November 2013 Persons | Current Affairs 2013 | Persons 2013 |

Sachin Tendulkar---- Recently-retired batting legend Sachin Tendulkar on 28 November became UNICEF's first brand ambassador for South Asia and is all set to work in promoting hygiene and sanitation in the region. "Thanks for allowing me to start this wonderful second innings of my life. I'm looking forward to being an ambassador for UNICEF and serve to the best of my ability. This is an innings that is really, really important to me, so I will try my best," said Tendulkar. The batting icon, who has been involved with the global organization for the last 8-10 years, was now, named its ambassador for South Asia region for two years. Tendulkar said it was hard to digest that many people around the world did not have access to clean toilets.

Neeraj Sahai (56)---- Indian-American has appointed as president of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, the world's largest ratings firm. He was appointed by McGraw Hill Financial Company. Neeraj Sahai will assume his new role at Standard & Poor's from 6 January 2014. Sahai, who did his masters in economics from University of Delhi, is currently head of Citi's Securities and Fund Services business and also acts as chief fiduciary officer of Citigroup. He succeeds Douglas Peterson, who became president and chief executive officer of McGraw Hill Financial on 1 November, 2013.Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, part of McGraw Hill Financial, is the world's leading provider of independent credit risk research. It publishes more than a million credit ratings on debt issued by sovereign, municipal, corporate and financial sector entities.

Omprakash Valmiki (63)----- Noted Dalit writer Omprakash Valmiki passed away on 17 November 2013 at Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Omprakash Valmiki is one of the most famous Dalit litterateurs in Hindi and he portrayed the life of Dalits with an authentically Dalit voice. He was born in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh in 1950. He worked with Government Ordnance Factory Dehradun. Valmiki's autobiography Joothan (1997) is one of his famous works. In this work, he spoke in detail about the caste discrimination, persecution and humiliation than he faced, when he is growing up. Joothan is regarded as a milestone in Hindi literature.

Justice A.P.Shah ----Union Government on 22 November appointed Justice Ajit Prakash Shah as the new Chairman of the 20th Law Commission of India. Justice Ajit Prakash Shah succeeded Justice D. K. Jain who resigned in October 2013 to take over as the President of National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. He was Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi from May 2008 till his retirement in February 2010. He is known for his bold judgments, especially concerning social issues, including the world-headliner July 2009 ruling that found India`s 150-year-old statute prohibiting homosexual acts (Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code) as discriminatory and, therefore, a "violation of fundamental rights”. The 20th Law Commission of India was constituted with the Order of the Government of India with effect from 1 September 2012. It has a three-year term ending on 31st August; 2015.The commission would be responsible for identification of obsolete laws and suggest measures suitable for quick grievance handling and redressal of the citizens. It would also be examining the laws that effects poor and suggest measures which would help in harnessing the law and the legal process for the economically weaker and poor section of the society.

Nisha Desai Biswal--- Nisha Desai Biswal assumed the post of the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia. On 21 November 2013, Nisha Desai Biswal was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia. Nisha Desai Biswal replaced at this post Robert Blake and will be responsible for policy of the US State Department for South and Central Asia. Prior to appointment, Nisha Desai Biswal worked as the Assistant Administrator for Asia at the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Frederick Sanger (95) ---- A British biochemist who is the only person to win Nobel Prize two times for Chemistry died on 19 November 2013 in Cambridge, eastern England. For the first time, he won the Nobel Prize in 1958 for development of the methods, which helped to unravel the chemical structure of Protein, mainly insulin. Second Nobel Prize was given to him in 1980, jointly with Walter Gilbert and Paul Berg for the development of the techniques to read the sequences of DNA, which carries the basic code for life. By winning two Nobel, Sanger became one of the four people who had won the Nobel Prizes two times. The other winners of Nobel Prize two times are Marie Curie, John Bardeen and Linus Pauling.

Doris Lessing (94) ----British Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing was died on 17 November 2013 at London. Her best-known works are The Golden Notebook, Memoirs of a Survivor and The Summer before the Dark. In 2007, the 88-year-old Doris Lessing became the oldest recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. and only the 11th woman to win the award.
Usha Ananthasubramanian ---- The Union Government on 12 November 2013 appointed Usha Ananthasubramanian as the chairperson and managing director of public sector Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), the first women’s bank. Before joining BMB, she was an Executive Director with Punjab National Bank (PNB).Usha Ananthasubramanian started her career in the actuarial department with LIC and banking career in February 1982 with Bank of Baroda. She holds a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Madras and a master’s degree in ancient Indian culture from University of Mumbai. During her tenure at Punjab National Bank, she was part of the panel formed for examination of the blueprint and other issues for setting up of the women’s bank. The panel’s report paved the way for India’s first public sector women’s bank. The bank aims to service women and women-run businesses, support women’s self-help groups and their livelihoods and promote further financial inclusion. The Union Cabinet cleared the proposal for setting up of all-women bank on August 2013. The Reserve Bank of India gave its in-principal approval for the Bharatiya Mahila Bank in June 2013 and the banking company was set up.The Union government approved Rs. 1,000 crore seed capital for the women-focused public sector bank, announced by Union finance minister P. Chidambaram in his 2013-14 budget speech.

Justice R. Banumathi----The Judge of the Madras High Court was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court on 12 November 2013. She was appointed by the President Pranab Mukherjee. The Supreme Court’s Collegium has cleared her elevation as Chief Justice in August 2013 and the Union government has taken three months to process and notify the appointment. Justice R. Banumathi entered the Tamil Nadu Higher Judicial Service in 1988 as a direct recruit district judge. She worked as District and Sessions Judge in Coimbatore and Vellore, and Principal District and Sessions Judge in Pudukottai, Madras, Tirunelveli and Salem. She also worked as Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Chennai. She was made a judge of the Madras High Court on 3 April 2003.

Gamani Corea (87)----Veteran Sri Lankan economist Gamani Corea — one of the chief architects of Sri Lanka’s first national plan in the late 1950s passed away in Colombo on 3 November. A highly regarded economist, Dr. Corea was also a seasoned diplomat, who held key positions such as Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1974 to 1984.The Institute of Policy Studies appointed Dr. Corea its first chairman, he said. In his vibrant career serving different capacities, Dr. Corea worked closely with leading economists of the world, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.


Reshma ---- Legendary Pakistani folk singer Reshma passed away in Lahore on 3 November 2013 after a long battle with throat cancer. She was 66. She is known for her popular songs such as Lambi Ju dai and Dama Dam Mast Kalandar. Reshma was born in 1947 in Bikaner, Rajasthan, in a Banjara family. She has no formal education in music, but at the age of just 12 years, she was seen singing at the Shahbaz Qalander's shrine. Thereafter, her iconic song Laal Meri was recorded on the state-run Pakistan Radio. With this, she became the most popular folk singer of Pakistan. She won various national awards such as Sitara-i-Imtiaz as well as Legends of Pakistan, by the President of Pakistan.

Gabriela Isler----- Gabriela Isler from Venezuela won Miss Universe 2013 title on 9 November 2013 held in Moscow, Russia. Patricia Yurena Rodriguez from Spain and Constanza Baez from Ecuador finished as the first and second runner-ups. Manasi Moghe from India had been shortlisted for the top 10 finalists of Miss Universe 2013 but failed to win the crown. Gabriela Isler is the third Miss Universe from Venezuela in 6 years.

October 2013 Persons | 2013 Persons | October Persons

Manna Dey (94), the legendary singer died on 23rd October 2013 in Bangalore hospital. He was treated for respiratory illness died of cardiac arrest. He sang many songs in different languages like Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Hindi, Assamese, Punjabi and Bhojpuri. In 2005 he also received the Padmabhusan Award by the Government of India. In 2007 he was given the Dadasaheb Phalke Award from Government of India

Shah Rukh Khan, the star actor of Bollywood, was on 23rd October 2013, appointed as the goodwill ambassador for South Korea. He was appointed as the public diplomat as well as an ambassador of India’s soft power. Shah Rukh Khan will visit South Korea before the maiden visit to the President of South Korea- Park Geun-hye. Shah Rukh Khan was also invited by the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on his first visit to India at the formal dinner with the prime minister. In the year 2008, Shah Rukh Khan was given the title of Datuk, which is equivalent to the British Knighthood. This title was given to him by the Governor of Malaysia’s southern Malacca state, Mohamad Khalil Yaacob.

