Appointments - Current Affairs for August, 2016

Punit Goenka led Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited announced the appointment of Punit Misra as CEO domestic broadcast business.

• Misra will report to Goenka and head one of the five verticals that are part of the new corporate structure at the Subhash Chandra-promoted company.
• He takes up the post with effect from October 1.
• Before this appointment, Misra was executive director – sales and customer development for Hindustan Unilever (HUL).His experience at HUL spans across categories like home care, personal care and foods through various roles in customer development and marketing.
• Misra is the first appointment announced by ZEEL in the restructuring process and more announcements on the heads of the live events and film studio business are expected in the coming weeks.
• The company is working with research firm EY to downsize the workforce and transition into a new corporate structure.

Broadcasting Content Complaints Council announced the appointment of actress Sharmila Tagore, theatre activist Arundhati Nag and academician Ira Bhaskar as the new non-broadcast members in the eminent persons category.

• Tagore is a popular Bollywood actress from the family of famous poet and nationalist Rabindranath Tagore; she also served as chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification from 2004-2011.
• Bhaskar, professor of cinema studies at School of Arts and Aesthetics JNU was also a member of CBFC till recently
• BCCC is an independent self regulatory body for general entertainment channels set up by Indian Broadcasting Foundation
• Appointments for the three year term were approved by directors of IBF following the exit of Shabana Azmi, Bhaskar Ghose and Vir Sanghvi.
• All 3 were associated with BCCC since its inception
• New members will assume their positions from September 2016
• The regulatory body also appoints members from National Statutory Commission and broadcast sector
• 13 member body includes National Commission for chairperson PL Punia, member of NCW Laldingliani Sailo, general counsel and company secretary at Viacom 18 Sujeet Jain and President (Legal and Regulatory) at Zee Network, A. Mohan.

Deputy Managing Director and President, Larsen & Toubro, SN Subrahmanyan will take over as chairman of the USD 16 billion engineering and construction powerhouse from AM Naik.

• Naik introduced Subrahmanyam as his successor at the company’s 71st AGM
• Naik has been with L&T for over 50 years now
• Company is expecting to double its revenue to INR 2 lakh crore by 2021 based on India’s success story
• India is currently at the cusp of a turnaround. All indicators are positive as the projected GDP growth rate is 7.4 percent in 2016-2017
• India is the fastest growing large economy in the world
• Government’s thrust on infrastructure and its Make in India initiatives will fuel growth
• The company is banking on the defence sector
• It is expected the defence sector will generate business opportunities worth INR 13 lakh crores over the next 10 years.
• With the resolution of the issues pertaining to fuel supply and clearer understanding on nuclear liability issues, Nuclear power sector is expected to grow over the next 10 years to INR 50,000 crore.
• L&T plans to make missiles one day, Naik said.

• Meanwhile Olympic bronze medalist Sakshi Malik was named Haryana’s brand ambassador for the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign.
• Malik was also awarded INR 2.5 crore rupees and a commendation certificate besides a class two level job in the state government.
• Her coaches Mandeep and Kuldeep also received cheques of INR 10 lakh rupees by the CM.
• Besides, the Chief Minister also announced that a sports nursery and a stadium would be set up at Mohra, the native village of Sakshi in Rohtak district.

India’s first and single Olympic gold medal winner Abhinav Bindra was on 25th August 2016 named as chairman of the 5 member review committee to probe the shooters’ Rio Games debacle.

• He rescued himself from the questioning as he was part of the team.
• National Rifle Association of India said the mandate of the committee was to identify in an objective way the causes behind shooters not securing any medals in the Rio Olympics
• Committee is also mandated to recommend concrete steps the NRAI must undertake to ensure the dismal performance is not repeated in future Olympics.
• Bindra who retired from the sport after a fourth place finish in Rio told the NRAI he would not question teammates.
• He said he was open to assessment by the review committee
• NRAI order states that only in matters specifically pertaining to the interview or findings/conclusions if any against or in favour of Olympic team athletes may then be examined by the committee, the Chairman of the committee shall be exempt in toto if he rescues himself though he should make himself available for interview by the remainder of the panel.
• For this specific issue, remaining members of the commission shall officiate jointly where majority view will prevail
• Other members of the committee include former tennis player Manisha Malhotra, appointed convener of the committee as well as NRAI Secretary Rajiv Bhatia and two journalists.
• Order empowers the committee to investigate a wide range of factors affecting the performance of the shooters.
• As per the order, the NRAI Review Committee has been asked to submit the report to the President with the maximum period of 4 weeks
• Committee is expected to hold its first meeting on August 30 or 31
• It has been allowed use of available technology to help conduct work smoothly.

