Appointments - Current Affairs for July, 2016

The following appointments were approved by the ACC:

• Smt Smita Chugh (IAS JH 1980) as Member Secretary Tariff Commission, DIPP Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• Shri Bhanu Pratap Sharma (IAS BH 1981) as Secretary DoPT, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
• Shri Rakesh Srivastava (IAS RJ 1981) as the Secretary National Commission for Backward Classes.
• Dr. Amarjit Singh (IAS GJ 1982) as OSD in Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation.
• Dr, Dinesh Singh (IAS UP 1982) as OSD in Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development
• Dr. AK Dubey (IAS KL 1982) as OSD in Department of Youth Affairs, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports.
• Smt Aruna Sharma (IAS MP 1982) as Secretary, Ministry of Steel.
• Smt. LK Rao (IAS KN 1982) as Secretary, Department of Social Justice & Empowerment, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• Smt Aruna Sundarajan (IAS KL 1982) as Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
• Smt M. Sathivathy (IAS AGMUT 1982) as OSD in Ministry of Labour & Employment with immediate effect.
• Shri Rajeev Kapoor (IAS UP 1983) as Director Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration Mussoorie with post upgraded to level of Secretary.
• Shri Amarjeet Sinha (IAS BH 1983) as Secretary Department of Rural Development, Ministry of Rural Development.
• Shri CK Mishra (IAS BH 1983) as Secretary Department of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• Shri BK Prasad (IAS TN 1983) as Secretary, National Commission for Denitrified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic tribes
• Shri NS Kang (IAS PB 1983) as Secretary and DG NACO.

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Dr. Budha Rashmi Mani as the DG of the National Museum, New Delhi.

• Mani was previously ADG, ASI.
• Appointment is on contract for a period for three years or till the age of 70 or till further orders, whichever is earliest.

ITC Ltd Board has redesignated ED Sanjiv Puri as the COO of the company with immediate effect.

• 53-year-old Puri was placed on ITC’s board in December 2015 in a move seen as part of Chairman YC Deveshwari’s succession planning.
• Company announced the appointment of the IIT Kanpur alumnus who joined the company in the 1980s.
• He was previously President of the FMCG businesses since 2014.

Swedish mobile telecoms gear maker Ericsson has parted ways with CEO Hans Westberg on 25th July, 2016 following a series of bad results.

• Vestberg came under fire for leadership and pay factors after weak results, though he has served longer than any of his three predecessors.
• Ericsson shares went up 3 percent in 1230 GMT, losing 21 percent so far this year.
• The removal of the CEO was taken as a positive step by the markets therefore.

Mumbai based Axis Bank has been given RBI approval for appointing Dr. Sanjiv Misra as the Additional Director and Non Executive (Part Time) Chairman of the bank from July 2016 to July 2019 for a period of three years.

• He was earlier the SUUTI or special under stading of UTI) nominee on board as Non Executive Chairman till May 2016.
• He has a degree in economics from St, Stephen’s College, a masters from Delhi School of Economics and a doctorate from JNU.
• He was designated Lucius N. Littauer Fellow of 1987 in recognition of skills in academia and leadership spheres.
• He was a member of the IAS for over 35 years.
• Dr. Misra has also been a member of the Advisory Council of the Asian Development Bank Institute Tokyo and a member of the Committee on Fiscal Consolidation (Kelkar Committee) set up in August 2012 for fiscal consolidation for the Indian economy.

Suresh C. Angadi has been appointed as the Chairperson of the House Committee by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan

• He is serving his third consecutive term as LS member from Belgavi.
• Meghwal is the outgoing chairperson.
• The committee was reconstituted with 11 of the 12 members on June 12 this year.

Senior IAS officer A B P Pandey was on 21st July appointed as the chief executive officer of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), mandated to issue Aadhaar numbers.

• He is a 1984 batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre.
• He is the first CEO of UIDAI formed in January 2009.
• He has been involved with UIDAI since September 2010

Beverages firm Coca Cola on 19th July 2016 appointed Sravita Sethi as the new Vice President (Finance) for India and South West Asia.

• Sethi took charge from Sanjeev Kumar moving to Lagos as DF for Coca Cola West Africa.
• Sethi will be reporting to Coca Cola India and South West Asia President Venkatesh Kini.
• India and South West Asia Business Units of the Coca Cola company include India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bangladesh
• Coca Cola company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and the beverage was invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim announced American economist Paul Romer will succeed Kaushik Basu as the Chief Economist and Senior VP of the World Bank.

• Romer’s appointment will take effect from September 2016; he is currently NYU professor and director of the University’s Marron Institute of Urban Management.
• WB comprises two institutions IBRD and IDA and was created in 1944 along with the IMF.

Bureaucrat Guruprasad Mohapatra was on 15th July 2016 appointed as chairman of Airports Authority of India w.e.f 19th July 2016.

• He is a 1986 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre.
• He was posted as Joint Secretary in Union Ministry of Commerce prior to this.
• He has also served as joint MD of GIDC during his tenure in Gujarat.

