Current Affairs Nov 2015 - Appointments

News 1 - Surojit Chatterjee joins Flipkart as the Senior Vice President.

He was a founding member of Google’s mobile search ads team and played a major role in making mobile search ads a growth engine for Google. Prior to Google, Mr Chatterjee had served as a senior product manager at Symantec Corporation and senior engineer at Oracle and IBM.

News 2 - Justice T S Thakur is the new CJI.

Justice T S Thakur will be the 43^rd Chief Justice of India. He took over from the incumbent Justice H L Dattu. He will have the tenure as CJI for a little over one year and would retire on January 4, 2017. He was sworn in as Chief Justice of India by our President, Pranab Mukherjee at a function in the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

News 3 - Raghuram Rajan appointed as the vice chairman of the Bank for International Settlements.

Mr. Raghuram Rajan, the Governor of Reserve Bank of India, has been elected as VC of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). He became the first Indian Central Bank Governor to be appointed as the Vice-Chairman of BIS. The current Chairman of BIS is Jens Weidmann.

News 4 - Subir Gokarn appointed as IMF's Executive Director.

Former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Subir Vithal Gokarn was appointed as an Executive Director on the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He replaces Mr. Rakesh Mohan at the IMF. Mr. Gokarn will represent India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Bangladesh on the Executive Board of IMF.

News 5 - New people nominated as members of FTII.

The Government has nominated Bhawana Somaaya, Satish Shah and Brijendra Pal as members of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Society. Bhawana and Satish were nominated in the category of eminent persons connected with films. Whearas, Brijendra was nominated as an alumnus of the FTII.

News 6 - Syed Akbaruddin appointed as the next Permanent Representative of India to the UN.

Syed Akbaruddin was appointed as the next Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations at New York. He will replace Mr. Asoke Kumar Mukerji from this position. Mr. Akbaruddin is currently serving as an Additional Secretary in the MEA. As a Permanent Representative, his main job would be to push for India’s bid to gain permanent membership in the UN Security Council.

News 7 - Vijay Keshav Gokhale appointed as India’s ambassador to China.

Shri Vijay Keshav Gokhale (lFS Batch 1981), currently the Ambassador of lndia to Federal Republic of Germany, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of lndia to the People's Republic of China. He will replace Mr Ashok Kantha.

News 8 - Nitish Kumar sworn-in as Bihar Chief Minister.

The ceremony was witnessed by prominent leaders Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal. Nitish kept the Home portfolio along with Public Relations and general administration with himself.

News 9 - FICCI elects Harshavardhan Neotia as the new President.

Mr. Harshavardhan Neotia, Chairman of the Ambuja Neotia Group, was elected as the President of Industry Body, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for the year 2016. Mr. Neotia will succeed the current FICCI President, Jyotsna Suri. Neotia is one of the co-owners of Atletico de Kolkata.

News 10 - Conservative Mauricio Macri wins Presidential run off in Argentina.

The conservative candidate, Mauricio Macri won Argentina’s 2015 Presidential election. He will succeed Christina Kirchner. The ruling party candidate was Daniel Scioli. The former chief executive of the Boca Juniors football club, in his victory speech promised to boost the economy, tackle narco-trafficking, and defend democracy.

News 11 - Anju Bobby George appointed as new Chairperson of TOPS.

Anju Bobby George, the former long jump world champion, was appointed as the chairperson of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). She will be assuming the charge in the first week of December 2015. This TOP Scheme under the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) was formulated with the objective of identifying and supporting potential medal prospects for 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. They are focusing on the field of Athletics, Archery, Badminton, Boxing, Wrestling and Shooting.

News 12 - Antonio Costa is the new PM of Portugal.

Indian origin, Atonio Costa of the Portugal’s Socialist Party was appointed as Prime Minister of the country. He was given oath by the President Anibal Cavaco Silva. Antonio Costa was the mayor of Lisbon. Previously he was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party in September 2014.

News 13 - Patricia Scotland is the new Secretary General of the Commonwealth.

British lawyer Baroness, Patricia Scotland (60) has been elected as the new Secretary General of the Commonwealth. She thus becomes the first woman and also the first British citizen to be elected on this post. She will succeed Kamalesh Sharma from India. She had served as the Attorney General under Gordon Brown.

News 14 - Ex-Cabinet Secy. to head panel on the new education policy.

The former Cabinet Secretary T.S.R. Subramanian has been appointed as the chairperson of a committee set up by the Human Resource Development Ministry to draft the new education policy. This five-member committee will be entrusted with the responsibility of drafting the country’s third National Education Policy (NEP), since Independence.

News 15 - AK Jha takes over as CMD, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited.

Mr. Anil Kumar Jha took over the charge of Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), a leading subsidiary of Coal India. Before joining MCL, Jha was the Director (Production & Planning) in MOIL(Manganese Ore India Limited) Limited.

News 16 - Navtej Singh Sarna appointed as Indian High Commissioner to United Kingdom.

The Government of India appointed Mr. Navtej Singh Sarna as the Indian High Commissioner to United Kingdom (UK). Sarna is a 1980 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer. He is presently serving as Secretary West. Navtej holds distinction of longest-serving spokesperson of the ministry.

News 17 - V Sivaramakrishnan appointed as MD of Oxford University Press India.

Mr. V. Sivaramakrishnan (Siva) has been appointed as the Managing Director by the Oxford University Press India (OUPI). Mr Siva has also been given the added regional responsibility of that of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. He will join OUP India from Manipal Global Education Services, a privately owned service provider to the higher education and training sectors.

News 18 - Shashank Manohar nominated as new Chairman of ICC by BCCI.

BCCI decided to recall N Sinivasan as ICC Chairman and nominate its recently-elected President Shashank Manohar as the chief of the world body. The decision to remove Srinivasan was taken at the BCCI’s 86th Annual General Meeting. In Manohar’s absence, Mumbai Cricket Association Chief and former ICC President, Sharad Pawar will represent the BCCI at the global body.

News 19 - Standard Chartered names Zarin Daruwala as new India CEO.

Ms. Zarin Daruwala will join as the India’s Chief Executive Officer at the Standard Chartered Bank. She was working with the ICICI Bank as President of the Wholesale Banking group. Ms. Daruwala will take-over from Mr. Sunil Kaushal.

News 20 - Swati Dandekar appointed Executive Director to Asian Development Bank by Obama.

Ms. Swati Dandekar, an Indian Origin American politician, was nominated as the Executive Director to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with ambassadorial rank by the US President, Barack Obama. She will replace Mr. Robert M Orr. She was the first Indian-born American citizen to win a state legislature seat in the United States.

News 21 - Sunil Kanoria appointed as President of ASSOCHAM.

Mr. Sunil Kanoria was appointed as the President of the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). Mr. Kanoria has succeeded Rana Kapoor, Yes Bank’s Managing Director and CEO. The appointment was a conclusion of the ASSOCHAM’s 95th Annual General Meeting in New Delhi. Mr. Kanoria is the Vice Chairman of a reputed non-banking finance company, SREI Infrastructure Finance Limited.

News 22 - Dubai Bank Mashreq appoints Subroto Som as the new Retail Bank Head.

Dubai's third-biggest bank by assets, Mashreq, appointed Mr. Subroto Som as the head of its retail banking group. Mr Som was the Head of Consumer Banking of the ASEAN region of Standard Chartered before. He will take over from Farhad Irani.