MARCH

Ø APPOINTMENTS

Ø  Shekhar Kapur appointed as chairman of central panel of 65th NFA

Ø  Veteran director Shekhar Kapur has been appointed as chairman of the central panel of the 65th National Film Awards. Mr Kapur is known for his work in Hindi cinema and International cinema.

Ø  Indu Bhushan appointed CEO of Ayushman Bharat Mission

Ø  Indu Bhushan was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Union Government’s ambitious Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission (ABNHPM). Bhushan, the Director General of East Asia Department, Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, Philippines, has been appointed to the post for a period of two years.

Ø  Justice Jawad Rahim appointed as acting Chairperson of NGT

Ø  The Supreme Court appointed Justice Jawad Rahim as the acting Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). Justice Rahim is also the judicial member of the green panel. His appointment was approved by a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justice A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud.

Ø  Vijay Raghavan as Scientific Adviser

Ø  Krishnaswamy Vijay Raghavan was appointed Principle Scientific Adviser to the government of India. Vijay Raghavan was serving as secretary of the Department of Biotechnology since January 2013.

Ø  JS Rajput nominated as India’s Representative

Ø  The Government of India nominated Professor JS Rajput, former Director NCERT, as India’s representative to the Executive Board (EXB) of UNESCO. Professor J S Rajput is an eminent educationist with rich experience in various fields including UNESCO.

Ø  Balesh Sharma named CEO of Vodafone-Idea India merged entity

Ø  Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have announced Vodafone veteran Balesh Sharma as CEO of the proposed new telecom operator. Sharma is currently the chief operating officer at Vodafone India.

Ø  Vijay Sankar is honorary Consul General

Ø  Vijay Sankar, deputy chairman of The Sanmar Group, has been appointed the Honorary Consul General for Denmark in Chennai. His consular district consists of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry.

Ø  Atul M. Gotsurve appointed next ambassador of India to Republic of Korea

Ø  Atul M. Gotsurve has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He is currently Director of the Ministry of External Affairs. He is the IFS officer of 2004 batch.

Ø  Yi Gang named Head of People’s Bank of China

Ø  US-educated economist Yi Gang has been named the next governor of China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). Mr Yi has been deputy governor of the bank since 2008.

Ø  Katrina Kaif appointed ambassador of ‘Educate Girls’

Ø  Indian actress Katrina Kaif has been named as the new ambassador of the international award-winning non-profit organisation, Educate Girls. Safeena Husain, Founder of Educate Girls said that it is a moment of immense honor for Educate Girls to have Katrina Kaif as an Ambassador.

Ø  Sony India appoints Sunil Nayyar as MD

Ø  Sony India announced the appointment of Sunil Nayyar as its Managing Director (MD) in place of Kenichiro Hibi. Hibi, who was MD of Sony India from 2012 till 2018, has now been appointed as President of Sony Brazil. Nayyar is the first Indian to be appointed as Managing Director for Sony India.

Ø  Tata Sons head Chandrasekaran elected IISc President

Ø  Tata sons Chairman N Chandrasekran has been elected as the 8th President of the court of Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru for 2018-21. IISc was set up in 1909 by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata and then Maharaja of Mysore Krishnaraja Wodeyar.

Ø  Larry Kudlow becomes Trump’s Economic Adviser

Ø  President Donald Trump named Larry Kudlow as the next head of the White House National Economic Council. He replaced Gary Cohn. Mr Kundlow is the conservative media analyst who served as his informal economic adviser during the 2016 campaign.

Ø  Sangeeta Bahadur appointed Ambassador of India to Belarus

Ø  Sangeeta Bahadur has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Belarus. She is an IFS officer of 1987 batch. She is currently Additional Secretary in Ministry of External Affairs.

Ø  Sitanshu Kar became new PIB chief

Ø  All India Radio’s News Services Division (NSD) director general Sitanshu Kar will be the next head of the Press Information Bureau (PIB). Kar, a senior Indian Information Service (IIS) officer, will take charge as PIB head on May 1. Doordarshan News DG, Ira Joshi will hold additional charge of DG of AIR’s NSD with immediate effect.

Ø  Parag Agrawal appointed as Twitter’s CTO

Ø  Twitter has appointed Parag Agrawal as its chief technology officer. Agrawal, an alumnus of IIT-Bombay and a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University, succeeds Adam Messinger. His contributions at Twitter include leading efforts to increase the relevance of tweets in Twitter users’ timelines using Artificial Intelligence.

Ø  Virat Kohli named 1st Brand Ambassador for Uber India

Ø  Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli has been named cab-hailing startup Uber’s first Brand Ambassador in India. Kohli will also be involved in a series of marketing and customer experience initiatives.

Ø  Prince Charles appoints Sanjeev Gupta as UK Skills Ambassador

Ø  Indian-origin steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta appointed by Britain’s Prince Charles as an official ambassador for the Industrial Cadets programme designed to nurture manufacturing skills. Mr. Gupta was appointed to the flagship programme to give children and young people the direct structured experience of the industry while still at school or college. The Industrial Cadets annual awards ceremony was held in London. Mr. Gupta is an Executive Chairman of UK-based GFG Alliance.

Ø  Vivek R Wadekar appointed New Special Director in ED

Ø  IRS officer Vivek R Wadekar was appointed as the new Special Director in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) by the government. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued an order appointing the officer of the Income Tax Department to the new post. He has been appointed for the tenure of five years. The ED is the central investigative agency, under the Union finance ministry, that enforces the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in the country.

Ø  Rangarajan Raghavan appointed Director & Managing Director of HCL Infosystems

Ø  HCL Infosystems Ltd. has appointed Rangarajan Raghavan, as its Director and Managing Director. Rangarajan Raghavan is the president of HCL Infosystems Ltd. He has been appointed Director & Managing Director of HCL Infosystems with effect from 1st April 2018. Rangarajan Raghavan joined HCL in 1978. He has held various important positions in the company. At present he is the president of the Project and Services division of HCL Infosystems.

Ø  AK Chaudhary to take over as SAIL chief

Ø  Anil Kumar Chaudhary, now director finance st SAIL, has been chosen by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) to steer the company as its chairman. Subject to the approval from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, Chaudhary will replace incumbent Prakash Kumar Singh, who is scheduled to retire on June 30 this year. Chaudhary’s term will start as SAIL has just returned into profitability after 10 consecutive quarters.

Ø  Vinay Kumar appointed as Ambassador of India to Afghanistan

Ø  Vinay Kumar has been named the next Ambassador of India to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. He is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Officer of the 1992 batch. He is at present Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. He will soon take charge as Ambassador of India to Afghanistan.

Ø  Pakistani mountaineer Samina Baig appointed UNDP goodwill ambassador

Ø  Samina Baig, the first Pakistani woman to have climbed Mount Everest, was appointed as the national goodwill ambassador by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Baig will lead efforts to build national awareness and partnerships around Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those related to climate change, environmental protection and women empowerment.

Ø  Dhanlaxmi Bank appoints Sajeev Krishnan as Director

Ø  The board of Thrissur-based Dhanlaxmi Bank has appointed Sajeev Krishnan as a director. In his 39 years of service, Krishnan has worked in various capacities including officiating Managing Director of State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore, CGM of SBT and Chief Vigilance Officer with Corporation Bank.

Ø  A K Pradhan appointed as Group Chief Risk Officer of PNB

Ø  Punjab National Bank (PNB) has appointed its general manager A K Pradhan as the Group Chief Risk Officer after being hit by nearly Rs 12700 crore fraud. However, the bank did not disclose the functions and responsibilities of the Group Chief Risk Officer.