Myanmar’s government has set up an advisory panel under former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to find lasting solutions to the Rakhine state conflict against minority Rohingya Muslims.

• Statement by the Office of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi said an agreement was set up between her office and the Kofi Annan Foundation to set up the 9 member advisory commission to resolve protracted issues in the region.
• The panel will comprise 3 international and 6 national experts
• Rohingya Muslims were residing in Rakhine for years but were denied citizenship as they were considered outsiders
• Myanmar’s Buddhist majority clashed with this group in 2012 leading to 100 people dying
• Rohingyas sought to seek refuge in other SEO countries
• They have fallen prey to human trafficking
• Any displaced Rohingya are now sheltering in refugee camps within the country in squalid conditions with little medical care.
• Commission will consider humanitarian and development issues, access to basic services and basic rights and the security of Rakhine
• Commission will make recommendations for the nation in 12 months
• Suu Kyi is the state counsellor and foreign minister; she has been barred by the Constitution from being president but has become the country’s leader after her party won in the November 2015 elections against military junta
• Kofi Annan was UN Chief from 1997-2006. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001

Sunil Bharti Mittal has been re-appointed as the Chairman of telecom giant Bharti Airtel for another five year, with effect from October 1, 2016.

• Mittal is the Founder of Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s largest conglomerates with diversified interests in telecom, insurance, real estate, agri and food, besides other ventures.
• The Group also has JVs with global leaders like Singtel, SoftBank, AXA, Del Monte amongst others
• Bharti Airtel, the Group’s flagship company, offers mobile, fixed broadband and digital TV solutions to over 350 million customers across India, South Asia and Africa.
• Airtel is a global telecom company with presence in 20 nations including Asia and Africa.
• It is headquartered in New Delhi India
• Company ranks among the top 4 mobile service providers internationally in terms of subscribers.
• In India, the company’s product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers.
• In the rest of the world, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 307 million customers across its operations at the end of November 2014.

Urjit Patel is the 8th Deputy Governor to become Governor at RBI and the sixth with an experience in the IMF.

• 52-year-old Patel was appointed RBI Governor for three years and will take charge when Rajan leaves office on September 4
• He was in the IMF between 1990 and 1995 during which he worked on IS, India and Myanmar as well as Bahamas desks.
• He was also on deputation from IMF to RBI before becoming a consultant to the ministry of finance.
• Patel will be the 24th governor of RBI.
• Patel was known as the inflation warrior during his tenure in Mint Street as IMF Chief Economist.
• The last deputy governor of RBI made its governor was YV Reddy.
• 5 former governors have served IMF before becoming RBI chief
• Some deputy governors served as governors only for interim periods.
• Second governor James Taylor who was in office from 1937 to 1943 was the first to serve as Deputy Governor before being made the RBI chief.
• CD Deshmukh was also a Deputy Governor before he became a governor on the demise of his predecessor.
• KG Ambegaokar, another deputy governor, was appointed as interim governor for one and half months till HR Iyengar could take over.
• BN Adarkar also a deputy held the post till S Jagannath could take over.
• YV Reddy also had a six year tenure as a deputy governor and served as India’s ED at IMF before becoming RBI Governor in 2003.
• Other contenders for the post which went to Patel include former RBI deputy governors Rakesh Mohan, Subir Gokarna, Vice Chairman NITI AAYog Arvind Panagariya and SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya.
• Patel led a committee in 2014 suggesting RBI adopt formal inflation targeting methods and come up with a monetary policy committee to take interest rate decisions to achieve inflation targets.
• Government agreed to both conditions adopting a 4 percent long term inflation target (+/- 2%) and formed a six member committee comprising three nominees from the government and RBI in which Governor would have casting vote.
• Patel has also had stints in Reliance Industries and Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC).

Former Union Minister for Minority Affairs Najma Heptullah has been appointed Governor of Manipur.

