Current Affairs January 2017 - Appointments
News 1 - David R Syiemlieh appointed as the new UPSC chairman
Mr. David R Syiemlieh has been appointed as the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) with effect from January 4, 2017 till further Order or till completion of his term as member on 21.01.2018, whichever is earlier. Prior to this appointment, he was functioning as a UPSC member from June 25, 2012.
He will take over from Alka Sirohi, a former IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre.
News 2 - Justice JS Khehar appointed as the 44th Chief Justice of India
Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar was sworn-in as the 44th Chief Justice of India replacing Justice TS Thakur whose tenure ended recently. Justice Khehar's tenure will last till the 27th of August 2017.
Justice Khehar had led the five-judge constitution bench in the Supreme Court which struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act for appointment of judges. It will be Chief Justice Khehar’s duty to resolve the differences of opinions about the draft memorandum of procedure for judicial appointments and transfers with the Government.
News 3 - Surekha Marandi appointed as the Executive Director by RBI
The Reserve Bank of India appointed Surekha Marandi as its Executive Director (ED) replacing U S Paliwal, who retired recently. Surekha Marandi to take responsibilities of departments such as Consumer Education and Protection Department, Financial Inclusion and Development Department, and Secretary's Department.
Prior to this appointment, Surekha worked as Principal Chief General Manager and Chief Vigilance Officer in the Reserve Bank. She has working experience on the Boards of United Bank and Bank of Baroda.
News 4 - S Padmanabhan Appointed as the Chairman of Tata Power
Tata Power has appointed Mr. S. Padmanabhan as their Additional Director, effective from December 16, 2016.
Mr. Padmanabhan is currently the Executive Chairman, Tata Business Excellence Group (TBExG) and was recently given the additional responsibility as Head of Group HR for Tata Sons Limited. he joined Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) in 1982. He was also the Executive Director-Operations of Tata Power from 6th February 2008 to 30th June 2014.
News 5 - Anil Jalali of IBM appointed as the HR Head of Capgemini for India Operations
Capgemini has appointed Anil Jalali as their Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) for its India operations, effective January 1st 2017.
Prior to joining Capgemini, Anil Jalali was the Executive Director, HR at IBN India. Anil will replace BL Narayan, Vice-President and the former HR Head. BL Narayan joined the Business Services Strategic Business Unit as Head of Solutions & Sales Support. Capgemini is a consulting, technology and outsourcing services company.
News 6 - IBM India appointed Karan Bajwa as their Managing Director
IBM has appointed Karan Bajwa as their Managing Director of IBM India Pvt. Ltd, succeeding Vanitha Narayanan who is appointed as the Chairman of IBM India Pvt. Ltd. Karan will be responsible for all strategic and operational matters related to IBM's sales, marketing, services and delivery operations in the India/SA region.
Karan joined IBM in 2016 as Executive for Strategy and Transformation in the Asia Pacific region. Prior to this he was the Managing Director, Microsoft India.
News 7 - Donald Trump named Dan Coats as the new National Intelligence Director
US President-elect Donald Trump has named Dan Coats as his National Intelligence Director. The Indiana ex-senator formerly served on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Mr. Coats will need the Senate to confirm his appointment, replacing James Clapper.
The Director of National Intelligence is the President's Principal Adviser on matters of National Intelligence, overseeing the National Intelligence Program. It also oversees the US Intelligence Community. Mr Coats had earlier served in the US Army in the 1960s and joined the Senate in 1998.
News 8 - SBI Pension Funds appointed Kumar Sharadindu as their MD & CEO
Mr. Kumar Sharadindu has been appointed as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SBI Pension Funds. Prior to this appointment, Sharadindu was a General Manager at SBI Corporate Centre, Mumbai, heading the private equity business.
SBI Pension Funds, a subsidiary of State Bank of India (SBI), is one of the three pension fund managers appointed by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) to manage the pension corpus of employees enrolled under the National Pension System (NPS) for government employees.
News 9 - Flipkart appointed Kalyan Krishnamurthy as its new CEO
India's largest online retailer Flipkart appointed Kalyan Krishnamurthy as its new CEO replacing cofounder Binny Bansal, who has been further appointed as group CEO. Krishnamurthy will be handling Flipkart's profit and losses and marketing front for the Indian startup sector.
Prior to this, Krishnamurthy has served as finance and category management head in Flipkart. He has also worked as managing director of Tiger Global Management. This appointment was a part of management reshuffle that takes place every year.
News 10 - Vikram Pawah appointed as the new President of the BMW Group India
Vikram Pawah has been appointed as the President of the BMW Group India, effective March 1, 2017. He will take over from Frank Schloeder. Schloeder will return to BMW Group Headquarters in Germany, where he will assume the position of Head of Business Steering - Luxury Class.
Mr. Pawah has more than 25 years of international experience both in the automotive and non-automotive industry. Most recently, he was the Managing Director of Harley - Davidson India.
News 11 - Rajeev Singh appointed as the CEO of Prasar Bharti
Prasar Bharti selected Rajeev Singh as its new CEO. Prior to this, he was Member (Finance) in Prasar Bharati Board. Rajeev Singh will hold duties as the interim CEO of the public broadcaster replacing S C Panda, who will retire in February. SC Panda has been Acting CEO since October 2016, when previous CEO Jawhar Sircar had quit.
Singh’s appointment was announced at a time when the public broadcaster is all set to revamp Doordarshan by introducing new prime time programming in February.
News 12 - UN Behera takes charge as the new chairman of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission
Retired IAS officer UN Behera took oath of office and secrecy as the new chairman of Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) in Bhubaneswar.
His duties would be the overall development of the electricity sector in the state and create an environment in which the power generating companies, power transmission companies, distribution companies would function well. Prior to this, he was Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister. He was appointed as the OERC Chairman on the recommendation of the members of the Selection Committee.
News 13 - Bharti AXA General appointed Sanjeev Srinivasan as their CEO
Top global insurance brand Bharti AXA General Insurance announced appointment of Sanjeev Srinivasan as CEO and Managing Director. Prior to this, he has been associated with Bharti AXA General Insurance since August 2016 as Chief Commercial and Principal Officer.
He will handle duties to plan market strategy and creating a customer based brand to bring in profitable growth. He has previous work experience with companies such as Fullerton India Credit Limited, ING Life Insurance, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, Xerox India Limited and DHL Worldwide.
News 14 - IPS officer Alok Verma appointed as the new CBI director
Delhi Police Commissioner and Senior IPS officer Alok Kumar Verma will be the new Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation. He will hold the charge of the premier investigating agency for the period of two years.
Mr. Verma, a 1979-batch IPS officer was selected by a three-member committee comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice J S Khehar and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
The post of CBI Director was lying vacant for over a month following retirement of Anil Sinha.
News 15 - Banwarilal Purohit selected as Governor of Meghalaya
President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Banwarilal Purohit as Governor of Meghalaya with additional charge. At present, he is Assam’s Governor. The decision came after 80 employees of the Shillong Raj Bhavan wrote to the President and Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking resignation of former governor Shanmuganathan.
Also, two civil society groups Civil Society Women Organisation (CSWO) and Thma u Rangli (TUR) conducted a signature campaign for removal of governor Shanmuganathan. Meghalaya’s new Governor is yet to be appointed.
