Appointments - Current Affairs for November, 2016

Lt. Gen AK Bhatt was appointed as DGMO (Director General Military Operations) on 28^th Nov 2016. He will succeed Lt. Gen Ranbir Singh.

Singh will now head 1 Corps with HQ in Mathura. This is one of the 4 strike corps among the 14 corps of the 1.3 million strong Army. He will replace Lt. Gen Shokin Chauhan who has been appointed DG of Assam Rifles.

General Dalbir Singh Suhag and Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha will retire from their posts on 31 December 2016.

Know About Lt-General A K Bhatt

• He belongs to the Gorkha Rifles.
• He earlier served as Military Operations Directorate Brigadier.
• He is posted at Army Headquarters as ADG of the Complaints and Advisory Board.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister on 26th Nov picked Lieutenant General Qamar Javed Bajwa to replace outgoing army chief Raheel Sharif, a popular military leader credited for improving security and driving back Islamist militants.

Army chief is one of the most powerful persons in Pakistan.

Military has ruled the country for more than half its 69 year history since independence from Britain.

General Bajwa will take charge of the world’s sixth largest army by troop numbers.

Appointment of Gen. Bajwa aims to reset the fraught relations between military and civilian government in a nuclear armed nation of 190 million people.

Lt. Gen. Zubair Hayat has been appointed chairman of the joint chief of staff committee, according to the Pakistan PMO.

Army operates a vast business empire in the country and dictates key areas of Pakistani foreign policy including historic foe India and neighbours like Afghanistan.

Gen Sharif became the first army chief in more than 20 years to step down on time

Bajwa belongs to the Balochistan regiment has produced three Pakistan army chiefs- Gen. Yahya Khan, Gen. Aslam Beg and Gen. Ashfaq Peruvian Kayani

Pakistan’s Army Chief

• Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa has served as IG of Training and Evaluation
• He has led 10 Corps which serves in an area along the LOC and Force Command Northern Areas
• He has also served under Indian Army Chief Gen. Bikram Singh during a Congo UN Mission

In a first, a woman director has been appointed at LBSNAA.

Upma Chaudhary, a 1983 batch IAS officer of HP cadre has been appointed Director of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie.

She is the first woman to be named for the post.

The post has been upgraded to Secretary rank and Chaudhary will be the 23rd director and first woman director of the academy.

The prestigious academy imparts training to officers of the civil services.

Chaudhary will replace Rajeev Kapoor.

She is currently posted as Additional Chief Secretary in HP.

About LBSNAA

• The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration is a research and training institute
• Operated by Indian Government, it is involved in public policy and public administration
• It is located in the remote towns of Mussoorie Uttarakhand in the Himalayan foothills
• The main purpose of the academy is to train civil servants in all three All India Services: IAS, IPS and IFS

Former Hockey player Mariamma Koshy on 25th Nov 2016 took charge of Hockey India as its president with immediate effect.

63-year-old Koshy succeeded Narinder Dhruv Batra as the first ever non European chief of the sport’s governing body International Hockey Federation.

Earlier in Nov 2016, Batra made history by becoming the first India and 15th FIH president. Batra served Hockey India as its secretary general from 2010 to 2014. He was serving as the organisation’s President since 2014.

Secretary General of Hockey India, Mohd Mushtaque Ahmed took over as chairman of the Hockey India League Governing Body.

Batra stepped down from his post due to election in the FIH. He cannot hold both posts Hockey India and FIH at the same time. He also resigned as chairman of the Hockey India League conceived in 2013

About “Hockey India”

• Governing body of field hockey in India
• Jurisdiction : Whole of India
• Abbreviation : HI
• Hockey India was founded in the year 2009
• It is affiliated to the International Hockey Federation
• Headquartered in New Delhi, India, its sponsor is Sahara India Pariwar

The Union Government on 24th Nov 2016 announced major shifts in the demonetisation plan after consideration of relevant aspects.

ACC approved the appointment of CA turned IAS Praveen Garg as the Chief Managing Director and Director Finance of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India.

Appointment has come following the demonetisation of INR 500 and 1000 rupee notes.

The MP cadre IAS officer is currently a DEA Joint Secretary.
With effect from 25th Nov 2016, old currency notes of INR 500 and 1000 will no longer be changed at bank counters. The aim is to encourage people to open accounts in banks.

Yudhvir Singh Malik, the Special Secretary with NITI Aayog, has been appointed as new Chairman of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

He will replace Raghav Chandra. Senior IAS officer Chandra was Chairman since August 2015

Before joining the NITI Aayog he was CEO of FSSAI from 2014 Oct to 2015 Sept- which saw the Maggi Noodle Ban bring the food regulatory authority into news.

