Tech Mahindra sacks diversity officer ‘who mocked gay people & called Islam a global pain’
New Delhi: TechMahindra has fired a diversity officer accused of making statements derogatory to homosexuals and Islam, the company announced in a tweet late Saturday.
The decision followed an internal investigation kicked up by tweets posted by a former employee, Gaurav Probir Pramanik, who is gay. Gaurav worked at the Noida office of the company between 2013 and 2016.
ThePrint was the first to report that Tech Mahindra had launched an investigation against the officer in question, Richa Gautam.
According to Gaurav, among other instances, Gautam had labelled him “effeminate” and implied that it affected his performance at work.
Gaurav alleged that in 2015, she asked a manager who was weeping whether he was “a gay” to be “crying like this”.
In one of her tweets from an account that has been locked to strangers since the controversy broke, she reportedly called Islam “a global pain”.
“I stand vindicated,” Gaurav told ThePrint after Gautam’s sacking. “I am grateful that the outcome came so fast. I have finally got some sort of a closure to the hurt and humiliation I was subjected to over an extended period of time.”
“My prime reason for leaving Tech Mahindra was the constant humiliation I had to face for being gay,” Gaurav had told ThePrint in a previous email.
Speaking to ThePrint, Tech Mahindra MD and CEO C.P. Gurnani reiterated the formal statement issued by Tech Mahindra on Twitter and sought to distance the company from Gautam.
According to her profile on the professional networking site LinkedIn, Gautam had been with Tech Mahindra since 2007.
Her alleged harassment of employees came to light earlier this month, after the historic 6 September verdict of the Supreme Court decriminalising homosexuality.
Three days after the Supreme Court’s Section 377 verdict, on 9 September, Gaurav wrote Gautam an email where he sought to call her out for her behaviour. In the email, which Gaurav tweeted after Gautam reportedly didn’t respond, he detailed the aforementioned instances of harassement.
Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra and Gurnani responded to the tweets, saying they would investigate the matter.
ThePrint reached out to Gautam through Facebook but is yet to receive a reply.
courtesy : theprint.in
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EAM Jaishankar meets Jamaican PM, gifts over 10 BHISHM Cubes
Kingston (PTI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday met Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness and discussed ways to further deepen "political, economic and people-to-people cooperation."
Jaishankar also conveyed greetings from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Holness.
"Pleased to call on Prime Minister @AndrewHolnessJM in Kingston. Conveyed the greetings of PM @narendramodi," Jaishankar posted on X.
"Discussed deepening our political, economic and people-to-people cooperation. Value his commitment towards further strengthening India-Jamaica relations," the post further read.
Also, the external affairs minister handed over 10 BHISHM (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita & Maitri) Cubes as a gift to Jamaica.
"Formally handed over 10 BHISHM Cubes as a gift from India to Jamaica, in the presence of PM @AndrewHolnessJM, Health Minister @christufton and FM @kaminajsmith," Jaishankar posted on X.
"The BHISHM Cube mobile hospital system, designed for rapid deployment, will help Jamaica during disasters and emergencies. The gift of these cubes is a statement of friendship, a commitment to disaster preparedness, and an outcome of innovation," the post said.
Jaishankar arrived in Kingston on Saturday evening, marking the first leg of his nine-day tour of Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, aimed at further strengthening India's strategic and cultural ties with the Caribbean nations.
Earlier in the day, he interacted with the Indian diaspora and discussed India's ongoing transformation in infrastructure, human development and technology-driven governance and entrepreneurship with them.
He also highlighted the cricket bond between both countries as India gifted a scoreboard to Jamaica.
A scoreboard was dedicated at Sabina Park in Kingston. It is the home of the Jamaica cricket team and is the only Test cricket ground in the Caribbean island nation.
The minister expressed hope that the new scoreboard would witness many memorable innings, including those symbolising the enduring friendship between the two countries.
Cricket has long been a strong cultural bridge between India and Jamaica, which is part of the West Indies cricket team.
Jamaican players, including Chris Gayle, Courtney Walsh and Michael Holding, have played a major role in shaping the legacy of West Indies cricket in the international arena, contributing to its dominance in earlier decades and its continued global appeal.
