Appointments - Current Affairs for May, 2016

Following the exit of Veerendra Kataria, Puducherry LG post was taken over by Kiran Bedi. Bedi succeeds LG (retd) Ajay Kumar Singh of the Andaman and Nicobar islands holding additional charge of Puducherry so far

India’s second largest software exporter Infosys has conducted a top level reshuffle and named Anatha Radakrishnan as the new head of back office outsourcing business, while previous BPO head Anup Uppadhyaya has been tasked with helping the company win large deals.

• Upadhyay has been designated head of strategic sales programs

Former NBA executive Pjillippe Moggio has been appointed as the new secretary general of CONCACAF. This move is designed to help the scandal tainted organisation’s image. Muggy, the former senior vice president and MD for Latin America will also serve as the CEO of CONCACAF.

• CONCACAF, the governing body for football in North America , Central America and the Caribbean, has been battered by allegations of corruption in the year since US justice authorities launched a series of raids targeting graft in world football.
• The last three presidents of CONCACAF - Honduras's Alfredo Hawit, Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands and Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago - have all been indicted in the US on corruption charges.

Rakesh Kumar Mishra, a noted expert in the study of function of genes, has been appointed as the new Director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

• Mishra had joined CCMB in 2001 as a senior scientist after stints at the IISc, Bangalore, the University of Bordeaux, France, Saint Louise University, USA and the University of Geneva, Switzerland for post-doctoral experience.
• An MSc from Allahabad University, Mishra’s research interests include investigating evolutionarily conserved features of genome organisation, chromatin structure and epigenetic regulation of genes during embryonic development stages.
• The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology or CCMB is an Indian Biotechnology research establishment of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research located in Hyderabad, India, and a designated Center of Excellence for Global Molecular and Cell Biology Network, UNESCO.

Renowned scientist S K Sharma on 23 May 2016 was appointed the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).

• Sharma will be responsible for design, construction, commissioning and operation of nuclear power reactors. He has been appointed to the new post for a period of five years.
• At present, Sharma is working as Distinguished Scientist and Director (Operations) in NPCIL.
• NPCIL is administered by the Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India (DAE) and was created in September 1987 under the Companies Act 1956.

BJP leader and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi was on Sunday appointed as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, a post which was under the additional charge of Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Island for nearly two years.

• Bedi is the first woman IPS officer of the country. Narendra Modi Government sacked UPA nominee Virendra Kataria on July 12 barely a year after he had been appointed.
• Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Island Lt Gen Ajay Singh had been given additional charge of Puducherry.

Ratan P.Watal , former finance secretary has been appointed as the Principle adviser for social sector in Niti Aayog. He has been appointed to the post for three years. Fresh appointment was following Watal’s retirement in February. He is a retired IAS officer of AP cadre.

• The National Institute for Transforming India AAYog or NITI Aayog is a GOI policy think tank to replace the Planning Commission
• Stated aim for NITI Aayog’s creation fosters involvement and participation in economic policy making process by the State Governments of India.

Barco on 18 May 2016 announced the appointment of Rajiv Bhalla as Managing Director for India.

• Rajiv will also be the legal representative of Barco India, fulfilling all legal, regulatory and statutory obligations.
• He will also ensure that all the obligations are complaint with local legal, safety, environmental regulations as well as company directives and guidelines.
• He holds more than 22 years of senior leadership experience in technology organizations like Thomson Consumer Electronics, Microsoft, NEC and Intel.

FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) on 14 May 2016 appointed Justice (retd) Mukul Mudgal as deputy chairman of its Governance Committee.

• Portuguese Luis Miguel Maduro, Advocate General of European Court of Justice (ECJ), was appointed as the Chairman of the Governance Committee.
• Justice Mudgal was also appointed as the head of the FIFA’s first Independent Review Committee along with Luis Miguel Maduro.

Former India captain Anil Kumble has been re-appointed ICC Cricket Committee chairman for a second term of three years while his one-time team-mate and batting great Rahul Dravid was named member of the top panel.

• Kumble, the all-time highest wicket-taker for India, who was appointed as the chairman for his first term in 2012, will now continue to head the panel until 2018.
• Meanwhile, another former India captain Dravid and ex-Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene have been appointed to the ICC Cricket Committee, adding even more cricketing experience to the list of eminent people already on the panel.
• Jayawardene has been appointed as a past player representative and takes over from former Australia captain Mark Taylor, who has also completed his final three-year term.
• Former Australia off-spinner and ex-Chief Executive of Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA), Tim May, has also been elected by the current Test captains as current player representative, replacing Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, who has completed his three-year term.
• Three time ICC umpire of the year Richard Kettleborough has replaces Steve Davis who retired last year.

Veteran cricket administrator Shashank Manohar has been elected unopposed as ICC’s first independent chairman, two days after he stepped down from the post of BCCI President.

• The 58-year-old was elected to the post after the ICC Full Council’s approval of constitutional amendments proposed by the Board following its April meeting.
• Manohar recently resigned as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, is the first elected independent Chairman of the game’s governing body and will commence his two-year term with immediate effect.
• According to the election process, ICC directors were each allowed to nominate one candidate, who had to be either a present or past ICC director.
• Nominees with the support of two or more Full Member directors would have been eligible to contest the election, which was scheduled to have been concluded by May 23.

