Appointments - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: Lucknow

Explanation:
Uttar Pradesh has already given India its first woman Governor and Chief Minister but Lucknow is set to make history on Sunday by electing its first woman Mayor in 100 years namely BJP's Sanyukta Bhatia.

A woman has never before been elected as head of the municipal body after the Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act came into existence.

This time, however, the Lucknow mayoral seat has been reserved for women, hence all parties have fielded women candidates.

This includes the Samajwadi Party which selected Meera Vardhan, kin of educationist Acharya Narendra Dev and the Congress which pitched Prema Awasthi, wife of the former Congress legislator Surendra Nath.

Freedom fighters Sarojini Naidu and Sucheta Kriplani were the country's first female Govenor and Chief Minister respectively.

Lucknow has thrice sent a woman to the Lok Sabha as its representative with Sheila Kaul being elected in 1971, 1980 and 1984.

Sarojini Naidu

• Naidu, popularly known as the 'Nightingale of India', was the Governor of the United Provinces, now known as Uttar Pradesh, from 1947 to 1949.
• She was born in a Bengali family on February 13, 1879 in Hyderabad and was educated in Chennai, London and Cambridge.
• Naidu was a follower of Mahatama Gandhi and participated in the freedom struggle. She, later, went on to become the president of the Indian National Congress.
• A poet of modern India, she wrote a collection, comprising children's poems, nature poems, patriotic poems and poems of love and death.

• Kriplani, who held the Chief Minister's office from 1963 to 1967, had come to the forefront during the Quit India Movement in 1942.
• She worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi during the Partition riots.
• She was one of the few women who were elected to the Constituent Assembly and was part of the sub-committee that drafted the Constitution.

ANSWER: Smita Nagaraj

Explanation:
Ms. Smita Nagaraj took the oath of office and secrecy as Member, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), on Dec 1^st, 2017.

The oath was administered by Prof. David R. Syiemlieh, Chairman, UPSC.

An Officer of the 1984 Batch of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) of Tamil Nadu Cadre, Ms. Nagaraj, during her career spanning over 33 years, has held several important positions in the Central Government as well as in the Government of Tamil Nadu.

She served as Executive Director of the Central Social Welfare Board, Director in the Department of Personnel & Training, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence and prior to her joining the Commission, she was working as Director General (Acquisition) in the Ministry of Defence.

In the State also, she held various important positions in the Energy, Finance, Health and Small Industries Department.

ANSWER: Salil S. Parekh

Explanation:
Infosys, India's No.2 IT services company, named Salil S Parekh as chief executive on Saturday, picking an outsider for the job a second time and handing him the twin challenges of reviving growth and making peace between its founders and board.

Parekh, who will join from consultancy firm Capgemini where he is currently an executive, has been given a 5-year term effective January 2, an Infosys filing to exchanges showed.

UB Pravin Rao who was serving as the interim CEO has been re-designated as chief operating officer from January 2, Infosys said.

Parekh has Master of Engineering degrees in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Technology degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

Former CEO Vishal Sikka announced a sudden exit in August after a protracted public spat with the company's founding executives, led by Narayana Murthy, over strategy and alleged corporate governance lapses.

Sikka, who joined from German software maker SAP SE in 2014, was the first outsider to be appointed CEO of the Bengaluru-headquartered company.

His exit and the prolonged public row led to a reshuffling of the Infosys' board with Nandan Nilekani, a co-founder and former CEO, returning as non-executive chairman.

ANSWER: Snehlata Shrivastava

Explanation:
Snehlata Shrivastava, a 1982-batch retired IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, was on Wednesday appointed the first woman Secretary General of the Lok Sabha.

The appointment was made by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, an official release said. Shrivastava will replace Anoop Mishra, who is retiring on November 30.

Shrivastava, a senior civil servant with 35 years of rich and varied administrative experience, will have the rank and status of Cabinet Secretary with effect from December 1.

She has held several important positions in the Madhya Pradesh government as well as at the Centre.

Shrivastava has served as Secretary in the Ministry of Law and Justice and also as Special/Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.

She has also held several senior positions in the Madhya Pradesh government, including as Principal Secretary in the ministries of Culture and Parliamentary Affairs.

ANSWER: Pradeep Singh Kharola

Explanation:
Senior IAS officer Pradeep Singh Kharola has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Air India.

Mr. Kharola, a Karnataka cadre officer, would replace Rajiv Bansal, who has been serving as the interim CMD for a little over three months.