Arunendra Kumar -----Arunendra Kumar has been appointed as Chairman, Railway Board (Ministry of Railways) and ex-officio Principal Secretary to Government of India. Kumar took charge as Chairman Railway Board on 16th October. Prior to this Arunendra Kumar had been holding additional charge of Chairman, Railway Board since 1st July 2013 besides his regular posting as Member (Mechanical) Railway Board and ex officio Secretary to the Government of India.

Kumar Mangalam Birla---- The Central Bureau of Investigation on 15th October, filed an FIR naming Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and former Coal Secretary P.C. Parekh for having allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy to facilitate the partial allocation of an Odisha coal block to the group’s subsidiary Hindalco Industries about eight years ago. The FIR said the Coal Ministry Screening Committee’s recommendation that the block be allocated to public sector units (PSUs) was, in a way, circumvented to “accommodate” aluminum major Hindalco. According to the CBI, Mr. Birla would soon be examined along with the other accused.

Gireesh B. Pradhan---- Union Government of India appointed on 17th October 2013 Gireesh B. Pradhan, former Secretary of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, as the Chairperson of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). Gireesh B. Pradhan , a Maharashtra Cadre IAS officer of the 1977 batch. He retired from the post of Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in June 2013.Central Electricity Regulatory Commission is a statutory body functioning under section 76 of the Electricity Act 2003.It was initially constituted under the Electricity Regulatory Commissions Act, 1998 on 24 July 1998.

Dr. Ravuri Bharadwaja---- Eminent Telugu writer and Gyanpeeth award recipient, Dr. Ravuri Bharadwaja passed away in Hyderabad on 18th October 2013. He was 86. Ravuri Bharadwaja won Gyanpeeth award for the year 2012 for his well known Telugu novel, Paakudu Raallu, which depicted the real life behind the silver screen of the film industry. Bharadvaja was born in 1927 and is a Telugu novelist, short-story writer, poet and critic. He studied only till Class VIII, but his works and write-ups turned up to be a basis for many research works and are prescribed as text books in universities. He has written six short novels for children namely Kadambari, Pakudurallu, Jeevana Samaram, Inupu Tera Venuka and Koumudi – these novels have been translated into several Indian languages as well as English. Earlier he has been awarded with awards like Sahitya Akademi Award, Soviet Land Nehru Award, Balsahitya Parishad Award, and Telugu Akademi Award. He was also awarded with an honorary doctorate from Nagarjuna University.

Syed Ibne Abbas----Government of Pakistan decided on 9th October 2013 to appoint Pakistani veteran diplomat Syed Ibne Abbas as the new Pakistani envoy to India. He will succeeded by Salman Bashir. He served as Counsellor (Political) at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. His appointment comes at a time when tensions along the LoC have increased. He also served as the Director of Kashmir Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Arundhati Bhattacharya (57) ---- Arundhati Bhattacharya on 7th October 2013 took over as the Chairperson of the State Bank of India (SBI). She is the first woman to take charge as the Chairperson of SBI, the largest bank of India. She succeeded Pratip Chaudhuri who retired on 30 September 2013.Before being elevated to the post of Chairperson of SBI, she was the Managing Director and the Chief Financial Officer of SBI. She is the first woman Chairperson of the State Bank of India, which has the long history of 206 years. Apart from this, she is the only woman banker on the list of Fortune 500 company giants anywhere in the world.

Justice D. K. Jain---- The President of India has accepted the resignation of Justice D. K. Jain from the post of Chairperson, Law Commission of India, with effect from the afternoon of 5th October 2013.Justice D. K. Jain has taken over as the President, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, on the afternoon of 5th October 2013.

Sitaram Sharma---- Sitaram Sharma has been nominated by Govt. of India as Chairman of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS), Kolkata, an autonomous body under Union Ministry of Culture, for a term of two years. Late Prof. S. Nurul Hasan, the then Governor of West Bengal was the first Chairman of the Institute, founded in January 4, 1993. Mr. M.K. Narayanan, Governor of West Bengal is the President of the MAKAIAS, Society. The Institute is a centre for research on the life, times and work of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, and the study of social, cultural, political and economic developments in Asia from the middle of the 19th century. The Maulana Azad Museum is located in one of the earlier residences of Maulana Azad (at 5 Ashraf Mistry Lane), where it maintains a museum of memorabilia, photographs and documentary film.

Lalu Prasad Yadav----Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad was sentenced to five-year rigorous imprisonment in a corruption case on 1 October. The sentence immediately disqualifies him from Parliament and bars him from elections for 11 years, raising questions over the leadership of his party ahead of Lok Sabha elections due next year. Special CBI Judge Pravas Kumar Singh sentenced the two-time former Chief Minister, another former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, Jagdish Sharma, JD(U) MP from Jahanabad, and other convicts, lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, through videoconferencing. Mr. Prasad, 65, who was convicted on September 30 in a fodder scam case, was also fined Rs. 25 lakh. Like other politicians, he was convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He claimed he was innocent. Mr. Mishra, 76, was sentenced to four-year rigorous imprisonment and was asked to pay a fine of Rs. 2 lakh. Mr. Sharma also faces disqualification in the light of a Supreme Court judgment that an MP or MLA would lose his seat immediately after he was convicted by a court for crimes with a punishment of two years or more.

Ranjan Mathai--- Former Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai on 20 September 2013 was appointed as India's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. He will succeed noted economist and veteran diplomat Dr. Jaimini Bhagwati. However, he will take up the charge of the office later. Ranjan Mathai joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974 and has served in Indian embassies in Vienna, Colombo, Washington, Tehran and Brussels. He played a critical role in the Indo-Bangla Ganges Water Sharing accord during Sheikh Hasina's first stint as the Prime Minister. Ranjan Mathai served as Foreign Secretary for a period of two years and handed over the charge to his successor Sujatha Singh in July 2013.

Ranjib Biswal---- NCA Chairman Ranjib Biswal was on 29 September 2013 appointed as chairman of the IPL during the Annual General Meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at Chennai. Prior to this appointment Ranjib Biswal was manager of the Indian Cricket team during the ICC World Cup 2011 and the ICC Champions Trophy 2013. He is also the head of Orissa Cricket Association. Ranjib Biswal was replaced Rajeev Shukla as chairman of Indian Premier League (IPL). Rajiv Shukla, who resigned at the end of his tenure.Ranjib Biswal was currently National Cricket Academy (NCA) chairman.

Rahul Dravid---The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 5th September 2013 announced former Indian cricket team captain Rahul Dravid as Brand Ambassador for its National Tobacco Control Campaign. The national anti-tobacco control campaign has to continue till it achieves desired results. It shows that India is committed towards tobacco control. World Health Assembly aims a target of 30 per cent relative reduction in tobacco use by 2025.

September 2013 Persons | Current Affairs 2013 | Persons 2013 |

Ruchira Kamboj----Ruchira Kamboj was appointed as the Permanent Representative of India to UNESCO, Paris with the rank of Ambassador. The government made this announcement on 25th September 2013. She will succeed VS Oberoi. At present, Ruchira is joint secretary in Ministry of External Affairs. She is expected to take up her assignment shortly. Kamboj joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1987. She last served as the Deputy Head, in the office of the Commonwealth Secretary-General, London. Prior to that, she served as the Minister and Head, High Commission of India, Cape Town, South Africa.