• BJP leader and former RS member VP Singh Badnore was made Governor of poll bound Punjab.
• Delhi BJP leader and former MLA Jagdish Muukhi has been appointed Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar islands;.
• He has been appointed in place of AK Singh.
• The appointment has been made by the President of India.
• It will take effect from the dates the incumbent assume charge of their respective offices.
• Banwarilal Purohit, a three time former member of the LS from Nagpur and ME of Central Indian daily The Hitavada will be made governor of Assam.
• Heptulla resigned as Minority Affairs Minister as PM Modi has an unwritten writ of 75 year bar for ministers that ensured veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi remained confined to the Margdarshak Mandal and out of the Cabinet
• Meghalaya governor V Shanmuganthan was earlier holding additional charge as Manipur governor
• Nagaland governor Padmanbha Balakrishna Acharya will hold additional charge as Assam governor till Purohit takes charge

Realty startup Housing dot com has announced the appointment of Vivek Jain as Chief Product and Technology officer. In his new role, Jain will focus on product and engineering aspects of business.

• Jain’s appointment is aimed to help the real estate portal fulfil its goal of being a full service transaction player.
• The current CEO of Housing dot com is Jason Kothari.
• Housing dot com, India’s leading real estate portal expects USD 10 million in revenue this fiscal.
• Vivek Jain is an industry veteran with over 14 years of experience in technology and digital domains in India and US.
• He started his career with Ashley Laurent in the US and was part of Reliance Jio.
• Housing dot com was in a controversy when co-founder Rahul Yadav was asked to leave in 2015
• This real estate portal works towards end to end user interface for housing and real estate solutions.

Akhil Joshi presently working as ED, BHEL has been appointed as Director (Power) BHEL for 5 years from the date of assumption of charge of post or till the date of superannuation or until further orders.

• As Director (Power). Josh will be responsible for marketing, construction, commissioning and overall management of power projects and an after market business for the company.
• He has diverse experience of over 3 decades working in major units of BHEL.
• He has also held global leadership positions in international operations and information technology divisions of BHEL.
• He has a degree in engineering.

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal has been appointed as the brand ambassador for ITC’s leading health and hygiene brand.

• In the fresh campaign with Saina, Savlon will inspire parents to let their children maximise their potential.

Microsoft announced the appointment of Sriram Rajamani as the new MD of the India lab.

• He will spreadhead Microsoft India from the Bengaluru office replacing Chandu Thekkath who has been MD of the lab for two years.
• Prior to joining the India lab, Rajamani headed the Software Productivity Tools group within the Microsoft Redmond Research Lab.

Manual Chellur, the Chief Justice of Calcutta High court has been appointed as CJ of Bombay HC.

• She will assume charge by August 24
• She will replace CJ Dhirendra Hiralal Waghela who retired on August 10
• The new CJ will be only the second lady CJ of the Bombay HC since its inception
• She is the first lady lawyer to practice at Bellary and been to Warwick University in England on a fellowship in 1997

Rajeev Krishnan was on 9th August 2016 appointed MD of Max Hypermarkets in India w.e.f August 1, 2016

• He succeeds VIney Singh as the MD
• Singh will also be on the board of the company as Non ED
• Krishnan previously worked for McKinsey and Bharti Retail

Hanumantharayappa is the 25th chairman of the Central Silk Board succeeding NS Bissegowda

• He is a sericulturist and weaver
• A senior political leader from BJP, he is a Karnataka based politician
• He was Member of the Central Silk Board from 2000 to 2002
• He was also President of Karnataka State Nekarara Horate Samithi
• He has served as Chairman, Karnataka Silk Marketing Board during 2010-2013

State Bank of India appointed Dinesh Kuma Khara as the MD

• ACC appointed Khara for three years extendable by two years after performance review
• Khara is currently working as MD and CEO of SBI Funds Management Pvt Ltd
• Ashok Kumar Garg and Raj Kamal Verman have been appointed as ED of Bank of Baroda and Union Bank
• Gopal Murti Bhagat and Himanshu Joshi have been appointed as EDs of Corporation Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce respectively
• SBI is a PSU bank which offers financial services across nations

Freshdesk has appointed STS Prasad as senior vice president of engineering for accelerating technology development and overseeing infrastructure enhancements to support its growing customer base

• He has previously worked with Amazon, Kosmix, Junglee, HCL, Sybase and WalmartLabs.