US based international retail major Brightstar has appointed Deval Parikh as the CEO and director of Beetel Telectech Limited, w.e.f 18th July 2016.

• Parikh will lead Beetel business lines to include handset and accessories services along with IT peripherals and fixed line telephone enterprise solutions.
• Parikh joins Brightstar from Reliance Jio where he served as SVP of the mobility business and also led the youth segment and national as well as regional roles.
• Parikh has also worked at Virgin Mobile before this

Amidst concerns of slowing growth, HCL Technologies has appointed C.Vijay Kumar as the COO in addition to role as president of Infrastructure Services which adds to around 40 percent of the revenue of the company.

• He will report to current CEO Anant Gupta.
• COO will focus on execution.
• Gupta was elevated to position of CEO 5 months after being appointed COO of HCL Technologies
• Indian IT industry is facing a challenge through Brexit

The Jute Corporation of India Limited on 12th July 2016 announced that KVR Murthy has taken over as CMD, taking over the position w.e.f 2nd July 2016.

• His appointment is for 5 years or till the date of superannuation, whichever is earlier.
• Jute Corporation of India Ltd is an agency of the Government of India that assists jute cultivators in states where the crop is grown, providing MSP.
• JCI was established in 1971 and is based in the capital city of Kolkata.
• It is part of main jute growing areas of Bihar, Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Odisha, Meghalaya and Andhra Pradesh.

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has appointed AK Patnaik as the CEO of National Intelligence Grid or NATGRID.

• Appointment of CEO will be effective from the date of assumption of charge of the post upto December 31, 2018 i.e. the date of his retirement on superannuation or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
• He was earlier part of the Intelligence Bureau.

Dr. Kinshuk has been appointed as dean of the American University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from University of Rajasthan, a MS in mechanical CAD engineering from Scotland’s Strathclyde University and PhD degree from De Montfort University in England.

• Since 2010, he served as Associate Dean at Athabasca University in Alberta Candada where he led the Faculty of S &T.
• Dr. Kinshuk also served as Industrial Research Chair in Adaptivity and Personalisation in Informatics for the National Science and Engineering Council of Canada.

Vijay Ghagde has joined the Vulcan Express, a captive logistics unit of Snapdeal as the CEO

• He was earlier the COO of e-commerce logistics company Go-Javas
• Snapdeal holds 42 percent stake in GoJavas.
• It is strengthening its supply chain and logistics capabilities investing INR 240 crore in Go Javas in 2 subsequent rounds in 2015
• GoJavas was the logistics arm of Rocket Internet backed fashion retailer and is the largest logistics partner for Snapdeal

Toma is joining EXL following more than a decade and a half’s experience with business outsourcing firm ADP

• He was the senior VP and CIO of the company
• He also served as CTO for ADP for 5 years.
• This was after his startup was acquired in 2003

Union Government in July 2016 appointed Utpal Bora as the full time chairman of Oil India Limited.

• His appointment was recommended by a three member committee headed by Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha.
• Committee was formed after PESB did not suggest a suitable name for the position.
• DoPT also announced the appointment of D Rajkumar as the head of Bharat Petroleum.
• Rajkumar will take charge on or after October 1, 2016 after retirement of BPCL’s chief S Vadarajan in September 2016.

Pope Francis on 11th July named the former Fox News correspondent to head up the Vatican press office and appointed the tiny state’s first ever female deputy spokesperson.

• American Greg Burke will take over the press office.
• Meanwhile Spanish journalist Paloma Garcia Ovejero will be the Pope’s first female deputy spokesperson.

Sanjay Gupta has been officiating as the CMD of Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd.

• He has been appointed as CMD of the corporation.
• He is the youngest ever CMD of KRCL.
• He was early a director in KRCL which is a subsidiary of the Indian Railways

Sushila Karki has been appointed as the first woman chief justice on 10th July 2016 unanimously endorsed by a parliamentary panel setting the ground for her to take charge of the SC to lead the judiciary.

• This means Nepal will now have women as President, Speaker of Parliament and Chief Justice of the SC.
• 64 year old Karki who has completed her Masters in Political Science from BHU is known for her zero tolerance for corruption
• Karki was recommended for the top judicial post on April 10 by the Judicial Council.

Senior bureaucrat SK Kohli has been appointed as the CGDA (Comptroller General of Defence Accounts)

- ACC has approved Kohli’a appointment for promotion to post of CGDA

- Kohli is an Indian Defence Accounts Service officer

- CGDA mandates audit, payment and accounting of all charges for the armed forces

- Established Officer’s Division processes all proposals for senior appointment in the government of India that require approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet under GoI Transaction of Business Rules 1961

- The complete list of the Cabinet Committee is given below:

• Appointments Committee of the Cabinet
• Cabinet Committee on Accommodation.
• Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
• Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.
• Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.
• Cabinet Committee on Security

IDFC MF has appointed Vishal Kapoor, a senior executive from Standard Chartered Bank as the CEO.

