Daily Bulletin: #MeToo throws up more names, Narendra Modi to address farmer rally in Rohtak; top stories for today

#MeToo movement grows as more industry bigwigs, journos named by women Following the escalating voices against sexual harassment across the world as part of the #MeToo wave, more and more Indian women have come out and named prominent journalists and Bollywood personalities as sexual predators. More recently, Vinta Nanda, a veteran writer-producer has accused actor Alok Nath of sexually violating her almost two decades ago. “I have waited for this moment to come for 19 years,” Nanda wrote in a long, heart-wrenching Facebook post, referring to the “predator in question” as “the actor par excellence who is known as the most ‘sanskaari’ (cultured) person in the film and television industry”. On Monday, The #Metoo movement also singed the media with journalist Prashant Jha stepping down on Monday as chief of bureau and political editor of Hindustan Times and the media house is looking into the allegations of sexual misconduct against him. The allegations concerning the media have surfaced over the past few days with several names, including some prominent ones, being mentioned in the social media. journalist Sidharth Bhatia issued a statement rubbishing allegations against him. [caption id=“attachment_2317274” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of actor Alok Nath. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Further setback to ‘Grand Alliance’ as Congress loses CPM support after SP and BSP The Congress party’s bid to forge a grand alliance to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party has suffered a set back ahead of the crucial Assembly polls in five states. After the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj party followed by Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party stepped back, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has now said that the formation of a grand alliance at the national level was not possible. Party general secretary Sitaram Yechury told the media that a “mahagatbandhan” was not possible at the national level. “It may mean an alliance of the SP (Samajwadi Party) and BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) and allies in Uttar Pradesh. And in Bihar it will be led by RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal). This is what I am saying… We will decide on joining the ‘mahagatbandhan’ when the time comes. Let things crystallise. For now, our priority is to defeat the BJP and ensure formation of a secular government,” said the Marxist leader after a CPM Central Committee meeting. Narendra Modi to address farmers rally in Rohtak Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil a 64-feet-tall statue of farmer leader Sir Chhotu Ram at his native village Garhi Sampla in Haryana’s Rohtak district. Modi will also visit a museum where belongings of Sir Chhotu Ram are kept and see a documentary on his life. After the event, Modi will address a public rally in Rohtak where he is expected to make some major announcements in view of the recent farmers’ agitation. Rupee at fresh lifetime low The rupee slumped by 30 paise to finish at a fresh all-time low of 74.06 against the US dollar on Monday amid strengthening of the greenback and steady capital outflows. The rupee had opened lower by 14 paisa against Friday’s close of 73.76 in early trade as the US dollar strength against major global currencies weighed on the rupee sentiment. It finally closed at 74.06, down by 30 paise, marking its fifth straight session of decline. On Friday, the domestic unit plummeted by 18 paise to end at 73.76 Redmi Note 5 Pro price in India slashed for Diwali sale, now starts at Rs 12,999 Prices of Xiaomi’s popular mid-range phone, Redmi Note 5 Pro has been slashed for the Diwali season sale. The company’s India head Manu Kumar Jain, who took to Twitter on Monday to post a reveal video with Flipkart’s CEO, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, announcing the Rs 12,999 price tag. Xiaomi normally sells the phone at a starting price of Rs 14,999 for the base variant. Google is shutting down Google Plus Google announced Monday it is shutting down the consumer version of its online social network after fixing a bug exposing private data in as many as 500,000 accounts. The US internet giant said it will “sunset” the Google+ social network for consumers, which failed to gain meaningful traction after being launched in 2011 as a challenge to Facebook. A Google spokesperson cited “significant challenges in creating and maintaining a successful Google+ that meets consumers’ expectations” along with “very low usage” as the reasons for the move. CINTAA ready to readdress Tanushree Dutta’s sexual harassment allegations “by conducting a fair and expeditious” inquiry Cine and TV Artists Association (CINTAA) had earlier said it did not “address” the allegations by Dutta when she approached them in 2008. Dutta had filed a complaint with CINTAA a decade ago after she felt uncomfortable shooting a song with Patekar for the film “Horn Ok Pleassss”. “If she asks us to reinvestigate the matter then we have told her that we will offer all possible support. But she has not yet officially come to us. Although we have spoken and written to her (regarding the matter) she is yet to revert,” Amit Behl, Senior Joint Secretary, CINTAA told PTI. “But we also want to hear Nana’s side of the story. We have sent a communication to Nana also,” Behl added. With inputs from agencies