Sandeep Kumar on August 8, 2016 was appointed as Transport Commissioner of Delhi succeeding Sanjay Kumar who was appointed the commissioner a few months back

• Sandeep Kumar will take on the role of the Commissioner as an additional charge an is also MD of Delhi KVIC boards
• He is a 1997 batch IAS officer

Hero MotoCorp has reappointed Pawan Munjal as the Chairman, MD and CEO for 5 years

• Company has also elevated Head of Operations and Supply Chain Vikram Kasbekar as the director on the company’s board
• His current tenure came to an end in September 2016
• Company also appointed Neerja Sharma as the Company Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer

Manish Tandon was on August 6, 2016 appointed the CEO of CSS Corp, a global technology support company. He will be inducted as a whole time director of the board and as a CEO

• He will succeed current CEO TG Ramesh and hails from IIT-IIM
• He has worked in ITeS companies as well as retail and financial services companies
• He currently is head of Healthcare and Life Sciences & High Tech Manufacturing businesses at Infosys

In a strategic move to gain stronghold in emerging markets across India, Chinese Internet and technology major LeEco on 8th August 2016 announced the appointment of chairman and CEO Jia Yueting as chairman of leading Chinese smartphone player Coolpad

• Coolpad stocks surged as a result of this; LeEco is the largest shareholder of Coolpad with 28.9 percent stake
• LeEco and Coolpad will also adopt a dual brand strategy where two brands co-exist and target different market segments

Private sector lender IDFC Bank has appointed former RBI Deputy Governor Anand Sinha on its board as independent director, according to the lender on 5th August 2016.

• Sinha will replace former CAG Vinod Rai appointed w.e.f August 1, 2016.
• Rai was appointed chairman of the Banks Board Bureau as well so resigned as director of IDFC Bank to prevent conflict of interest.
• He was a nominee director representing the IDFC Ltd on the board of IDFC Bank.
• IDFC has also received approvals from RBI to start operations as a universal bank on April 2014.
• Following this, the erstwhile infrastructure financier’s loans were transferred to IDFC Bank.
• IDFC Bank commenced operations from October 2015.
• Rai was appointed as BBB Chairman by the government on 28th February 2016 and Sinha joined the RBI in July 1976.

American ice hockey Olympic champion Angela Ruggiero has on 1st August 2016 been elected as new chair of the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes Commission.

• IOC President Thomas Bach appointed her during a joint meeting between IOC Athletes Commission and IOC Executive Board.
• Ruggiero will replace Claudia Bokel and is currently vice chair of the commission.

Deepak Iyer was appointed as MD of Mondelez International’s India business on August 1, 2016.

• He succeeds Chandramouli Venkatesan, who was MD (India operations) for two years.
• As MD of Monedelz India, Iyer will be part of the Asia Pacific Leadership Team and report to President of Asia Pacific Mondelez International.
• Iyer was previously MD-CEO of Bharti Axa General Insurance Company

Senior IRS officer Rani Singh Nair was on August 1, 2016 given charge of the CBDT Chairperson post.

• Her predecessor, Atulesh Jindal appointed CBDT chief in February 2016 retired on 31st July 2016.
• Following the appointment, she will oversee effective initiation of one time domestic black money disclosure scheme also called Income Declaration Scheme.
• Singh is a 1979 batch IRS officer of IT cadre who has worked as Member (Legislation and Computerisation) at CBDT.

Justice Dilip Balasaheb Bhosale has taken over as Chief Justice of the Allahabad HC.

• Governor Ram Naik administered the oath in the presence of HC judges and other dignitaries
• Post has been vacant since Justice Chandrachud has been elevated to SC.
• Born in 1956, Justice Bhosale belongs to freedom fighter family and his father Babasaheb Bhosale has served as Maharashtra CM.
• Justice Bhosale was also Chairman of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Vice Chairman of the Bar Council of India.

Microsoft India has appointed Anant Maheshwari as the president succeeding Bhaskar Pramanik as Chairman, Microsoft India effective January 1 in 2017.

• Pramanik will retire from the company in March 2017.
• Maheshwari will be joining Microsoft from Honeywell where he was the President of India.
• Previously, he was also MD of Honeywell Automation India and aims for a mobile first, cloud first world.
• He has also worked for McKinsey & Company.

