- Current Affairs September 2020
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Current Affairs September 2019 - Appointments
1 - Major General Joyce Gladys took charge as ADG of Military Nursing Service
Major General Joyce Gladys Roach has assumed charge of the post of Additional Director General (ADG), Military Nursing Service (MNS). Prior to her appointment, she was holding the post of Principal Matron, Army Hospital Research & Referral, the apex quaternary care hospital of the Armed Forces.
Major General Roach has an experience of more than 37 years. She is the first and the only OT Matron to be posted in high altitude, 153 GH from April 1988 to March 1990. She has served as a Cardio Thoracic OT Matron for 15 years.
2 - Lt Gen MM Naravane assumed appointment of VCOAS
Lt Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane assumed the charge of Vice Chief of the Army Staff (VCOAS) on 01 Sep 2019. He succeeds Lt Gen Devraj Anbu. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy.
Lt Gen Naravane has been awarded with the ‘Sena Medal’ (Distinguished) for command of his Battalion in J&K, the ‘Vishisht Seva Medal’ for his services as the Inspector General Assam Rifles (North) in Nagaland, the ‘Ati Vishisht Seva Medal’ for command of a prestigious Strike Corps and was honoured with ‘Param Vishisht Seva Medal’ for his distinguished services as the GOC-in-C of the Army Training Command.
3 - New Governors appointed in five states
President Ram Nath Kovind announced the appointment of five new Governors in the states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Telangana. Prominent Muslim face and former Congress leader Arif Mohammed Khan has been appointed the new Kerala Governor. He will replace P. Sathasivam.
Tamil Nadu BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan has been appointed as the Governor of Telangana. He will replace E.S.L. Narasimhan. Former Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya has been put in charge of Himachal Pradesh, replacing Kalraj Mishra. Bhagat Singh Koshyari has been appointed as the Governor of Maharashtra. Kalraj Mishra replaced Kalyan Singh in Rajasthan.
4 - Vivek Kumar Johri took charge as BSF DG
Vivek Kumar Johri took charge as the Director General (DG) of the Border Security Force (BSF). He is a 1984-batch IPS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre.
Johri became the 25th chief of BSF. Prior to his appointment, he had been serving as the Special Secretary in the external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), under the Cabinet Secretariat. Johri will replace Rajni Kant Mishra who retired from the post. Mishra took over as the BSF DG in October 2018.
5 - Madhukar Kamath elected Chairman of the Audit Bureau of Circulations
Madhukar Kamath was elected Chairman of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) for 2019-20. He is the Chairman emeritus of DDB Mudra group and mentor of Interbrand India. Kamath has also been the president of Advertising Agencies Association of India.
With over four decades of experience in advertising and marketing services, Kamath helped Omnicom acquire the Mudra Group and integrate it into DDB Worldwide Network.
6 - Bulgaria's Kristalina Georgieva appointed new IMF chief
Bulgaria's Kristalina Georgieva has been selected as the new head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She is the first person from an emerging market economy to lead the IMF. The economist succeeds Christine Lagarde for a five-year term from October. Her immediate priority is to help countries minimize the risk of crises and be ready to cope with downturns.
The International Monetary Fund is an international organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 189 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation.
7 - Jaideep Sarkar concurrently accredited as the next High Commissioner of India to the Kingdom of Lesotho
India's High Commissioner to South Africa, Jaideep Sarkar, has been concurrently accredited as the country's next High Commissioner to the Kingdom of Lesotho. He is a 1987 batch-IFS officer.
Sarkar was appointed India's High Commissioner to South Africa earlier in 2019. He has served as envoy to Israel and Bhutan. He has also served in Indian missions in Tokyo, Seoul and Bangladesh. In 2006, he was selected to serve as Private Secretary to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
8 - Dr. B. Bala Bhaskar appointed as the Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Norway
Senior diplomat B Bala Bhaskar was appointed as the Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Norway. Dr Bhaskar is an IFS officer of 1993 cadre. He will replace Krishan Kumar, who has been heading the Indian mission in Norway since July 2018.
Prior to this appointment, Dr Bhaskar served as a Joint Secretary of the WANA division of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The WANA region comprises of 19 countries - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Iraq, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya and South Sudan.
9 - Shri PK Sinha appointed Principal Advisor to Prime Minister
Shri PK Sinha, currently functioning as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Prime Minister's Office, has been appointed the Principal Advisor to the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. Shri Sinha served as Cabinet Secretary from 13th June 2015 to 30th August 2019. He was a 1977 Batch IAS officer from Uttar Pradesh Cadre.
At the State Government level, Shri Sinha has held various assignments such as District Magistrate of Jaunpur and Agra and Commissioner of Varanasi. He has served in the Central Government, mainly in the Energy and Infrastructure Sectors. He has specialised in the areas of Energy, Infrastructure, and Finance.
10 - PK Mishra takes over as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister
Dr Pramod Kumar Mishra, has been appointed as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India. He has varied work experience in the management of programmes relating to agriculture, disaster management, power sector, infrastructure financing, and regulatory issues and has an outstanding career profile comprising research, publications, policy formulation and programme/project management.
As Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister during 2014-19 Dr Mishra is credited with introducing innovation and transformative changes in human resource management, particularly appointments to senior positions. He was conferred with the United Nations SASAKAWA Award 2019 for disaster management.
11 - Microsoft appointed Rajiv Kumar as Managing Director for Microsoft India (R&D) Pvt Ltd
Microsoft announced the appointment of Rajiv Kumar as the new Managing Director of Microsoft India (R&D) Pvt Ltd (MIRPL). He is currently Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Experiences and Devices (E+D) Group. He will take over from Anil Bhansali.
Rajiv joined Microsoft, Redmond in 1992 as a campus-hire. As the Managing Director, Rajiv is expected to further build upon the capability of the engineering division and reinforce the culture of inclusion, innovation and collaboration. Microsoft India Development Center (IDC) in MIRPL is one of Microsoft’s largest R&D centers outside the Redmond headquarters.
12 - Vijay Kumar Chopra & Vineet Jain elected as Chairman and Vice Chairman of PTI respectively
Vijay Kumar Chopra, Chief Editor of the Punjab Kesari Group of newspapers was unanimously elected Chairman of Press Trust of India (PTI). He succeeds N Ravi, publisher and former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu.
Vineet Jain, Managing Director of Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL), the publisher of Times of India, was elected Vice-Chairman. Chopra was earlier Chairman of PTI in 2001-02 and 2009-10. He was also past President of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS).
13 - Indian Army veteran Abhijit Guha appointed as head of Hodeidah mission by UN
Lieutenant General (Retired) Abhijit Guha of the Indian Army has been appointed as the head of the UN mission in Hodeidah, Yemen by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Guha will also assume the chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), tasked with redeploying forces of the Yemeni warring parties in accordance with their agreement.
Guha will succeed Danish Lieutenant General Michael Lollesgaard. He retired from the Indian Army in 2013 and served on the Expert Panel on Technology and Innovation in UN Peacekeeping (2014) and the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (2015).
14 - Kapil Dev appointed as chancellor of Rai Sports University
Kapil Dev was appointed first Chancellor of Haryana Sports University at Rai in Sonipat district by the governor of Haryana. The Assembly recently established Haryana’s first sports university at Rai. The University would promote courses such as training for sports management, sports infrastructure engineering, sports psychology, sports nutrition, sports journalism and sports marketing by adopting best international practices.
Kapil Dev is regarded as the greatest all-rounder to play the game. He was named by Wisden as the Indian Cricketer of the Century in 2002.
15 - Justice P Lakshmana Reddy appointed as first Lokayukta of Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (AP) government appointed Justice P Lakshmana Reddy, a former judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court as the first Lokayukta of the state for five years. He is known for his campaign against corruption. He has served as vice-chairman of the Central administrative tribunal at Hyderabad from April 2007 to April 2010.
The Yuvajana Sramika Rythu (YSR) Congress government amended the Lokayukta Act in the recent budget session, enabling appointment of a retired judge as Lokayukta, paving the way for constituting the corruption-probing body.
16 - Ramkumar Ramamoorthy appointed as CMD of Cognizant India
Cognizant Technology Solutions has appointed Ramkumar Ramamoorthy as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Cognizant India and head of India Operations. He has been with Cognizant for over 21 years.
Mr. Ramamoorthy is a member of the company’s global Executive Leadership Team (ELT) responsible for driving the company’s strategy and operations. He has held various senior positions in the company, including executive director, India, senior vice president (marketing and communications) and chief knowledge officer.
17 - Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria appointed as new Air Chief
Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria was appointed as the next chief of Indian Air force. Air Marshal Bhadauria, who took over as the Vice Chief of the Indian Air Force in May 2019, will take charge from the incumbent Chief Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on 30th of September.
An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Bhadauria was commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF in June 1980. He won the coveted Sword of Honour for standing first in the overall order of merit.
18 - Robert O’Brien became National Security Adviser of US
Robert O'Brien replaced John Bolton to become Trump's fourth national security adviser. Robert O’Brien is seen as a low-profile loyalist and for his work on extracting Americans illegally held abroad. Prior to this appointment, O’Brien had served as a representative to the UN general assembly in 2005 and was involved judicial reform in Afghanistan in the last year of the Bush administration.
O’Brien had a long career in foreign policy working for both main US parties and currently heading the hostage negotiations at the State Department.
19 - IDBI Bank appointed Samuel Joseph as Deputy Managing Director
IDBI Bank has appointed Samuel Joseph Jebaraj as Deputy Managing Director (DMD) for a period of 3 years. The DMD position became vacant after KP Nair superannuated in May 2019.
Samuel Joseph joined the Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) in 1998. He was heading the Loan Administration and Human Resources Management Groups of the Bank as Chief General Manager. He holds more than 27 years of experience, of which 21 years had been with Exim Bank.