K'taka: FIR against contractor who wrote to PM Modi alleging demand of commission by govt officials
Koppal: Gangavathi Rural Police on Friday booked a contractor who wrote to PM Modi alleging that commission was being demanded from him by government officials to release his pending amount.
The contractor, identified as Yerriswamy released a video wherein he claimed that he was booked by Gangavathi Rural Police under section 406 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Yerriswamy had earlier written to PM Modi alleging that government officials in Karnataka were demanding commission from him for releasing his dues.
He had said that the executive officer and the junior engineer have demanded a 30-40% commission from him as a bribe. He further said that contractors were unable to work with so many bribes.
Contractor Yariswamy had reportedly set up a solid waste management disposal unit. “I had supplied materials for this. They had made a payment of around 4 lakhs. They said go ahead with work, and we won't trouble you. But later, they asked me to pay them a percentage.” He wrote in the letter to PM Modi.
“I said no, clear my payment and I'll finish the work. So, they stopped me and they themselves put a roof on the disposal unit,” said Yariswamy.
He said, “Initially they said no commission was required and told me to finish the work fast. Later, when the payment was being released, they asked for a percentage. How do I trust them? The Executive Officer and Junior Engineer asked for money.”
“I've sent an initial 12,000 through phone pay and 20,000 in cash. They are troubling me. They are demanding a 30% bribe and the total commission comes to 40%,” said the contractor.
The officials reportedly filed a complaint against the contractor over the allegations following which the contractor has been booked by the cops under section 406 of IPC.
This comes after contractor Santosh Patil died by suicide alleging officials in Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) ministry were taking bribes to release funds for projects.
Contractor Santosh Patil, who had accused Karnataka BJP minister KS Eshwarappa of corruption, was found dead in a lodge in Udupi city on Monday, April 11.
#BREAKING #FIR regd by gangavathi rural police against #contractor Yerriswamy who wrote letter to @PMOIndia complaining that #Commission is being demanded by govt officials to release his amount. Cops inform based on complaint 4m CEO- FIR regd under IPC 406. Investigation is on pic.twitter.com/ev5flAC3TD
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Microsoft workers say they’ve been fired after 50th anniversary protest over Israel contract
Washington (PTI): Microsoft has fired two employees who interrupted the company's 50th anniversary celebration to protest its work supplying artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military, according to a group representing the workers.
Microsoft accused one of the workers in a termination letter Monday of misconduct "designed to gain notoriety and cause maximum disruption to this highly anticipated event.” Microsoft says the other worker had already announced her resignation, but on Monday it ordered her to leave five days early.
The protests began Friday when Microsoft software engineer Ibtihal Aboussad walked up toward a stage where an executive was announcing new product features and a long-term vision for Microsoft's AI ambitions.
“You claim that you care about using AI for good but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military," Aboussad shouted at Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. "Fifty-thousand people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region.”
The protest forced Suleyman to pause his talk while it was being livestreamed from Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington. Among the participants at the 50th anniversary of Microsoft's founding were co-founder Bill Gates and former CEO Steve Ballmer.
Microsoft said Suleyman calmly tried to de-escalate the situation. “Thank you for your protest, I hear you,” he said. Aboussad continued, shouting that Suleyman and “all of Microsoft” had blood on their hands. She also threw onto the stage a keffiyeh scarf, which has become a symbol of support for Palestinian people, before being escorted out of the event.
A second protester, Microsoft employee Vaniya Agrawal, interrupted a later part of the event.
Aboussad, based at Microsoft's Canadian headquarters in Toronto, was invited on Monday to a call with a human resources representative at which she was told she was being fired immediately, according to the advocacy group No Azure for Apartheid, which has protested the sale of Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform to Israel.
An investigation by The Associated Press revealed earlier this year that AI models from Microsoft and OpenAI had been used as part of an Israeli military program to select bombing targets during the recent wars in Gaza and Lebanon. The story also contained details of an errant Israeli airstrike in 2023 that struck a vehicle carrying members of a Lebanese family, killing three young girls and their grandmother.
In its termination letter, Microsoft told Aboussad she could have raised her concerns confidentially to a manager. Instead, it said she made “hostile, unprovoked, and highly inappropriate accusations” against Suleyman and the company and that her “conduct was so aggressive and disruptive that you had to be escorted out of the room by security.”
Agrawal had already given her two weeks notice and was preparing to leave the company on April 11, but on Monday a manager emailed that Microsoft "has decided to make your resignation immediately effective today.”
It was the most public but not the first protest over Microsoft's work with Israel. In February, five Microsoft employees were ejected from a meeting with CEO Satya Nadella for protesting the contracts.
“We provide many avenues for all voices to be heard,” said a statement from the company Friday. “Importantly, we ask that this be done in a way that does not cause a business disruption. If that happens, we ask participants to relocate. We are committed to ensuring our business practices uphold the highest standards.”
Microsoft had declined to say Friday whether it was taking further action, but Aboussad and Agrawal expected it was coming after both lost access to their work accounts shortly after the protest.
Dozens of Google workers were fired last year after internal protests over a contract it also has with the Israeli government. Employee sit-ins at Google offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California targeted a $1.2 billion deal known as Project Nimbus providing AI technology to the Israeli government.
The Google workers later filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in an attempt to get their jobs back.