Air Marshall NJS Dhillon took over as Senior Air Staff Officer, Western Air Command from Air Marshall B Suresh AVSM VM who assumed appointment of Air Officer in Charge Personnel at Air HQ.

• DHillon is a graduate of NDA and was awarded the Ati Vishishit Seva medal in 2013.
• Suresh is a graduate of Rashtriya Indian Military College and NDA and has received 2 AOC-in-C's commendations, the 'Vayu Sena Medal' and the 'Ati Vishist Seva Medal'.

Satish Mathur (DG, ACB) has been appointed as the Director General of Police Maharashtra by the State Government.

• He will take over from DGP Praveen Dixit and head the state ACB before being appointed as DGP Maharashtra
• He is a 1981 batch IPS officer.
• An SP level officer, he served with the CBI during the 1993 serial blasts trial as the DCP in Pune and with the Pune unit of the ACB.
• He subsequently became the first officer to be appointed as DG (Legal and Technical) when the post was created by the state government in 2014, and later became the state ACB chief after Mr. Dixit was appointed state police chief.

UP Governor Ram Naik has given approval for appointment of retired IAS officer Shambhu Singh Yadav as the deputy Lokayukta of the state.

• Governor gave his approval following mutual agreement between CM and Retd. Sanjay Mishra on the name of Sambhu Singh Yadav for the post.
• Swatantra Singh was appointed uplokayukta on October 1, 2007 and served until the close of the term in September 2015.
• Yadav is a 1997 batch IAS officer who served as special secretary to former CM MS Yadav in the SP government in 2003 and made Akhilesh’s secretary again in 2012.

Venkatesh has been appointed as the new Chief Election Officer of UP on 30th July.

• He is a 1988 batch IAS officer.
• He was charged with the responsibility of conducting the crucial assembly elections in politically sensitive states in early 2017.
• He replaced Arun Singh as the Chief Election Officer of UP.
• A native of Vizag, he is charged with the responsibility of conducting crucial Assembly elections in the politically sensitive state in early 2017.

Term of the present Railway Board Chairman AK Mittal has been extended for another two years.

• Mittal was appointed on December 31, 2014, and his tenure was supposed to end on July 30 this year.
• Before this, he was Member Staff in the Railway Board.
• Current chairman Railway Board Shri AK Mittal has been reappointed as the new Chairman Railway Board for the period of 2 years till he attains the age of 62 years w.e.f 1.08.2016.
• AK Mittal was earlier GM of South Western Railway and was looking after the additional charge of General Lanager, South Central Railway, SCR (HQ Secunderabad).
• Mittal is a Bachelor of Engineering and an officer of 1976 batch of Indian Railways Services of Stores.

Infosys has elevated Rajesh Krishnamurthy executive VP and head of energy and utilities and telecom as President.

• Krishnamurthy has replaced Sanjay Purohit as head of consulting.
• He is now president besides 3 others elevated this year- Ravi Kumar, Mohit Joshi and Sandeep Dadlani.
• Krishnamurthy is also heading the Europe division of Infosys.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Shri Boyapati Venkat Sudhakar as the Secretary, Department of Posts.

• He succeeds Ms. Kavery Banerjee, an Indian Postal Service officer of 1978 batch who superannuated in April 2016.
• Sudhakar is an Indian Postal Service Officer of 1981 batch

Global cyber security leader Paladion announced the appointment of Sunil Gupta, a former Infosys Edge Verve COO as President and Chief Operating Officer.

• Sunil will monitor business strategies and outcomes in MEA and India and will direct all business units and delivery.
• Security management is transitioning from slow people based processes to more active poster by leveraging automation and analytics.
• Paladion has been the forefront of developments and delivers leading edge Cyber Active services through proprietary, high performance analytics and orchestration platform.

T. Nanda Kumar, Chairman of Gujarat based National Dairy Development Board has resigned

• ACC has accepted the resignation of Kumar with effect from August 1, 2016 according to the DoPT without citing a reason.
• Senior most whole time director of the board has been given additional charge of NDDB till appointment of regular incumbent.
• Kumar is an IAS officer and worked as NDDB chief since March 3, 2014.
• He is the first chairman of the board based in Anand Gujarat.
• Other chairpersons of this board include Verghese Kurien and Amrita Patel.
• Kurien is known as the Father of White Revolution/Milk Revolution in India.