Famous Personalities - Current Affairs for October, 2015

Gujarati author Ganesh Devy and 5 other noted writers decided to return their Sahitya Akademi awards on 11th October 2015 while Kannada writer Aravind Malagatti resigned from the body's general council. The writers returned the award as a mark of protest against rising intolerance and communal atmosphere following the murder of rationalists and the Dadri lynching episode. Delhi based Aman Sethi, Kannada writer Kum Veerabhadrappa, writers from Punjab, Gurbachan Bhullar, Ajmer Singh Aulakh and Atamjit Singh, also announced that they were returning their Sahitya Akademi awards.

Oscar winning composer A. R. Rahman has been named the cultural ambassador of Seychelles for enhancing the art and cultural development of the country, on 8th October 2015. 48 year old music Rahman is a winner of 2 Academy Awards, 2 Grammy Awards, Golden Globe and BAFA besides national apart from international recognition in his career.

Former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri’s 111th birth anniversary was celebrated on October 2nd. He was born in Varanasi, UP and dropped his caste derived surname Srivastava in 1917. He was given the title of Shastri following his graduation from Kashi Vidyapeeth in the 1920s. He was selected as PM of India in 1964 and led India during the war against Pakistan in 1965. During the war, he coined the slogan, “Jai Jawan, Jai Kishan” which came a national slogan. During his tenure as PM, the Green Revolution and the White Revolution was initiated. Varanasi International airport is named after the former PM who died in Taskhent and is the first person to be posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna.

Rich tributes were paid to the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi on his 146th birth anniversary on October 2nd, Friday at New Delhi’s Rajghat Memorial by PM Narendra Modi, President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari. All over the world, Gandhi Jayanti was celebrated on October 2 which is also observed as the international day of non violence.

Google has dedicated the doodle to the first women president of INC, Annie Besant on her 168th birth anniversary. Besant was born on October 1, 1847 in London to Irish immigrant parents. She first came to India in 1888 and stayed in the country till her death on September 20, 1933. She was a staunch supporter of the Indian freedom struggle and launched Home Rule League with Lokmanya Tilak in 1916. She was also actively involved in social work in India and in establishing several educational institutions.

Edward Snowden, former NSA whistleblower has joined social media network Twitter on 29th September 2015. His handle @Snowden has close to 100,000 followers and is rapidly increasing. Snowden is following NSA’s official twitter account and his first tweet was “Can you hear me now?”. He was given political asylum in Russia in summer 2013 after his passport was revoked by the US.

HSBC India Chairperson Naina Lal Kidwai will retire in December, after a 13-year stint with the bank, HSBC announced on September 30, 2015.She will also step down from her position of executive Director on the Board of HSBC Asia-Pacific. Kidwai joined HSBC in 2002 as Vice Chairman and Managing Director at HSBC Securities and Capital Markets, India and was appointed Group General Manager of the Bank in 2006. She was appointed as CEO of HSBC India in 2007 and as Chairman of HSBC India in 2009.