Ravindra Kumar,----Editor of The Statesman was elected as President of The Indian Newspaper Society for the year 2013-14 at its 74th Annual General Meeting held in Bangalore on 27 September 2013.Ravindra Kumar succeeded K N Tilak Kumar of Deccan Herald and Prajavani. At the meeting, Kiran B Vadodaria was elected as Deputy President and P V Chandran as Vice President. Shankaran is the Secretary General of the Society. The executive committee of INS represents the current 990 members from newspapers, journals, periodicals and magazines. Indian Newspaper Society (INS) (formerly Indian and Eastern Newspaper Society) acts as the central organization of the Press of India, an independent body authenticating circulation figures of newspapers and periodicals in India. INS is an organization which plays a major role in protecting and promoting the freedom of press in India. INS was founded in 1939. Its headquarters are at New Delhi. 

Sanjay Govind Dhande----Former director of IIT Kanpur, on 25 September 2013 appointed as a member of UGC for a term of three years. Sanjay Govind Dhande's tenure as UGC member would be till 24th September 2016.The Union Government on 18 September 2013 removed social scientist Yogendra Yadav from the membership of the University Grants Commission (UGC) for joining the Aam Admi Party.

Mr Justice Vangala Eswaraiah----Former acting Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court, has taken over as the Chairperson of the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).The NCBC has been set up under the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993, pursuant to the direction of the Supreme Court in the Mandal case judgement for setting up a national body for Backward Classes at the Centre as a permanent body. The Commission’s last Chairperson was Mr Justice M. N. Rao, a retired Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court. He performed the duties of the Chief Justice, High Court of Andhra Pradesh in 2012 and retired as such on attaining the age of superannuation on March 9 this year.
Manish S. Shah ----President Barack Obama on 20th September, has nominated yet another Indian American, Manish S. Shah, to the key post of US District Court judge for the Northern District of his home state of Illinois. An Assistant US Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois since 2001, New York-born Shah, 40, currently serves as Chief of the Criminal Division, having previously served as Chief of Criminal Appeals from 2011 to 2012.Shah was also Deputy Chief of the Financial Crimes and Special Prosecutions Section from 2008 to 2011 and Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Section from 2007 to 2008.

Ratan Tata----India's leading industrialist Ratan Tata has been nominated as a member of the board of trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an American think tank, a media release has said on 18th September. Welcoming him, Carnegie President Jessica T. Mathews said: "We are honoured to welcome Ratan to Carnegie's board." Finberg expressed hope that having Tata on their Board of Trustees would be an asset for Carnegie in developing it as "the truly global think tank" and would also be helpful in establishing Carnrgie's new South Asia Centre in New Delhi. Ratan Tata was the chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, from 1991 until his retirement at the end of 2012.Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the oldest think tank in the United States was established in 1910. It is globally renowned with research centers in Moscow, Beijing, Beirut, and Brussels as well as a program in Almaty, Kazakhstan in addition to its headquarters in Washington, DC.

Nina Davuluri--- Indian-origin American, Nina Davuluri on 15th September 2013 became the first Indian-origin contestant to win the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She was initially named the Miss New York 2013 and subsequently won Miss America 2014 title. She is the first Indian-origin woman to be chosen as Miss America. Nina Davuluri was born in Syracuse, New York on 20 April 1989. She later moved to Oklahoma and then to St. Joseph, Michigan. She was born to the Telugu parents and hails from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India. She is a trained Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam dancer and also learnt to play piano.

Rakesh Sood---Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has appointed Rakesh Sood, India’s former Ambassador to Nepal, Afghanistan and France and the country’s first Ambassador in charge of Disarmament in Geneva, as his new Special envoy for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation on 1st September. Mr. Sood who retired from the Indian Foreign Service in March this year is a recognized expert in his field and will be able to make a valuable contribution to the country’s foreign policy on security, non-proliferation and disarmament issues. He served in New Delhi for nine years as Joint Secretary DISA (Disarmament and International Security Affairs), a division that he set up and headed from 1992 to 2000. In that post he oversaw the negotiations concerning the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the deliberations on the Fissile Materials Cutoff Treaty (FMCT). He also participated in bilateral dialogues on nuclear and other non-proliferation questions with the world’s major powers.

David Frost(74)---- Veteran British journalist and broadcaster David Frost, who won fame around the world for his TV interviews with the former U.S. President, Richard Nixon, has died on 1st September. Frost was known both for an amiable personality and incisive interviews with leading public figures, and his career in television news and entertainment spanned almost half a century. He was the only person to have interviewed all six British Prime Ministers serving between 1964 and 2007 and the seven U.S. Presidents between 1969 and 2008. While popular in Britain and beginning to launch a career on U.S. television, Frost did not become internationally known until 1977, when he secured a series of television interviews with Nixon. The dramatic face-to-face was make-or-break both for him and for the former President, who was trying to salvage his reputation after resigning from the White House in disgrace following the Watergate scandal three years earlier. At the time, it was the most widely watched news interview in the history of TV.

Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana----Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court was on 30 August 2013 appointed as the new Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. He was appointed by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. Justice N.V. Ramana took over from Justice Badar Durrez Ahmad, who is the Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High court since June 2013. He practiced in Andhra Pradesh High Court, Central and AP Administrative Tribunals and the Supreme Court in civil, criminal, constitutional, labour, service and election matters. He has credited to his name, the encouragement of use of Telugu as language of proceedings in Andhra Pradesh High Court. He also remained the president of the Andhra Pradesh Judicial Academy.

Deepak Sandhu(64)---- Deepak Sandhu became the first woman Chief Information Commissioner on 5th September 2013. She was administered the oath of the office by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. Deepak Sandhu took over the office from Satyananda Mishra. Mishra served the 5 year term in the office. Deepak Sandhu, 64, is the former Indian Information Service officer of 1971 batch.She took over as the Information Commissioner in the year 2009. The Central Information Commission was established under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

Tommy Morrison--- The former heavy weight champion, who was diagnosed positive for HIV died at the age of 44, on 1 September 2013 at a hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. As a boxer, he was nicknamed as The Duke and in his entire boxing career; he played 52 professional fights and lost only 3 of them. Morrison came in limelight in the year 1993 after he defeated George Foreman to win the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Heavyweight Title. He also gained popularity. He also became famous after being casted as a co-star against Sylvester Stallone in the 1990 boxing movie Rocky V. About Tommy Morrison

Diana Nyad (64)--- Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad has become the first person to swim from Cuba to the US (Florida strait) without a shark cage. After about 53 hours' non-stop swimming, the American reached Key West, Florida, escorted by boats and her team of 35 people. Ms Nyad, who left a Havana yacht club early on 7 September, had vowed this would be her last attempt to cross the 110-mile (177km) wide Florida Straits. Her four other tries - one in 1978, two in 2011 and one in 2012 - failed.

Sushmita Banerjee ----An Indian woman writer Sushmita Banerjee was killed by unidentified gunmen outside her home in eastern Paktika province of Afghanistan on 4 September 2013. The attackers shot her dead outside the house. The militants dumped her dead body outside a madarasa. 49-year old Sushmita was married to an Afghan businessman Jaanbaz Khan and recently moved back to Afghanistan to live with him. Her book entitled- Kabuliwaler Bangali Bou, became a bestseller in 1995. The memoir was based on her experiences in Afghanistan and her escape from the Taliban captivity in the 1980s. The book was also a theme for a Bollywood film Escape from Taliban in 2003.

Ronald H. Coase(102)--- The winner of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science in 1991, died on 2 September 2013 in Chicago. He was the British-American economist and author.He served as the Clifton R. Musser Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Chicago Law School.In the year 1991, he won the Nobel Prize in Economics. Ronald H. Coase is known for two of his most popular articles- The Nature of the Firm (1937) and The Problem of Social Cost (1960). The Nature of the Firm introduced the methodologies of transaction costs for explaining the limits as well as nature of the firms. On the other hand, The Problem of Social Cost explained how the property rights can overcome the issues of externalities. This was popularly known as the Coase Theorem. Ronald Coase is also referred to as the Father of Reform in policy for allocation of the electromagnetic spectrum. This was based on the article titled The Federal Communications Commission (1959).