• Kapoor will take charge of the new position from September in 2016.
• Vishal will be responsible for driving accelerated growth of IDFC AMC heading seasoned senior management team including Anoop Bhaskar, Kaplan Parekh and Suyash Choudhary.
• IDFC or Infrastructure Development Finance Company is a finance company based in India which provides financing and advisory services for accelerated growth.
• Vishal Kapoor is am IIMA Graduate and a B.Com from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata.

Telecom major TATA Docomo has on 7th July, 2016 announced the appointment of Amitabh Bhatia as the consumer business unit head- AP and Telangana.

• As the CBU head, Bhatia will oversee the business and operations of the telco in two states.
• He was earlier leading Gujarat circle at TATA Teleservices.
• He had previously held numerous positions at Electrolux, Reliance Communication and Bharti Airtel.

India was placed 91st in the Networked Readiness Index 2016 released by Geneva based World Economic Forum on July 6, 2016

• Index was released as part of the WEF Global Information Technology Report 2016
• The index is used to measure country’s success in creating conditions for change into digitised economy and society
• 7 countries were found to excel namely Finland Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, Singapore, the Netherlands and US
• Convergence at the regional level remained elusive as it did on the international level as well

Zee Learn education branch of Essel Group on July 6, 2016 appointed Debshankar Mukhopadhyay as CEO

• Essel Group is a prominent business house in India with portfolio of assets in media, entertainment, education and packaging.
• Mukhopadhyay holds 20 years of experience in the fields of education and finance and was heading educational sales, financial services and insurance at Manipal Global Education Services before this

The 1982 batch IAS officer Deepak Singhal was on July 6, 2016 appointed as the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh

• Singhal succeeds 1978 batch officer Alok Ranjan who retired on 30th June 2016 after the three month extension of service
• He will hold additional charge of Principal Resident Commissioner of UP in Delhi and Chairman of the Pradeshiya Industrial and Investment Corporation of UP

R. Thiruppathi Venkatswamy was on July 6, 2016 appointed as Accountant General of Economic and Revenue Sector Audit of TN with immediate effect.

• The appointment was approved by the Union Government and he is a 2000 batch Indian Audits and Accounts Service officer.

Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad has taken over as the new Union Law and Justice Minister in New Delhi.

• This is in addition to current charge of Union Ministry for Telecom and IT.
• Meanwhile Shri PP Choudhary took over as new Minister of State in the Law & Justice Ministry.
• Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal took over as new Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs.
• Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar took over as new Minister of State for Finance.
• Shri SS Ahluwalia took over as new Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare

Twitter has appointed former Facebook chief technology officer Bret Taylor to the board.

• The appointment was made with immediate effect.

RBI has appointed Sudarshan Sen as an executive director in place of NS Vishwanathan elevated as Deputy Governor at the central bank.

• Sen will take care of Banking Regulation, Department of Cooperative Bank Regulation and Department of Non Banking Regulation.
• Sen was a career central banker and has long association with bank supervision and regulation.
• He was also in charge of the Department of Banking Regulation.
• He served as Regional Director of Ahmedabad office of the RBI and holds an MBA in International banking and Financing from UK’s University of Birmingham.
• RBI is involved in the printing of currency notes while coins are minted by GoI.
• RBI is the central bank with current governor Raghuram Rajan set to retire in September 2016.

ISRO Inertial Systems Unit has a new director in ISRO Inertial Systems Unit, Department of Space, Vattiyoorkavu in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

• Dhekane is the 7th director of IISU
• Madhav Dhekane has obtained a B-Tech in electrical engineering and M-Tech in Systems and Control from IIT, Mumbai
• He joined the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in 1983
• He had various significant positions in ISRO such as Deputy Director, Control Guidance and Simulation Entity at VSSC, Chief Controller at VSSC and Associate Director (R&D) at VSSC
• Inertial Systems Unit was a research and development unit of ISRO
• Specialized fields include fields of launch vehicle inertial systems, spacecraft inertial systems, inertial sensors evaluation and simulation, inertial system production and more.

Lt General Velu Nair has been appointed as DG Medical Services (Army) on July 1, 2016.

• General officer is alumnus of Armed Forces Medical College and was commissioned into the Army Medical Corps in March 1978
• A haematologist of global repute, he is a recognised teacher and examiner at PhD level
• He has been appointed Professor & HoD, Department of Internal Medicine Armed Forces Medical College Pune and Army Hospital (Research & Referral)
• He has the unique distinction of key appointment as Senior Consultant (Medicine) DGAFMS and Deputy Chief Integrated Defence Staff, Med

Lieutenant General Manoj Kumar Unni assumed charge as the Director General Armed Forces Medical Services.

• He is a graduate from the Armed Forces Medical College AFMC Pune.
• He was commissioned in the Army Medical Corps on February 27, 1977
• He also trained as a paratrooper and served with the Special Forces as a medical officer.
• He was also Major General Medical Northern Command.
• He has received two Presidential awards namely VSM and AVSM
• He was appointed Honorary Surgeon to the Indian President on July 1, 2015