54 year old Fatma Samoura will assume the role of FIFA general secretary before mid June after undergoing an eligibility check

She is currently

• Decision was taken by FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the 66th FIFA Congress in Mexico City.
• She is currently UN’s Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria.
• She is fluent in French, English, Spanish and Italian.

Senior advocate of Bombay High Court Atma Ram Nadkarni on 9 May 2016 was appointed as Additional Solicitor General (ASG).

• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointment of Nadkarni as Additional Solicitor General in Supreme Court for a period of three years.
• Additional Solicitor General of India is a law officer of India and is the third ranking lawyer of the Government of India.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Shri Kumar Rajesh Chandra, IPS (BH:85) as Director General (ADG level) {formerly known as Commissioner of Security (Civil Aviation)} in the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) from the date of assumption of charge of post and till further orders.

Intex Technologies GM Deepak Kabu joined Ziox Mobiles as the CEO becoming the second level executive to leave the no 3 smartphone player in India

• At Ziox Mobiles, Kabu will aim to increase brand presence in the market
• With growing competition in the domestic market, old hand and head of product Sudhir Kumar resigned and moved as CEO to Itel.

Japanese firm Toshiba Corp has nominated Satoshi Tsunakawa as the next CEO following a managing accounting scandal. Currently, Tsunakawa is the senior vice president of the company

• US $1.3 billion nook keeping scandal pushed Toshiba to streamline business plans and announce job cuts.

The Government has appointed Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba, presently Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) Western Naval Command as the next Chief of the Naval Staff with effect from the afternoon of May 31, 2016.

• The present Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral RK Dhowan will superannuate from service on May 31, 2016.
• Born in July, 1957, Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba was commissioned on January 01, 1978 into the Executive Branch of Indian Navy.
• Vice Admiral Lanba’s Sea Command includes commanding the minesweeper INS Kakinada, frigate INS Himgiri and Executive Officer of INS Viraat, the aircraft carrier.
• previously he was FOC-in-C, Southern Naval Command, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff and Commandant, National Defence College.

Well known statistician Dr Radha Binod Barman on 4 May 2016 took over as the part-time Chairperson in the National Statistical Commission.Professor S. Mahendra Dev, Professor Rahul Mukherjee, Dr Rajiv Mehta and Dr Manoj Panda took over as other part-time members in the commission.

• The Government ordered setting up National Statistical Commission of India on 1 June 2005 on the recommendation of C. Rangarajan Commission.
• It is an autonomous body, which was formed in July 2006.

S. Mahalingam, former chief financial officer (CFO) and executive director of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), is set to become the non-executive chairman of City Union Bank.

• Mr. Mahalingam is currently an Independent Director on the board of the bank.
• The board’s decision comes in the wake of S. Balasubramanian vacating the office of part-time Non-Executive Chairman of the bank at the close of business hours on Tuesday upon his superannuation.
• Board also co opted M. Narayanan as Additional Director of the Bank.

Google has acquired a business technology start-up founded by an Indian-origin entrepreneur as part of its plans to scale training offerings for Google Apps to its customers and customers’ users.

• Varun Malhotra is the founder and CEO of Toronto-based Synergyse, which was launched in 2013 with an aim to teach users how to use Google Apps. Financial details were not disclosed

Twitter's live video-streaming application, Periscope, has hired an editor-in-chief, Evan Hansen, who says he plans to showcase the best content and help develop the platform.

• Hansen himself revealed his appointment to Periscope, which lets users broadcast live video free of charge from smartphones running Android or Apple iOS software. The videos remain available for 24 hours before disappearing.

Yahoo Inc's management team and directors have given a warm welcome to Starboard Value LP chief executive Jeffrey Smith since he joined the company's board after a contentious battle on May 2nd.

• The founder of the activist hedge fund is coming off a major agreement struck with Yahoo in a deal in which Smith and three associates joined the internet company's board of directors after a contentious battle that nearly went to a shareholder vote.
• After more than a year of pushing for business and leadership changes at Yahoo, Starboard nominated a nine-member slate this spring to replace Yahoo's entire board. With the proxy battle now finished, the company is pressing ahead with the auction of its core business.

European football governing body UEFA has elected Frenchwoman Florence Hardouin as the first female executive member in a landmark vote at the Budapest congress. The 49 year old Hardouin, FFF DG won by 33 votes against rival candidate Karen Esplenud who won 21 votes.

• Both candidates were of the opinion that UEFA’s 54 member associations at the annual decision making event would be an important step in changing the powerful regional confederation.
• She has not aimed for the FIFA post though

Mexican ambassador to Germany, Patricia Espinosa will be the new UN climate chief, playing an important role in implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change approved by 195 countries in the French capital.

• She will replace incumbent Christiana Figueres when the term ends in July.
• Espinosa will play an important role in the Paris Agreement on climate change approved by 195 countries in the French Capital in December 2015
• UNFCC has existed since 1994 and with 196 countries and EU as its members, it has close to universal membership.

Physicist Sriram Ramaswamy, Director of TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Hyderabad, has been elected as the Fellow of The Royal Society.

• His name appeared on the list of 50 new fellows and 10 new Foreign Members announced by the Royal Society.
• Besides, biochemist Ramanujan Hegde, MRC Laboratory of Microbiology, U.K. and applied mathematician Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan, Harvard University, are the other two Indian names who were also elected as the fellows of the premier scientific academy of the U.K. and the Commonwealth.