NHAI is entrusted with the task of implementing National Highways Development Project (NHDP), India’s largest-ever highways project.

It regulates 92,851 km of national highways across the country.

NHAI: Nodal Agency for Highways

• NHAI is an autonomous agency of the Government of India,
• It manages a network of over 70,000 km of National Highways in India.
• It is a nodal agency of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
• National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988 led to its creation
• It signed an MoU with ISRO recently for satellite mapping of highways

CMD of Cadila Healthcare Ltd, Pankaj Patel has been elected president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry for 2017.

Patel took over from Harshvardhan Neotia, chairman of Ambuja Neotia Group.

FICCI was established in 1927 and is regarded as one of the oldest and largest association of business organisations.

Patel has also served on the advisory committees and academic councils of several educational institutions such as Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, (IISER) Kolkata, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, The Ahmedabad University and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.

He is executive chairman, vice president and trustee for the Gujarat Cancer Society.

He is also chairman of the Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute, one of the largest cancer centres of India.

Cadila is headquartered in Ahmedabad and serves over 50 nations.

The Union Government on 18th Nov 2016 announced the appointment of senior judge of the SC, Jagdish Singh Khehar as the Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority

• A judge of the SC, he will succeed Anil R. Dave
• The National Legal Services Authority of India was firmed on Dec 5, 1995
• It was instituted under the authority of the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987
• It seeks to provide free legal services to eligible candidates and organise Lok Adalats for speedy case resolution
• It aims to reduce the burden of the judiciary
• The CJI (currently Justice TS Thakur) is the patron-in-chief of NALSA while the second senior most judge is the Executive Chairman
• There is a provision for the same mechanism in state and district levels

Meng Hongwei, top level Chinese Security Minister was elected as the president of the International Crime fighting and police cooperation, law enforcement organisation Interpol

• Meng will serve as president until 2020
• With this appointment, he will become the first official from China to take on the post
• He previously served as head of Interpol China
• He was sworn in on 10th Nov 2016 at the closing 85th general assembly in Bali, Indonesia
• With over 4 decades of experience in criminal justice and policing, he has overseen affairs pertaining to legal institutions, narcotics control, counter terrorism, border control, immigration and global cooperation
• He held many positions in the Ministry of Public Security like the DG of the Traffic Control Department, Director of the Patrol Police Division, Assistant Minister and Vice Minister
• He also served as Vice Chairman of the National Narcotics Control Commission
• Hongwei is member of the Chinese Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Regional Counter Terrorism Structure and Director of the National Counter-Terrorism Office
• He has also served as DG of the China Coast Guard
• Interpol was founded in 1914 and is headquartered in France’s city Lyon
• It is the second biggest international organisation after the UN with 190 members
• It plays a role in deepening global police cooperation and tackling transnational criminal offences
• Election of Meng Hongwei, a Chinese national, to the world’s largest law enforcement agency has been viewed by critics as a disastrous move
• China has a track record in human rights abuses and issuing interpol red notices against political dissidents like Dolkun Isa, Li Dongsheng and many more.
• Meng Hongwei took the president’s position from France’s Mireille Ballestrazzi and his tenure will be for 4 years
• His primary duty will include chairing meetings of the Interpol Executive Committee and ensuring the implementation of decisions made at the General Assembly

Guy Ryder on 7th November 2016 was re-elected as the Director General of the International Labour Organisation for another 5 year term.

• He will assume the post on Oct 1, 2017
• Ryder obtained 54 of the 56 votes cast by the titular members
• He was the only candidate for the post
• He is the 10th DG of the International Labour Organisation
• From 2006-2010, he served as General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation
• The ILO is a UN agency dealing with labour issues
• It has around 187 member states
• In the 1960s, the organisation received the Nobel Peace Prize for improving peace amidst the classes, pursuing decent work and justice for workers as well as technical assistance to developing nations
• ILO also registered complaints against entities violating global laws; it did not impose sanctions on the governments however

TATA Sons Ltd on 9th Nov 2016 announced the appointment of Ishaat Hussain as Chairman of IT giant, TCS with immediate effect.

• He will hold the position till the name of the new chairman is announced.
• Announcement was delivered to the company TCS through the letter dated 9th Nov 2016 from TATA Sons Ltd.
• Hussain succeeds Cyrus Mistry who was ousted from the position on 23rd Oct 2016 by the board of TATA Sons Ltd.
• Ratan Tata has been chosen as the Interim Chairman of the group till another suitable candidate was chosen.
• He is a member of the board of Tata Sons and director of several TATA Companies such as TATA Industries, TATA Steel and Voltas.
• He is also a member of the SEBI committees on insider trading and primary capital markets.
• He is also a member of the CII Finance Committee.
• Prior to TATA Sons, Hussain has served as the senior Vice President and Executive Director of finance at TATA Steel for 10 years.
• He joined the board of the Indian Tube Company (a TATA Steel Associate company) in 1981 and moved to TATA Steel in 1983 after the merger of both companies.