August 2013 Persons | August Current Affairs | Current Affairs 2013

Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi (80) ----- Eminent Indian classical singer and music director, better known as a noted vocalist of Jayadeva's 'Gita Govind', Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi died of cardiac arrest in Bhuvaneswar. The doyen of Odissi music maestro had celebrated his 79th birthday on August 10.Pandit Panigrahi's effort to popularise poet Jayadeva's 'Gita Govinda', which has been hailed as the fountainhead of Odissi music, not just in the state but worldwide, has been praised by his admirers. Besides making his place in the world of classical music, Raghunath got the tag of being a 'Suramani' (a title given to him for his deeply mellifluous voice). He had also left an indelible mark on Odissi light classicals like 'Na Jaa Radhika' and an out-and-out modern love song like 'Nali Nali Ei, Krushnachuda' or 'Nupoor Bajaai Kie'.Pandit Raghunath was the first Odia singer to be honoured by the French government for his 'Gita Govinda' composition way back in the 70s. He got Padmashri award in 2010.

Yasin Bhatkal---- In a major breakthrough for security agencies in India, Yasin Bhatkal, a key conspirator in several bomb blasts and co-founder of the banned Indian Mujahideen (IM), was arrested from the India-Nepal border in Bihar’s Raxaul town on 29 August. Yasin, originally named Mohammad Ahmed Zarar Siddibappa, is on India’s list of 12 most-wanted terror suspects. He is involved in Pune’s German Bakery blast and blasts in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai. The Bihar police detained him in Raxaul and the National Investigation Agency made the formal arrest. He was then taken to the district headquarters in Motihari.During his day-long interrogation, Yasin is learnt to have “revealed a lot about Pakistan’s role in several serial blasts in India.

Deepak Sandhu---- Former media adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Deepak Sandhu, is likely to be appointed as next Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) to succeed Satyanand Mishra who retires early next month. Ms. Sandhu’s appointment is understood to have been cleared at a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the file recommending her name has been sent to the President’s office for his approval, official sources said on 27 August. The Chief Information Commissioner is appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee led by the Prime Minister and including the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM. Ms. Sandhu, a retired Indian Information Service (IIS) officer of 1971 batch, has already been serving in Central Information Commission as Information Commissioner since September 2009.

Malati Chandur (84)----Telugu writer, novelist and columnist, Malathi Chandur, passed away following prolonged illness in Chennai on 21 August 2013. Malati Chandur was born in 1930 in Nuzvidu in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. She wrote more than 25 novels and had more than 300 translations into Telugu to her credit. Her more famous novels are Champakam, Cheedapurugulu, Aalochinchu, and Sadyogam. She was also a prolific short story writer and published several of stories in weekly magazines. Malati Chandur’s novels offered practical solutions to the problems women encounter in daily life. Most of her novels had a feminist slant. She was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for her novel Hrudaya Netri, and the Kalaprapoornam by the Padmavathi Women’s University.She was the recipient of Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy Award.

Nishi Vasudeva----Nishi Vasudeva became the first woman to be selected as the head of the Navratna public sector unit (PSU), Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL). She became the head of the state-owned oil company HPCL. At present, she is the Director, Marketing, and HPCL and will take over as the chairman and managing director of the company. She will replace Subir Roy Choudhury, who will retire on 28 February 2014.

Aswini kumar----Former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar has been appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as his Special Envoy to visit Japan in the rank of a Cabinet Minister on 22 August 2013.The Prime Minister has nominated Ashani Kumar to visit for up to seven days as PM's Special Envoy to maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges with Japan and to prepare for the upcoming visit of Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan and the Prime Minister of Japan to India. Ashwani Kumar resigned as Union Law Minister on 10 May 2013 for allegedly interfering in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in coal blocks allocation. The Supreme Court had come down heavily on the CBI for allowing the Law Ministry to vet the draft of its probe report on the coal allocation.

Dilip Trivesi---- Senior IPS officer Dilip Trivedi has been appointed as the new chief of the country's largest paramilitary force CRPF. Trivedi, a 1978-batch officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, is presently serving as the Special Director General of the BSF. Trivedi has served in various positions in the state police and has also served in the Centre as ADG of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. The post of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) DG fell vacant on July 31st after incumbent Chief Pranay Sahay retired.

Zafar Futehally (93)---- One of India’s best known naturalists and ornithologists, Zafar Futehally, passed away on 11th August, at his home in Kihim in Maharashtra. He was 93. Mr. Futehally spearheaded the early years of the conservation movement in India, serving as a link between conservationists and corporate. The Newsletter for Birdwatchers, which he founded, was a vital publication and served to document observations at a time when there was no digital documentation and there were few scientific studies on wildlife in the country. Mr. Futehally was associated for 60 years with the Bombay Natural History Society, of which he was honorary secretary for 16 years, till the 1970s, when he shifted to Bangalore. In Bangalore, Mr. Futehally’s home for four decades, he will be most remembered for nurturing a vibrant bird watching community.

Abdul Karim Tunda--- the Delhi Police on 16th August arrested one of India's 20 most wanted terrorists, Abdul Karim Tunda, from Indo-Nepal border. 70-year-old Tunda, a bomb expert of Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit, was wanted in 21 terror cases. Tunda was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi police and produced in a Delhi court. Born in western UP and allegedly indoctrinated into the terrorist activities of Pakistan's ISI in the eighties, Tunda was trained in making improvised explosive devices and ranks number 15 in the dossier India handed over to Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks.After the serial blasts, Tunda allegedly fled to Bangladesh where he came under direct command of Lashkar chief Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi and soon became LeT's top bomb maker under the guidance of Lakhvi.

"Metro Man" E. Sreedharan has been selected for the prestigious Lokmanya Tilak award for 2013 for his outstanding contribution to society. The name of Sreedharan, considered as the architect of the ambitious Delhi metro project, was announced by Deepak Tilak who heads the Lokmanya Tilak Trust. The Padmashree laureate is also credited for pulling off the Konkan Railway project. The award comprising a gold medal, a citation and Rs one lakh cash, will be conferred on Sreedharan on August 1, Tilak said.

Ms. Runa Laila---- SAARC Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS made official visit to India from 31st July to 2nd August 2013, with the objective to extend support to the cause of HIV/AIDS especially on the issues of stigma and discrimination related to People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV). Ms. Laila from Bangladesh has been conferred the honorary title of SAARC Goodwill Ambassador by SAARC Secretariat for the next two years along with Ajay Devgan from India and Ms. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy from Pakistan. In the capacity of SAARC Goodwill Ambassador on HIV/AIDS, Ms. Laila would be contributing towards creating awareness on HIV/AIDS through public appearances using different platform. She would address the issues of stigma and discrimination prevailing in the community of SAARC Member States including mainstreaming HIV/AIDS to form part of development agenda and advocate for affordable treatment, care and support for PLHIV, facilitating fund raising from within and outside the SAARC region.

Sharad Kumar-----Senior IPS officer Sharad Kumar was on 30 July, appointed as the new Director General (DG) of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).The DG post of the agency was lying vacant for about last two months following the retirement of incumbent SC Sinha. Sinha was later appointed as a member of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).Kumar is a 1979-batch Haryana cadre officer and he takes over the top post of the probe agency at a time when it is investigating important cases like Hyderabad blasts and the recent Bodh Gaya blasts in Bihar.

Sujatha Singh--Assumed charge as Foreign Secretary on 1 August. Singh, a 1976 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, moved into her office in the Ministry of External Affairs in South Block. She succeeds Ranjan Mathai and will have a fixed tenure of two years. Asked about her priorities, Singh said the “immediate neighborhood” will be high on her agenda besides strengthening relations with strategic partners around the world. Singh said she would also optimize resources in the MEA and build on the work done by her predecessor.

