Appointments - Current Affairs for April, 2016

SC on 25th April 2016 appointed appointed senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam as the amicus curiae and requested assistance to explore recommendations of the Lodha committee report. Recommendations pertain to massive structural responses BCCI has been resisting

• He will examine the main matter in which state associations have argued that Lodha committee recommendations would violate their fundamental rights
• Court will also be assisted in establishing legal standing of Lodha Committee report recommendations

E-commerce major Snapdeal has indicated it will appoint former HUL Brand Director Kanika Kalra as Vice President Marketing.

• Close to 12 years of experience and stints at HUL, GSK and Pepsico are achievements of this executive

An Indian Information Service officer of 1989 batch, Bhupendra Kainthola has been appointed as the new director of Film and Television Institute of India. Earlier, PIB director Prashant Bathrobe was the caretaker for this post.

• Kainthola holds a Masters in International Relations from University of Mumbai

India's Durga Thakur was on 19th April 2016 promoted as International Outdoor Umpire by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

• The decision was taken after watching her performance at the Hawkes Bay Cup that was held in April 2016 in Hastings, New Zealand.
• FIH’s list currently has 14 Indians in the elite league of international umpires (10 men, 4 women).
• Thakur started her career as an umpire from the third Hockey India Sub-Junior Men & Women National Championship (Finals) in Bhopal in 2013.
• She is from HP

Pasi, who served as the United States Ambassador to Djibouti from 2011 to 2014, is a career member of the Foreign Service.

• Earlier, she has been the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Dhaka, from 2006 to 2009
• She had also been Deputy Principal Officer at the US Consulate in Frankfurt, Germany from 2003 to 2006Since joining the Foreign Service in 1988,
• Pasi also served at a number of diplomatic positions in Cameroon, Ghana, India and Romania.
• Pasi is an American diplomat awarded a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and masters from NYU

The appointment of Shri Deepak Mishra, IPS (AGMU:84) as Addl. Director General in CRPF from the date of assumption of charge of the post and upto 30.11.2018 has been approved. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Shri P.C.Thakur, IPS (GJ:79) as Director General, Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards (FS,CD&HG) for a period upto the date of his superannuation i.e. 31.12.2016.

TATA Steel Europe has announced the appointment of executive committee member Bimlendra Jha as the CEO of Tara Steel UK to expedite the sale of the loss making business in the country. He will report to Hans Fischer, CEO of Tata Steel Europe.

Union Government on 14th April 2016 appointed Susmita Pande as the new chairperson of the National Monument Authority/NMA. A professor at Ujjain’s Vikram University, she succeeds Himanshu Prabha Ray, the professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University

• Prabhu’s term ended in September 2015. The position was lying vacant for five months after his demission from office.
• At the time of appointment, Pande was the head of the School of Studies in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology in Vikram University of Madhya Pradesh.

The White House released a list of names that US President Barack Obama has appointed to the new Commission on Enhancing National Cyber security panel. The panel was formed earlier this year as part of Obama’s $19bn (£13bn) proposal to boost the US government’s cyber security system.

• Panel includes top members of the tech, intelligence and academic communities. Among others appointed is
• CEO and president of MasterCard Ajay Banga;
• Microsoft Research’s Peter Lee,
• Uber chief security officer Joe Sullivan,
• former NSA director General Keith Alexander and
• Stanford cyberpolicy and security researcher Herbert Lin.

• General Keith Alexander, USA (Retd)
• Annie I. Antón
• Ajay Banga
• Steven Chabinsky
• Patrick Gallagher
• Peter Lee
• Herbert Lin
• Heather Murren
• Joe Sullivan

The largest telecom firm in India, Indus Towers on April 11, 2016 appointed Hemant Kumar Ruia as the CFO. Prior to joining Indus Towers, he was CFO at Reliance. he started bus career with L&T. Indus Towers is an independently managed company offering passive infrastructure services to telecom operators.

Lamborghini India Pvt Ltd, Indian arm of Italy based super luxury sports car maker has appointed Sharad Agarwal as the head with immediate effect. He was previously head of Field Force for Audit India in the new role, where he oversees functions of sales, marketing, network development and more.

• Automobili Lamborghini is an Italian brand manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs owned by Volkswagen Group through Audi.
• Lamborghini production is headquartered in Sant’Agata Bolognese Italy.
• Italian magnate Feruccio Lamborghini founded this company in 1963.

Logistics firm GoJavas today said it has made changes in its top leadership team and appointed Amitabh Coomar as CEO.“The company now has a CEO, Amitabh Coomar, an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad who brings with him an impressive track record of 19 years spread between the Indian Army and ITC Limited," the firm said in a statement.

• Vijay Ghadge, who served as the company's COO, has left to start his own venture.
• Besides, the company said Jai Vohra, an IIT-Kharagpur and ISB Hyderabad alumnus and earlier the Head of Marketplace at Jabong.com, will now head the company's Strategy and Planning functions.

He has also been appointed ex-officio secretary to Government of India. Before this, he was a General Manager, Metro Railway Kolkata. He is a 1978 batch of the Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers.

• He has worked in various positions in Northern Railways and has over 35 years of multifarious experience in core electrical engineering, maintenance of rolling stock and electrical multiple units.
• He is also a fellow member of the Institution of Engineers, Life Member of Institution of Railway Electrical Engineers

NASSCOM on April 6th 2016 appointed CP Gurnani as chairman for 2016-2017, succeeding BVR Mohan Reddy who served as chairman for 2015-2016.

• Gurnani is part of the Executive Council and MD as well as CEO of Tech Mahindra
• Raman Roy was appointed as the Vice Chairman of NASSCOM
• NASSCOM was established in 1988 and is registered under the Indian Societies Act 1860

Shri Rajiv Gauba IAS Jharkhand batch 1982 took over as Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Urban Development. He has wide experience in policy making and program implementation. He was earlier the Chief Secretary of Jharkhand. Gauba also served as the IMF representing the country for 4 years on the IMF board.

He was also collector and DM of Gaya, Nalanda and Muzzafarpur

Indian Direct Selling Association has announced a new executive committee at the General Body Meeting. Jitendra Jagota, Director Legal and Government Affairs Avon Beauty Products India Ltd has become chairperson of the association. He succeeded Rajat Banerji, National Head Corporate Affairs, Amway India Enterprises. New executive committee comprises the following:
Vice Chairman: Vivek Katoch, Director Corporate Affairs, Oriflame,
Treasurer: Rajat Banerji, National Head Corporate Affairs, Amway India Enterprises
Secretary: Rini Sanyal along with Amit Chadha as the new Secretary General.