Reserve Bank of India has appointed M Rajehwar Rao as the new Executive Director following VRS option by G Mahalingam.

• As ED Rao will look after the Department of Statistics and Information Management, Financial markets, Operational Department and International Department.
• He was CGM before this.
• Rao is an MBA from University of Cochin and a certified associate of Indian Institute of Bankers.
• A career central banker, he joined the apex bank in 1984.
• He was previously holding charge of the Risk Monitoring Department.
• He also worked as a Banking Ombudsman and at the regional offices of the RBI.

Aniruddha Rajput, an Indian lawyer was elected on 4th Nov as the Member of the International Law Commission, a top body of legal experts of the UNGA.

• The first time candidate of India to the Commission and the youngest among the group, he is also the first Indian nominee chosen from outside the close circuit of lawyers of the Union Ministry of External Affairs.
• Rajput is among 34 individuals elected as members of the ILC.
• The members were elected from 5 geographical groupings of Asia Pacific, Africa, Latin America and Caribbean.
• EU (West and east) states are also included.
• The members will have a 5 year term commencing from January 2017.
• Rajput was elected with 160 votes from the Asia Pacific Region.
• He is a practising lawyer of the Indian SC and an alumnus of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
• He was a member of the expert group appointed by the Law Commission of India to study the Model Bilateral Investment Treaty 2015.
• He drafted the Sports Bill 2012 at the second revision stage and advised the state governments of Haryana and J&K on laws pertaining to industry and mining.
• He is also a member of the Governing Council of the Global Village Foundation.
• Several publications are credited to his name including books, articles, chapters and conference papers.
• The ILC was set up by the UNGA in 1947 to further the US mandate of promotion and progressive development of international law and its codification.
• Annual session of the ILC is held in Geneva Switzerland for 10-12 weeks.

Sanjiv Arora is an Indian IFS officer who was appointed as the ambassador to Lebanon on 31st Oct 2016.

• Lebanon, officially known as the Lebanese Republic, is a sovereign Western Asia state.
• Arora was the Indian ambassador to Qatar before this.
• He has also served in diplomatic missions across Egypt, Sri Lanka, Germany, Czech Republic and Saudi Arabia.
• He also headed the UN Political Division in MEA from 2005-2008.
• Joining the service in 1984, he was appointed the Union Government nodal official for the UNGA sessions.

• Democratic, parliamentary system of government
• Written constitution
• Certain Basic Freedoms
• Human Rights

Kolkata born Sarabjit Singh Marwah on 2nd Nov 2016 became the first Sikh to be appointed to the Canadian senate.

• Toronto based Marwah is among six people from Ontario who have been appointed to the Senate by PM Justin Trudeau.
• Born in 1952, the Kolkata origin Sikh has completed his graduation from St. Stephen’s College and an MBA degree from UCLA.

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim announced the appointment of Kristalina Georgieva as the CEO of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association, lending arms for middle income and poor countries known as the World Bank.

• Kristalina is a champion for addressing challenges faced by partner countries, according to Kim.
• Georgieva a Bulgarian national held multiple positions at the World Bank between 1993 and 2010 focusing on economics and sustainable development.
• She also shaped the agenda of the European Commission as a Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response where she managed the largest humanitarian aid budget.
• Georgieva has also served as co-chair of the UNSG’s high level panel on humanitarian financing. She pressed for and secured a more effective system to meet the needs of vulnerable.
• Her appointment will take effect from January 2017.

India has named Ajay M. Godane as the next High Commissioner to Australia.

• He is from the Indian Foreign Service Batch 1985 and is expected to take up assignment shortly.
• Gondane’s appointment was announced after Navdeep Suri, the current HC was appointed to UAE as the Indian Ambassador.
• Dr Gondane has previously served as Deputy Consul General CGI, New York and as High Commissioner of India to Papua New Guinea.
• Australia is officially known as the Commonwealth of Australia- it comprises the mainland, the island of Tasmania and numerous small islands.
• It is the world’s sixth largest country by total area.
• The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north east and New Zealand to the south east.
• Australia’s capital is Canberra and its largest urban area is Sydney.
• It has ranked second highest on the HDI index and is the world’s 13th largest economy and ninth highest per capita income.
• It is a member of the UN, G20 and several other regional and international groupings.