Samantha Power ----Samantha Power, on 2 August 2013 took oath to the office of US ambassador to United Nations. Vice-President, Joe Biden administered her, the oath to the office in a ceremony at the White House. Power succeeded Susan Rice, now the President Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser. Earlier, Samantha Power served as the Foreign Policy Adviser to Obama during his 2008 election campaign, and subsequently worked as an adviser in the White House. She started her career as a journalist and won a Pulitzer Prize for her book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide in 2003.

The Senate of US approved the decision of Barack Obama to choose James Comey as the next director of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Comey was supported by the Senators with the vote of 93-1 on 29th July. He will be replacing Robert Mueller, who had remained the Director of FBI since 2001. In May 2013, Comey was reportedly nominated for the post of Director of FBI and news got confirmed officially in June 2013. He was chosen over Lisa Monaco, who had overseen the security issues of US at the Justice Department during the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya on 11 September 2012. Finally, on 29 July 2013, it was confirmed that the Senate gave approval for James Comey to be the Director of FBI for a complete 10-year term.

Raghuram Rajan----The government has appointed Raghuram Rajan as the next governor of the Reserve Bank of India, raising hopes that the former IMF chief economist, who in 2005 famously predicted the financial crisis that hit the developed world three years later, will bring a fresh and perhaps more innovative approach to pull the economy out of the current crisis of slowing growth and a weakening currency. Rajan, 50, who is currently the chief economic advisor, will take over from D. Subbarao on September 4. He is the youngest governor of India's central bank since Sir C.D. Deshmukh, the first Indian governor whose tenure ran from August 1943 to June 1949.

July 2013 Persons | Current Affairs July 2013

*US President Barack Obama has nominated an accomplished Indian-American woman administrator as America's new point person for South Asia to succeed Robert Blake. Subject to confirmation by the Senate, Nisha Desai Biswal, who is currently the Assistant Administrator for Asia at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), will replace incumbent Blake to head the South Asia bureau in the US State Department.

*Desai is expected to become the first person of Indian-origin to head the bureau, which oversees US foreign policy and relations with India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan. Biswal, who received a BA degree from the University of Virginia, has been the Assistant Administrator for Asia at the USAID, since September 2010.

*JUSTICE P.SADASIVAM-----Justice P Sathasivam was on 19 july, sworn in as the 40th Chief Justice of India (CJI) by President Pranab Mukherjee. He took over the post from Justice Altamas Kabir, who served as the CJI for over nine months. Born on April 27, 1949, he enrolled as an advocate in July 1973 at Madras and was appointed as a permanent Judge of the Madras High Court in January, 1996.Later, he was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in April, 2007.Justice Sathasivam was elevated to the Supreme Court in August, 2007 and would demit office on April 26, 2014.

*DR.LAXMAN SINGH RATHORE----Dr Laxman Singh Rathore, Director General of Meteorology & Permanent Representative of India, has been elected as Co-Vice Chairman of Intergovernmental Board of Climate Services (IBCS) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) during its first meeting held at Geneva during 1st to 5th July 2013. Dr. Rathore was recently elected as member of the Executive Council of the WMO and has earlier served a term as Vice President of Commission of Agriculture Meteorology. Anton Eliassen, Director General, Norway Meteorological Institute has been elected as Chair and Dr. Linda Makuleni, South Africa, is the other Co-Vice Chair. With the appointment of Rathore, India, who is championing the cause of developing nations is poised to play a crucial role in implementation of Global Framework of Climate Service (GFCS).

*VAALI (82) ----- Veteran Tamil film lyricist Vaali passed away at a private hospital in Chennai on 18 July 2013. Vaali penned lyrics for stars across generations, from the veteran M.G. Ramachandran (MGR), Kamal Haasan to present day heroes like Dhanush. He started his career in the mid-60s and had penned nearly 10,000 songs in his 50 years long career. He was honoured with the Padma Shri, India'a fourth highest civilian honour in year 2007.He has also written a number of books including Naanum Indha Nootrandum, his autobiography.

*Mr.SANTOSH B.NAIR-----International Finance Corporation of India (IFCI), on 15 July 2013, appointed Santosh B. Nayar as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. Further, it said Ashok Kumar Jain had been inducted as additional director of IFCI.

*Mr.RANA KAPOOR---- Yes Bank Managing Director and CEO, Rana Kappor took over as the President of Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) on 20 July 2013 at the end of the 92nd annual general meeting of the chamber held in New Delhi.

*The British Government honoured Mr.V.K. Krishna Menon, India’s first high commissioner in London and former Defence Minister by placing a Blue Plaque at the house, where he lived when he moved to the city for the first time on 17th July.

*The blue plaque will be placed plaque at 30 Langdon Park Road in Highgate, North London, where Menon stayed from 1929 to 1931. Menon, during his stay in London, after Indian independence as independent India’s first High Commissioner to the U.K played an active role in the socio-political life of the city.
The plaque was unveiled by Tony Benn, veteran leader of the Left-Wing Labour. Tony Benn is the son of William Wedgwood Benn, was secretary of state for India from 1929 to 1931, when Menon was campaigning for Indian independence in Britain. UK commemorates sites of historical and cultural importance in the country with blue plaques with a purpose of drawing attention of people.

*Eminent historian Barun Dey, who made “Modern India” his main area of research, died at a city clinic in Kolkata on 16th July after a protracted illness. He was 80 and is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.
Associated with a number of historical institutions, Dey was Vice President of Asiatic Society and Vice Chairman of Centre for Archaeology, besides being a member of the Board of Trustees of Victoria Memorial and Governing Body of Indian Museum..
He had specialised in social and economic history of India in the 17th and 18th centuries, Bengal renaissance and British constitutional history. Dey was the author of ‘Secularism at Bay: Uzbekistan at the Turn of Century’

*Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka----Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 9 July 2013, has appointed Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, a former deputy president of South Africa and women’s advocate, as the new head of the United Nations body, U.N. WOMEN tasked with promoting women’s rights and their full participation in global affairs. Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka replaces Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile who served as the first Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women). Ms. Bachelet stepped down a few months ago. She was the first woman to hold the position of Deputy President of South Africa from 2005 to 2008, and has also served as Deputy Minister in the Department of Trade and Industry, Minister of Minerals and Energy, and briefly as acting Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology. UN Women was established in July 2010 by a unanimous vote of the General Assembly to oversee all of the world body’s programmes aimed at promoting women’s rights. It is tasked with helping Member States implement standards, providing technical and financial support to countries which request it and forging partnerships with civil society. Within the UN, it holds the world body accountable for its own commitments on gender equality.

*Dr. H.A.B. Parpia---- An acknowledged food scientist and the former Director of the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) died on 9 July 2013 after a brief illness.There exist more than 2500 papers and documents published by the name of Dr. Parpia on food and technology and advanced education. The 91 year old, Dr. Parpia served Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations at Rome and was Assistant Director in charge of Information, Statistics, Process Development and Food Plant Design at the CFTRI. He received, Distinguished Service Medal from the Prime Minister of India at 25th Anniversary of CFTRI, Mysore. In 1984, he received V S Industrial Achievement Award from Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India), Mysore. In 1987, he received Wattumull Foundation Award from Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

*Mr.Pran (93)----The winner of Dadasaheb Phalke Award and a veteran actor Pran died on 12 July 2013 in a Hospital at Mumbai. Born in Old Delhi on 12 February 1920, Pran got his first break in a Punjabi Film, Yamla Jat in 1940, in the undivided India. But his debut in Bollywood happened with the film Ziddi, in which he acted along with the evergreen hero of bollywood Dev Anand in 1948. Pran served the Bollywood for a career span of more than six decades in more than 350 films and is known for his brilliant performances in films like Ram aur Shyam, Aansoo Ban Gaye Phool, Half-Ticket, Madhumati, Purab aur Paschim, Karz, Zanjeer and Amar Akbar Anthony and many more. He was conferred with Dada Saheb Phalke Award on 12 April 2013, which was received by him on 10 May 2013 at his residence. In 2001 he was awarded with India’s third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan. In 2010 he was named among the Top 25 Asian Actors of All times by CNN.

