Current Affairs June 2017 - Appointments
1 - President approved the appointments of Chairman and Members in the NCSC
The President of India has approved the appointments of Professor (Dr.) Ram Shankar Katheria as the Chairman and Mr. L Murugan as the Vice-Chairman in National Commission for Scheduled Castes.
The President also approved the appointment of Mr. K Ramulu, Dr. Yogendra Paswan and Dr. (Ms.) Swaraj Vidwan as Members in the NCSC.
The President has approved these appointments on May 31, for a period of 3 years with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said in a statement.
2 - RBI appoints Ganesh Kumar as the ED
The Reserve Bank of India has appointed Shri S. Ganesh Kumar as Executive Director (ED) consequent upon voluntary retirement of Shri Chandan Sinha.
Mr. Ganesh Kumar will look after the Department of Information Technology, the Department of Payment and Settlement Systems, and the Department of External Investments and Operations.
Shri Ganesh Kumar joined the Reserve Bank in 1984. Prior to being promoted as ED, Ganesh Kumar was Chief General Manager in Charge, Department of Information Technology in the Reserve Bank.
3 - Sanjiv Singh takes over as the IOC Chairman
Mr. Sanjiv Singh has taken over as Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation (Indian Oil). Prior to his elevation, he was Director (Refineries) on the Indian Oil Board since July 2014.
Concurrently, he will also be Chairman of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (CPCL) and Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Ltd. (HURL), a joint venture company set up to revive the fertiliser plants at Gorakhpur, Sindri and Barauni.
Mr. Sanjiv Singh joined Indian Oil in 1981. He has served Indian Oil for over 35 years, spearheading refinery operations as well as mega Greenfield and Brownfield projects in refining and petrochemicals.
4 - Nirupama Rao appointed the Public Policy Fellow to US think-tank
Former Indian Ambassador to US Nirupama Rao has been appointed as a public policy fellow to a Washington-based think-tank where she will work on a project on the Sino India ties. Rao will be affiliated with the Wilson Centre’s Asia programme.
Mrs. Rao was India’s first woman ambassador to China and its first woman spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She also served as India’s foreign secretary from 2009 to 2011.
5 - Vinay Dube appointed as the Jet Airways CEO
Vinay Dube has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Jet Airways. Mr. Dube is currently senior vice-president, Asia Pacific, Delta Air Lines.
The position had been vacant for more than two years, since Cramer Ball resigned as CEO with effect from February 2016.
As CEO of Jet Airways, Dube will be responsible for strengthening the airline’s overall business performance and its position in the domestic and international markets.
6 - Indian-American Amul Thapar appointed as the Judge in the US Court of Appeals
US President Donald Trump has appointed Indian-American Amul Thapar as judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He thus became only the second Indian-American judge of an appeals court.
Before his appointment to the Court of Appeals, Judge Thapar served on the District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Judge Thapar has served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia.
7 - Shashi Shekar Vempati named as the CEO of Prasar Bharati
Shashi Shekhar Vempati has been appointed the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati. He will replace Rajeev Singh, who has been serving as interim CEO since February 2017.
Mr. Vempati’s tenure will be for five years from the date of assumption of office. Vempati previously worked with Infosys and now heads an online media company.
Vempati has been appointed on a recommendation by a three-member committee headed by the Vice president Mr. Hamid Ansari.
8 - Sharad Jain appointed as the new DG NWDA
Dr. Sharad Kumar Jain has assumed the additional charge of Director General, National Water Development Agency (NWDA) under Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. Mr Jain succeeds Mr. S. Masood Husain who has moved over as Member (WP&P), Central Water Commission.
Mr. Jain is presently working as Scientist G with National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee. He also was the Chairman of the panel, which cleared the Ken-Betwa river link project of the NWDA.
9 - Hoshiar Singh appointed as the Chief of the Copyrights Office
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has approved the appointment of senior bureaucrat Hoshiar Singh as Registrar of the Office of Copyrights, under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
The office is mandated to protect the music and film industry besides addressing its concerns, among others. Mr Singh has been appointed for a period of five years.
Mr Singh is a 1994 batch officer of the Indian Telecom Service.
10 - K G Karmakar, Gauri Shankar appointed directors of IPPB
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved their appointment of K G Karmakar and Gauri Shankar as Independent Directors of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB).
According to an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), they have been appointed to the post on the board of directors of the bank for a period of three years.
The IPPB has been incorporated as a public sector bank under the Department of Posts with 100 per cent equity of the government of India.
11 - Lakshmi Vilas Bank appointed B K Manjunath as the part-time Chairman
The Board of Directors of Lakshmi Vilas Bank have co-opted B K Manjunath as additional director in the category of Non-Executive and Independent Director. The board of directors also appointed B K Manjunath as part-time chairperson for a tenure of three years.
Mr. Manjunath is a practicing charted accountant for the last 25 years. He had also served as an Independent director of the Bank during the period from 2008 to 2015. He has experience and knowledge in project financing, business administration and management.
12 - Girish Wagh appointed as the Commercial Vehicle Business Head of Tata Motors
Girish Wagh was appointed as the Commercial Vehicle Business head of Tata Motors as well as a member of the Executive Committee (ExCom). Executive Director Satish Borwankar was appointed to a newly created position of Chief Operating Officer for a tenure of 2 years.