The appointment comes days after Mr. Bansal was given an extension for three months.

Currently, Mr. Kharola is the Managing Director of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.

The change of guard at the helm of Air India also comes at a time when the government is in the process of finalizing the modalities of the strategic disinvestment of the national carrier.

ANSWER: N K Singh

Explanation:
The government has announced the 15th Finance Commission and it will be chaired by former parliamentarian and revenue and expenditure secretary N K Singh.

Its tenure will be till October 30, 2019, by when it will have to give its final report on distributing divisible funds between the Centre and the states for a five-year period starting April 1, 2020.

Earlier, the government appointed the former Planning Commission Member as head of the 15th Finance Commission.

Other members of the commission, which is required to submit its report by October 2019, are former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das, former chief economic advisor Ashok Lahiri, Niti Aayog Member Ramesh Chand and Georgetown University professor Anoop Singh.

The commission will review the current status of the finance, deficit, debt levels, cash balances and fiscal discipline efforts of the Union and the states. It will also recommend a fiscal consolidation road map for sound fiscal management.

As per Article 280 of the Constitution, the commission is required to make recommendations on the distribution of the net proceeds of taxes between the Centre and the states.

The new Finance Commission will cover five-year period commencing April 1, 2020.

The 14th Finance Commission was set up on January 2, 2013. Its recommendations cover the period from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2020.

ANSWER: G20 Development Track

Explanation:
Former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das was on 27th Nov, 2017 appointed India's sherpa till December 31, 2018, for the G20's Development Track.

There are two tracks in G20 - the Finance Track and the Development Track.

Finance Track is managed by the Secretary (Economic Affairs), Ministry of Finance, as India's Deputy to G-20 and the Development Track is coordinated by the sherpa.

The Department of Economic Affairs will provide necessary support to the Sherpa.

ANSWER: Britain

Explanation:
India's nominee to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Dalveer Bhandari was on Monday re-elected to the fifth and the last seat of the world court after Britain withdrew its candidate from the election.

Mr. Bhandari received 183-193 votes in the General Assembly and secured all the 15 votes in the Security Council after separate and simultaneous elections were held at the UN headquarters in New York.

The elections were held after United Kingdom, in a dramatic turn of events, withdrew out of the race for the Hague-based ICJ, thus paving the way for Mr. Bhandari's re-election to the prestigious world court.

Mr. Bhandari and Britain's Christopher Greenwood were locked in a neck-and-neck fight for re-election to the ICJ.

The permanent members of the Security Council - USA, Russia, France and China - were understood to have been throwing their weight behind Mr. Greenwood. The UK is the fifth permanent member of the Security Council.

Congratulating Justice Bhandari, the UK said it will continue to cooperate closely with India at the United Nations and globally.

Britain's withdrawal from the election to the prestigious world court would mean that there will not be a British judge on the UN's most powerful court for the first time in its history.

ANSWER: Financial Stability Institute Advisory Board (FSAB)

Explanation:
RBI Governor Urjit Patel was appointed to Financial Stability Institute Advisory Board (FSAB) of the Bank of International Settlement (BIS).

BIS is international financial organisation owned by 60 member central banks across world.

Bank of International Settlement

• The Bank for International Settlements is an international financial institution owned by central banks which "fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks"
• Headquarters: Basel, Switzerland
• Founded: 17 May 1930
• CEO: Jaime Caruana (1 Apr 2009-)
• Membership: 60 central banks
• Purpose: Central bank cooperation
• Location: Basel, Switzerland

ANSWER: NHAI

Explanation:
In a bid to facilitate smooth implementation of the ambitious Bharatmala project, the government has reconstituted the board of NHAI by inducting NITI Aayog CEO as a part time member.

The decision comes barely a month after the government approved a mega plan to build 83,677 km of highways over the next five years at a cost of about Rs 7 lakh crore which includes the Bharatmala, one of the biggest highway projects.

As per the notification, "Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog" has been inducted as a part time member in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Board in place of Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs.

The Authority's other part-time members include Secretary, Department of Expenditure; Secretary, Road Transport and Highways; and Director General (Road).

The official said reorganisation of the NHAI board was made as part of the Bharatmala programme.

Bharatmala works have been proposed for completion in five years by 2021-22 through NHAI, NHIDCL, MoRTH and state PWDs.

A Substantial delegation of powers has been provided to NHAI, NHIDCL and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to facilitate speedy implementation.