*Ottavio Quattrocchi (74)----- Controversial Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, who was a key figure in the Bofors payoffs scandal, on 13 July 2013 died in Milan, Italy following a stroke. Quattrocchi was an Italian businessman who was being sought until early 2009 in India for criminal charges for acting as a conduit for bribes in the Bofors scandal.The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had named Quattrocchi in a chargesheet as the conduit for the Bofors bribe. The case against him was strengthened in June 2003. On the basis of the Interpol warrant he was detained in Argentina on 6 February 2007. The CBI had come under attack for putting up a half-hearted effort towards his extradition..

*Former Delhi Police Chief, K.K. Paul took over as the new Governor of Meghalaya, after he was administered the oath of office and secrecy by the Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court, T Meena Kumari at a simple function held at the Durbal Hall of the Raj Bhavan in Shillong on 8th July. He was the Delhi Police commissioner between February 2004 and July 2007 and became a member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on 26 July 2007. He also had served in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). He joined the IPS in 1970 and was granted the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories) cadre.

*Senior parliamentarian Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil on 4 July 2013 was appointed as the new Governor of Sikkim on 4th July 2013. Dadasaheb Patil has represented Maharashtra's Satara constituency in the Lok Sabha as an MP. He is also a former IAS officer, and will replace presently serving governor of Sikkim B.P. Singh. The 73-years Dadasaheb Patil was elected to the 13th and 14th Lok Sabha from the Karad constituency in Maharashtra on the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP ticket).

*Mr.Najeeb Jung, Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, took over as the Lt. Governor of Delhi, replacing Tejendra Khanna on 9th July 2013. A 1973-batch IAS officer, Jung is the 19th L-G of Delhi.
He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Chief Justice of Delhi High Court B.D. Ahmed. The oath-taking ceremony was held at Raj Niwas and attended by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, her council of ministers, and several top political leaders and bureaucrats.

*Hazem El-Beblawi was named as the new Prime Minister of Egypt by the Interim President Adly Mansour on 9th July 2013. A leading economist and former finance minister, Beblawi will form a caretaker government that comprises technocrats from different walks of life. The caretaker government would play a major role in steering the Egypt through the transitional period. The interim President Adly Mansour also named Mohammad ElBaradei, a Nobel laureate and former IAEA chief as the new Vice-President of the country. In a gesture of reconciliation, the new Prime minister-designate declared that his government will offer cabinet posts to the leaders of Muslim Brotherhood of the ousted President Mohammed Morsi’s Government.

*Veteran Carnatic musician Nukala Chinna Satyanarayana passed away here on 11th July 2013. He was 89. He was suffering from a heart-related ailment since some months. Popularly known as a Carnatic vocal maestro, the veteran musician was born in Aadurru villaige of East Godavari District in 1923.
He took a masters degree in English and Telugu literature and began his musical journey as a violinist. However, he switched to vocal under the tutelage of veteran Mangalampalli Pattabhiramaiah, the father of another Carnatic exponent, Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna.
Recognising his skills in vocal music, Bharat Gandharva Maha Vidyalaya Mandal in 1983 awarded him the prestigious title of “Maha Mahopadyaya”.He was appointed by TTD as their court musician and for 20 years he worked to tune various Annamacharya krithis.
Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, Srigeri Peetham, Pushpagiri Peetham, Ganapathi Sacchidananda Ashramam have recognised his services and appointed him as their court musician.Nukala worked as principal in Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Vijayawada Government Music Colleges. He was the head of the department of music at Telugu University. He penned many books including Raga Lakshana Sangraham and a monograph on Thyagaraja Pancharatna Kirthanas. He gave performances in the presence of late Dr. Radhakrishnan, V.V. Giri and P.V. Narasimha Rao. He was awarded Padma Bhushan by the Centre.

*Mr.R. CHANDRASEKHAR---Nasscom, the IT software services industry body appointed R. Chandrasekhar, the former Secretary Department of Telecommunications (DoT), as its president on 5 July 2013. 60 years old, R. Chandrashekhar will be succeeding current Nasscom President Som Mittal, whose tenure expires in January 2014. He retired from DOT in March 2013 and had also declined an offer to head the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) which is India's premier technical intelligence agency.

*Mr.SUNIL SONI---- Sunil Soni has been appointed as Director General of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on 2 July'13. He is a 1981 batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre who at present is on compulsory wait in the Department of Financial Services under Ministry of Finance. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has also appointed Tapan Ray, a 1982 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre as Additional Secretary in Ministry of Panchayati Raj. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is a body under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution which basically looks after the formulation of standards for all segments of industry and business. It also certifies products, which is popularly known by ISI mark. It is also into certification of imported products and hallmarking of jewellery.

*Mr.DOUGLAS ENGELBART(88)----Douglas Engelbart, the U.S. inventor who was known as the father of the computer mouse died on 3 July 2013. Engelbart was a technologist who laid out a vision of an Internet decades before others brought those ideas to the mass market. He was a scientist and engineer who devoted himself to find ways to use computers to improve people's lives.

*MAHASUNDARI DEVI----Madhubani painting artist Mahasundari Devi died at a private hospital in Ranti, near Madhubani on 4 July '13. She was renowned for her mastery over Sikki work, 'sujani' craft, clay work and paper mache apart from Mithila painting. She had won over two dozen national and state awards. She won the prestigious Padmashri and Shilp Guru award in year 2010.

*SUJATHA SINGH----Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh approved the appointment of Sujata Singh as the Next Foreign Secretary of India on 1 July '13. Sujata Singh of 59 years at present is serving as the envoy to Germany. She will succeed Ranjan Mathai as Foreign Secretary, who is due to retire on 31 July 2013. Due to retire in July 2014, Singh has got an extension of two year in her service period. She is the IFS officer of 1976 batch and the third women to head the foreign services after Chokila Iyer and Nirupama Rao.

June 2013 Persons | Current Affairs June 2013

*Justice P. Sathasivam---- On 29 June 2013, Justice P. Sathasivam was appointed as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI) after he justified the Collegiums System of Appointment of Judges. The 64 year old Sathasivam will succeed the incumbent Chief Justice of India, Altamas Kabir, who will superannuate on 18 July 2013 from his office.
He is the 40th CJI and his appointment to the post has been approved by Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India. As the 40th CJI, he will serve the nation till his 26 April 2014 He was born on 27 April 1949 He was enrolled as an advocate on 25 July 1973 at Madras.

*Mr.Anil Goswami----Anil Goswmi took over as Union Home Secretary on 30 June 2013. He succeeds Raj Kumar Singh who retired from Government service. Anil Goswami is an IAS officer of 1978 batch and belongs to the Jammu & Kashmir Cadre. Before joining MHA as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) on April 27, 2013, Goswami was Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. He has served in his Cadre and at the Centre in various capacities including Additional Secretary in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

*Mr.Krishna Chaudhary----- Krishna Chaudhary, IPS, has been appointed as Director General, National Disaster Response Force and Civil Defence (NDRF&CD). His appointment will take effect from the date he assumes charge of the post and until his superannuation on 30.06.2017 or till further orders, whichever is earlier.

*Mr.V.K.DUGGAL---- The former Union Home Secretary on 21 June 2013 was appointed as the nodal officer for relief and rescue operations in the rain-ravaged Uttrakhand by the Union Government of India. Duggal will operate from Dehradun. Duggal will help in establishing coordination between different agencies involved in relief and rescue operations and the centre, as lack of coordination between the agencies was hampering the mitigation efforts. The decision of VK Duggal’s appointment as nodal officer was taken after a review meet conducted by the Union Home Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde at New Delhi. The review meet was attended by the representatives of the Ministries of Home, Defence, Food, Surface Transport and National Disaster Management Authority. He served as Indian Union Home Secretary from March 2005 to April 2007.