This appointment has been announced in a phase where, Tata Motors is undertaking a massive transformation process, with almost 1400 people losing jobs and roles and responsibilities for various key executives revised starting 1st of April under a program called Organizational Effectiveness.
13 - Indian envoys to the European Union, Italy, Belgium and Denmark appointed by the Government
India announced new diplomatic appointments in its missions abroad for envoys to the Belgium and European Union, Italy, Belgium, and Denmark. India has appointed Gaitri Issar Kumar as ambassador to the European Union, Reenat Sandhu to Italy replacing Anil Wadhwa and Ajit Vinayak Gupte to Denmark replacing Rajeev Shahare.
The appointment marks importance given India’s ongoing negotiations for a free trade agreement with the EU, which has been hanging fire after 16 rounds of negotiations.
14 - TCS executive Ramanathan Ramanan to head the Atal Innovation Mission
In order to promote entrepreneurship in India, government decided to appoint Tata Consultancy Services senior vice president Ramanathan Ramanan as head of Atal Innovation Mission, in the rank of additional secretary on secondment basis from the IT bellwether for two years initially.
As per the government’s directives, Ramanan’s appointment will be “without pay and allowances but with the provision of entitlement for government accommodation at New Delhi. Recruitment was done under the government’s premier think tank NITI Aayog.
15 - Jeevandas Narayan appointed as the MD of Manappuram Home Finance
Manappuram Finance has announced the appointment of Jeevandas Narayan as the Managing Director and Subhash Samant as CEO of its fully owned home loans subsidiary, Manappuram Home Finance.
Prior to this Narayan, who has more than 37 years of experience in the financial services industry, was Managing Director of State Bank of Travancore. Samant, with more than 20 years of experience, has worked with Larsen and Toubro Housing Finance, DHFL, ICICI Bank and GIC Housing Finance.
16 - Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov appointed as the Under-Secretary General of the UN Counter-Terrorism Office
The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov of the Russian Federation as Under-Secretary-General of the newly created United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office. The Under-Secretary-General will provide strategic leadership to United Nations counter-terrorism efforts and participate in the decision-making process of the United Nations.
Mr. Voronkov is currently the Russian Federation’s Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna. He also serves on the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
17 - Rajiv Gauba named the new Home Secretary
The Union Cabinet’s appointments committee has appointed Rajiv Gauba as secretary in the union ministry for home affairs. He replaces Rajiv Mehrishi, who will retire on 30 August.
Mr. Gauba is an IAS officer of the 1982 Jharkhand batch and is currently posted as urban development secretary as officer on special duty.
Gauba has served in Home Ministry as joint and additional secretary, and looked after the Left Wing Extremism division, among other responsibilities.
18 - IDFC Bank appointed Sunil Kakar as MD and CEO
IDFC Ltd has appointed Sunil Kakar as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank with effect from July 16 for three years. He has also been appointed as additional director.
Mr. Kakar will replace Vikram Limaye who is set to join leading stock exchange NSE as its new Managing Director and CEO. Kakar had joined IDFC as the Group Chief Financial Officer.
He had previously worked with Max New York Life Insurance Company since 2001 as CFO. He has also worked with Bank of America for 18 years in various roles.
19 - Kaushik Basu appointed as the President of International Economic Association
Kaushik Basu has taken over as President of the International Economic Association (IEA). Basu has also served as Senior Vice-President and chief economist at the World Bank from 2012 to 2016 and as the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India from 2009 to 2012.
The IEA is a leading organisation for professional economists and it seeks to shape global economic policy and research. Among its past presidents are Nobel laureates Kenneth Arrow, Robert Solow, Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz.
20 - Government appoints Priyanka Chopra as ambassador of Skill India campaign
The National Skill Development Corporation has roped in Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra as the ambassador to endorse the government's flagship Skill India campaign. Priyanka will use her celebrity status to motivate youngsters to hone their abilities through a media campaign.
The Skill India campaign was launched by Prime Minister Modi in July 2015. The government aims to train 40 crore people by 2022 through its skilling initiatives.
21 - R K Pachnanda took charge as Director General, ITBP
R K Pachnanda took charge as the new Director General of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). He took over from Mr Krishna Chaudhary, DG who retired on superannuation. Mr Pachnanda is the 29th Chief of the ITBP.
Mr. Pachnanda is a 1983 batch Indian Police Service officer of the West Bengal cadre. Prior to the appointment as DG ITBP, he has served in various capacities as Commissioner of Police, Kolkata and DG NDRF. He has been decorated with Indian Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1999 and President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2007.
22 - Rajesh Shah appointed as NIFT Chairperson
Rajesh V Shah was selected as Chairperson on the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Fashion Technology replacing former cricketer Chetan Chauhan. Chetan Chauhan has been appointed as Sports Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
The selection was made based on the NIFT Act 2006, where, the Chairperson of its Board of Governors shall be an eminent academician, scientist or technologist or professional, who is to be nominated by the Visitor, in this case the President of India. The institute’s responsibility comes under Ministry of Textiles.
