akbar, accused of sexual assault and sexual harassment by over 20 women, has stepped down from his post in the ministry.

In a statement released by media, MJ Akbar stated that he had decided to step down from his post and fight what he has termed as ‘false allegations’ in his personal capacity.

“Since I have decided to seek justice in a court of law in my personal capacity, I deem it appropriate to step down from my office and challenge false accusations levied against me, also in a personal capacity. I have, therefore, tendered my resignation from the office of Minister of State for External Affairs. I am deeply grateful to the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and to the External Affairs Minister Smt. Sushma Swaraj for the opportunity they gave me to serve my country,” according to MJ Akbar’s statement.

MJ Akbar has filed a defamation case against journalist Priya Ramani, who was the first woman to come out with her account of alleged sexual harassment by the former minister. Twenty women who worked with MJ Akbar during his career as a journalist have asked the court to consider their testimonies of being subject to MJ Akbar’s sexual harassment and misconduct, or were witness to the same.

Calls for the minister to step down had grown louder after over a dozen women had put on record their gut-wrenching stories of sexual harassment, sexual assault and inappropriate behaviour by the minister. MJ Akbar, who was a part of the NDA government, previously held various senior positions in multiple news media organisations, including The Telegraph, Asian Age and India Today.

There was a common pattern to survivors’ accounts – he would set up job interviews with aspiring women journalists in hotel rooms, repeatedly call them to his office cabin for meaningless conversation and chatter, entice them with major stories, send them out of the workplace and meet them at a hotel at odd hours.

Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, who had ducked questions by the media when asked about the allegations on Akbar, was criticised for her silence. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad refused to answer any question other than those pertaining to Cabinet decisions including on Akbar and the #MeToo campaign.

Political parties like the Congress and the CPI(M) had called for Akbar’s resignation as well.

Several Indian women from various fields have been taking to Twitter to speak up about the sexual harassment and sexual assault that they have faced. Allegations have been made against many prominent men, including stand-up comedians, singers, senior journalists and editors.

ANI

Kumaraswamy’s appeal to Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal comes amid a shortage of coal in Karnataka’s thermal power plants.

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy raised concerns of a power crisis in the state and appealed to Union Minister of Railways, Coal and Corporate Affairs, Piyush Goyal, to ensure a steady supply of coal to the state. The appeal comes amid a shortage of coal in the state’s thermal power plants.

On Wednesday, CM Kumaraswamy, in a letter to the Union Minister, pointed out that the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS), which has a capacity of 1720 MW, currently has no stock of coal. Kumaraswamy said that the dire situation had risen in the state after Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), a unit of Coal India Limited (CIL), supplied 6 Lakh MT of coal lesser than the quantity that was agreed upon in the Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) signed by the two parties.

He further urged the Union Minister to ensure that the deficit is removed by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), another coal company.

The RTPS which is an eight-unit power station needs 26,000 tonnes of coal on a daily basis to run its units. When its coal stocks are exhausted, the power station is forced to depend on coal rakes on a daily basis.

A year ago, the Karnataka government had raised a similar complaint after which a meeting was arranged between WCL and Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL). In the meeting held on October 11, it was agreed that WCL would dispatch one rake of coal to KPCL plants every day.

The RTPS is one of three thermal power stations in the state alongside the Ballari Thermal Power Station (BTPS) in Ballari and the Yermarus Thermal Power Station (YTPS) in Raichur. The Karnataka government has set up coal linkages in its thermal stations with three suppliers – Singareni Collieries Company Limited, Telengana, WCL, Maharashtra and Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, Odisha.

PTI

Bengaluru’s garbage collection problems – from improper collection to the corruption in garbage contracts – may be resolved soon since the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is set to award garbage collection contract tenders at the ward level.

The decision came after many reports of corruption surfaced regarding the number of garbage collection vehicles and the number of workers employed for the purpose. As per reports, at present, the garbage contractors who get the tender are in-charge of the manpower and the vehicles that are deployed for the job. There were reports of ghost payments – payments for non-existing vehicles. When asked about the missing workers and vehicles, it was a routine affair for the contractor to claim that they are in another ward. The new scheme aims to put an end to similar claims by the contractors.

Bengaluru Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun told media that a meeting has been scheduled for October 23 to finalise norms before it goes for the council’s approval. She also added that if local contractors fail to cooperate, the BBMP will invite tenders from global players.

This decision comes close to the heels of other problems faced by the BBMP in relation to the management of solid waste in the city. The Karnataka High Court had pulled up the BBMP for not carrying out solid waste management processes at the ward level and also for not paying the pourakarmikas (civic workers) for months together. In May, the BBMP encountered the issue to ghost payments to vehicles that were missing on the ground after it was proposed that the vehicles be tagged with radio sensors to keep track of them. 100 trucks were supposedly missing from the ground but were being paid by BBMP every month.

TNM

With fresh revelations corroborating its allegations over the inclusion of a private firm as an Indian offset partner in the Rafale deal, the Congress on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for benefiting his crony asking him to break his silence on the multi-crore “scam”.

Citing a report by French blog Portail Aviation, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said it reinforced the fact that Modi “facilitated a sweetheart deal with Dassault Aviation to enormously and illegitimately benefit a crony friend”.

The French blog has put up images of documents published by two unions of Rafale-maker Dassault — the CFDT and CGT — and quoted Dassault Aviation Chief Operating Officer Loik Segalenn as telling the two unions that it was “imperative” for the company to sign an agreement with Reliance Defence to get the contract for the jets.

Surjewala said the report by the French blog also corroborates former French President Francois Hollande’s assertions that the “Indian government proposed Reliance Defence as the partner for Dassault for Rafale deal and France did not have a choice”.

“A complete presentation of the Make in India with the creation of the enterprise “Dassault Reliance Aerospace” in Nagpur was made.

“According to Segalenn, it was imperative and mandatory for Dassault-Aviation to accept this counterpart in order to obtain the export contract of Rafale India.

“This is the inevitable consequence of the Rafale India contract which required making Make in India to be signed.

“A joint venture was therefore created with the Indian company to achieve this goal,” said Surjewala reading out excerpts of the French report translated into English.

“This is the third confirmation after Hollande had clearly told a French outlet about Modi securing the deal for Reliance Defence,” he said.

Referring to claims by several Bharatiya Janata Party ministers that Dassault Aviation “freely chose” its offset partner, the Congress demanded to know why Segalenn said “it was imperative and mandatory for Dassault-Aviation to accept this counterpart in order to obtain the Rafale India export contract”.

Observing that neither the French nor the Indian government denied the “unequivocal assertions” made by Hollande, the Congress demanded that Modi speak up on the issue.

“Undisputed evidence now corroborates, brazen crony capitalism and quid pro quo by Modi government in the multi-crore Rafale scam. Time for Modi to break his silence,” added Surjewala.

Alleging massive irregularities in the deal that has caused “huge loss to the public exchequer”, the Congress has been relentless in attacking Modi and his government over the deal announced by the Prime Minister in 2015.

The party has twice petitioned the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) for a special and forensic audit and also moved the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) seeking a probe and seizure of relevant documents pertaining to the deal. It has also been persistent in demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe.

Besides questioning the “inflated” price of the jets, the Congress has also been targeting the Centre over the propriety of a newly-founded private company getting the Rs 30,000 crore Rafale offset contract at the cost of the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).

IANS

Four persons were killed and two seriously injured when a speeding truck crushed them in Madhya Pradesh’s Satna district on Wednesday, police said.

The incident happened when the six of a family from Kolgaon village were going to a temple at five in the morning.

Four of them died on the spot while the injured have been hospitalised.