*Mr.SATYA PAL DANGE (92) ---- Veteran CPI leader Satya Pal Dang passed away in Amritsar on 15 June 2013.Satya Pal Dang was Born in 1920 in Gujranwala in Pakistan and had married to Vimla, another CPI leader, in 1952. Vimla died in 2009. The couple was known for their courage in raising their voices against terrorism in Punjab. Satya Pal Dang had contested his first Vidhan Sabha election in 1966-67 from Amritsar west constituency. He won that election after defeating then CM Gurmukh Singh Musafir. With the win he became food and civil supply minister in the coalition government. During his term he took some tough decisions to ensure that food items reached the poor through PDS. He led several struggles of various sections of the people, including peasants and workers, and was elected four times to Punjab assembly from Amritsar. Satya Pal Dang won from the same constituency in 1969, 1972 and 1977.

*Mr.AMOL RAJAN---- Indian-born Amol Rajan has been appointed editor of the London morning daily The Independent, making him Fleet Street's first non-white editor, the newspaper reported on 17 june. Rajan, 29, was previously the daily's comment editor. Rajan, who was born in Calcutta, as Kolkata was then called, moved to Britain when he was three and studied at a state school.

*JAMES COMEY (52) ----Barack Obama, the US President on 21 June 2013 nominated James Comey as the next FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) Director. James Comey is a registered Republican and former Justice Department official under President George W. Bush. He was the United States Deputy Attorney General, serving in President George W. Bush's administration from December 2003 to August 2005.His nomination awaits confirmation from the US Senate. On getting this confirmation for the post, Comey would succeed Robert Mueller. Robert Mueller held the post of FBI Director since 2001 and will retire after completing 12 years of his service to FBI as its Director. Comey is best known for his actions against White House officials over the legality of the warrantless-wiretapping program of the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2004.

*Mr.Kanji Ram became only the second Hindu to be part of the Pakistan’s Punjab assembly after Seth Bharta Ram who was elected a lawmaker in 1997. Kanji Ram is scheduled to take oath on 17 June 2013. Moreover, Saradar Ramesh Singh Arora on 1 June 2013 became the first ever Sikh to be elected as the member of the House since Pakistan’s creation in 1947.Ram and Sikh representative Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora were both nominated by the PML-N to seats in the Punjab Assembly reserved for non-Muslims.

*Mr.S.K.Roy: The government is understood to have appointed SK Roy as the chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). Roy, who is presently a managing director in the organization, would be succeeding D K Mehrotra, whose term as LIC chief ended on May 31. Roy would be at the helm of the insurance behemoth for a period of five years, official sources said, adding that the notification to this effect would be out soon. Roy joined the largest insurance company in the country in 1981. On May 31, 2013, he assumed charge as managing director of LIC along with Thomas Mathew and Sarkar. Prior to elevation, he was head of the International Operations. He was also zonal manager of north central zone and eastern zone of the insurance firm. LIC, which manages assets worth around Rs14-lakhcrore of over 20 crore policyholders, has the largest market share among 24 players in the industry.

*Sudha Sharma: A 1976 batch IRS Officer, has been appointed the new Chairperson of the Central Board of Direct Taxes on June 2. She took over as Poonam Kishore Saxena retired on 31 May. Sudha Sharma was serving as member (legislation and computerization) in CBDT. The CBDT is a part of Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance. On one hand, CBDT provides essential inputs for policy and planning of direct taxes in India, at the same time it is also responsible for administration of direct tax laws through the Income Tax Department. The Central Board of Direct Taxes is a statutory authority functioning under the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1963. The Central Board of Revenue as the Department apex body charged with the administration of taxes came into existence as a result of the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1924.

*Susan Elizabeth Rice---- The American ambassador to the United Nations was appointed as the National Security Adviser of US President Barack Obama on 5 June 2013. She replaced Tom Donilon. She is said to be the first Jamaican-American woman to hold the office of UN ambassador. She was the principal and Managing Director at Intellibridge from 2001 to 2002.Susan Elizabeth Rice received one of the Glamour Magazine Women of the Year Awards in the year 2009. In the year 2002, she was also indicted into Stanford's Black Alumni Hall of Fame.

*K R Kamath---- The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) announced on 6 June 2013 that K R Kamath, the chairman and managing director of Punjab National Bank (PNB) was re-elected as the Chairman of IBA for 2013-14 tenure. At the 66th annual general meeting, IBA also elected Aditya Puri, managing director and CEO of HDFC Bank, as its Deputy Chairman. Along with this, the Chairman of State Bank of India (SBI), Pratip Chaudhuri was elected as the Honorary Secretary. Indian Banks' Association (IBA) is an association of Indian banks and financial institutions. It is based in Mumbai. The objective of the association is strengthening, development and coordination of the Indian banking. It also facilitates various member banks.

*Raghav Joneja----Joneja became the youngest Indian to scale the Mount Everest on 21 May 2013 when he along with his five schoolmates climbed the fifth highest peak in the world. Climbing at the age of 15 years and seven months Raghav Joneja broke the record set by Nameirakpam Chingkheinganba of Manipur's, who climbed the Everest at the age 16 years seven months and 11 days.

*Lydia Nsekera----Lydia became the first woman elected to the FIFA executivecommitee after winning a vote on 7 June in Mauritius. The 46-year-old head of the Burundi Football Association outlasted Australia’s Moya Dodd and Sonia Bien-Aime, of Turks and Caicos. The FIFA executive board contains 24 members from across the world headed by president Sepp Blatter.FIFA co-opted Nsekera into the executive committee last year, also a first. She has led the Burundi FA for about nine years and helped organize the soccer tournaments at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. She’s also an IOC member.FIFA’s executive hasn’t included a woman since first forming in 1904.

*Virginius Xaxa ---- After the exit of Aruna Roy, government on 6 June, has reconstituted the National Advisory Council by inducting renowned sociologist Virginius Xaxa into the 12-member panel chaired by Sonia Gandhi. The term of the panel, which has been giving legislative and policy inputs to the government ranging from the seminal rural jobs scheme to the latest food security bill, has been made co-terminus with the term of the present government.Xaxa, the new member of the Council, has written extensively on tribal communities of the country and is a Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati.Besides chairperson Gandhi, the Council has Xaxa, Narendra Jadhav, Pramod Tandon, N C Saxena, A K Shiv Kumar, Deep Joshi, Anu Aga, Farah Naqvi, Mirai Chatterjee, Mihir Shah and Ashis Mondal as members. Last week, Roy had written to Gandhi requesting her not to consider her for another term of the Council. Gandhi had accepted the request.The term of the previous Council was till May 31.

*Mrs. Kushal Singh----Kushal singh has been appointed as the Chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on 28 may2013. Mrs.Kushal Singh was selected by a Committee headed by Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister of Women and Child Development. The Secretary, M/O WCD is also a member of the Committee. She has held several high level posts in the Government of Rajasthan and the Central Government. She was the Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan. She was also the Chairperson Board of Revenue, Rajasthan Pollution Control Board and the Commissioner for Disabled Persons, Government of Rajasthan. Mrs. Singh was the Secretary Women and Child Development and Social Welfare, Principal Secretary for various ministries such as Social Welfare and Tribal Area Development, Environment and Social Security, Government of Rajasthan.

*Mr.Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa was elected as the new president of Asian Football Confederation on 2 May 2013. He replaced Mohamed Bin Hammam. Bahraini Sheikh Salman won 33 votes out of 46 in Malaysia to beat his rival Yousuf Al Serkal of the United Arab Emirates as well as Worawi Makudi of Thailand. Sheikh Salman claimed the vacant seat on executive committee of FIFA as well, which was held by Bin Hammam. On this seat, Sheikh Salman defeated Qatar World Cup organizing chief Hassan Al Thawadi. It is important to note that Bin Hammam was given a lifetime ban in 2011 by FIFA on the basis of allegations that he tried to buy the votes. He eventually retired from football in July 2012 after his suspension was annulled. Sheikh Salman took over last 20 months of term of Bin Hammam as the AFC president. Next elections will be held in January 2015. The position of AFC president gives a person the control of all major football events in Asia.

*The Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy reconstituted A.P Women's Commission by appointing Dr.Tripurana Venkataratnam as Chairperson with six other members on 3rd June 2013.

*The other members are Paruchuri Jamuna, Dr. Sunita Krishnan, Thoti Malleswari, Mukala Kasturi and L.Feroz Begum. The Scheduled Tribe category member would be nominated separately and orders to this effect will be issued soon. Dr Tripurana Venkata Ratnam is a doctorate and LL.B from Srikakulam District. She was an MLA from TDP during 1983 from Cheepurupalli and Minister in the cabinet of Sri N. Bhaskar Rao. Her father T. Raghava Dasu was a freedom fighter and was an MLC and DCC President during 1978-81. She is also a noted social worker and activist.

*Leader of Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N), Ayaz Sadiq was elected as the Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan on 3rd June. He won with 258 votes out of 313 votes which were cast in the election of a Speaker in lower house of the Parliament of Pakistan. The strength of National Assembly of Pakistan is 342.His opponents, Shaheryar Afridi of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf and S.A. Iqbal Qadri of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement got just 31 and 23 votes respectively. The outgoing Speaker Fehmida Mirza administered the oath of Speaker’s office to Ayaz Sadiq. He became the 19th Speaker of the Pakistan’s lower house. PML-N nominee Murtaza Javed Abbasi was elected as deputy speaker by securing a total of 258 votes.

April 2013 Persons | Current Affairs April 2013

Dr. Christopher Briggs: Briggs was announced the Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention. He will be the fifth Secretary General to the Convention and will succeed Mr Tiéga Anada who has served the Convention for the past six years. Dr Briggs’ appointment was approved by the Ramsar Standing Committee during its 46th meeting held in Gland, Switzerland from 8-12 April 2013. The Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971), called the Ramsar Convention- is an intergovernmental treaty that embodies the commitments of its member countries to maintain the ecological character of their Wetlands of International Importance and to plan for the wise use, or sustainable use, of all of the wetlands in their territories.

68 Years old American Journalist and feminist Mary Thom, was died on 29 April 2013 in a motorcycle accident in Yonkers in the state of New York. Mary Thom had taken her 1996 Honda Magna 750 when she Turn sharply and change direction abruptly into traffic while entering a Yonkers highway, striking a vehicle and then being struck by another. She was a former editor of Ms. Magazine. She devoted her career to giving voice to women's rights issues in books, magazine columns and through her work within the women's movement. She wrote a book about working her way from an entry-level research position to executive editor in "Inside Ms.: 25 Years of the Magazine and the Feminist Movement. Thom was an avid motorcycle enthusiast who never owned a car and had been riding for four decades. She was a top editor at the Women's Media Center at the time of her death.

Takehiko Nakao (57) - Takehiko Nakao, on 27 April 2013 was appointed as the President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) by the Board of Governors at New Delhi. He succeeded Haruhiko Kuroda, who resigned from his office in March 2013 to take up an assignment as the Governor of the Bank of Japan. Nakao is the former Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs of Japan. He will be the ninth President and will assume the charge of his office on 28 April 2013. He is appointed to complete the unexpired term of his predecessor that is supposed to end in November 2016.

N. Ravi---The director of Kasturi and Sons Limited as well as the former Editor of The Hindu was unanimously elected as the president of Editors Guild of India on 23 April 2013 at the annual general meeting of the Guild in New Delhi. He succeeded T.N. Ninan, the chairman and editorial director of Business Standard. He will be serving two-year term as the President of the Guild.He served as Editor-in-chief of The Hindu from 1991 to 2003. Editors Guild of India is the organization of the editors of various magazines and newspapers of India.

Justice JS Verma (80)----- The former Chief Justice of India, died on 22 April 2013 in New Delhi after multiple organ failure. He was the 27th Chief Justice of India on 25 March 1997 and retired on 18 January 1998.Justice Verma chaired the committee that was constituted by the Government of India to frame a tougher law to combat crimes against women, in the wake of the 16 December 2012 Delhi gang rape incident in the moving bus. He served as the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission. He served as the first Chairperson of the News Broadcasters’ Standards Authority.

Mr. Lalgudi Jayaraman(82)---- Renowned violinist and composer, died in Chennai on 22 April 2013 because of illness. He is known for introduction of new concepts of musical ensembles using veena, flute and violin in 1960s.He was also a Padma Bhushan awardee in 2001. In 1963, he earned the title of Nada Vidya Tilaka by the Music Lovers’ Association of Lalgudi. He won the Padma Shri in 1972. In the year 2010, he became the fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademi. He received the first Chowdaiah Memorial National-Level award by the Chief Minister of Karnataka. In 1994, he received the honorary citizenship of Maryland, US. He won National Film Award for Best Music Direction for film titled Sringaram in 2006.

Mrs.Shamshad Begum (94) -- Legendary singer, died on 23 April 2013 in Mumbai due to illness. She was one of the first few playback singers of the Hindi film industry. Some of her popular Hindi songs include Kabhi Aar Kabhi Paar, Kajra Mohabbat Wala and Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon. Shamshad Begum started her singing career in early thirties. She was among the most sought-after female playback singers of 40s. She sang in various languages such as Tamil, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi and Bengali apart from Hindi in multi-lingual song Ye Duniya Roop Ki Chor. She was conferred with the O P Nayyar award for contribution to Hindi film music, in the year 2009. In 2009 again, she was conferred with the third-highest civilian honour of India, Padma Bhushan.

Mr.Anil Goswamy----The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Anil Goswami, Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as Home Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs for a period of two years from the date of taking over the charge of Home Secretary, vice Raj Kumar Singh. Anil Goswami, is appointed as OSD in the Ministry of Home Affairs in the rank and pay of Secretary with immediate effect and till the date of his assumption of charge as Home Secretary.

Mr.Krishnakumar Natarajan---K.Natarajan, CEO and Director of Mindtree on 8 April 2013 was appointed as the Chairman of Nasscom for the year 2013-14. He succeeded N Chandrasekaran, MD and CEO of TCS, who was the Chairman for the year 2012-13. R. Chandrasekaran, Cognizant Group Chief Executive (Technology & Operations) was appointed as the Vice Chairman of the Executive Council. NASSCOM Foundation is a non-profit organization that represents the Indian IT BPO industry and it played a leading role in developing the Indian IT-BPO industry to reach mark of 100 billion dollar industry.

Mr.P.J.Kurien----Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, on 11 April 2013 was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the prestigious Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) during the 73rd Executive Committee Meeting of AFPPD at Bangkok. He replaced Yasuo Fukuda, former Prime Minister of Japan as the Chairman of AFPPD. PJ Kurien at present is also the Chairman of the Indian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development.

AFPPD was established in 1981 is a regional non-governmental organization to serve as a coordinating body of twenty five National Committees of Parliamentarians on Population and Development. It seeks to generate cooperation and support among the Asian Parliamentarians in different areas like population and Development.

Dr Hilary Koprowski(96)----A Polish researcher who developed the first successful oral vaccination for polio died on 11 April 2013 in Philadelphia. Koprowski developed an oral vaccine using the live polio virus that was first used on humans in 1950.Hilary Koprowski remained the President of Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories, Inc. as well as the Head of the Center for Neurovirology at Thomas Jefferson University. He also served as the consultant to the World Health Organization and also Pan American Health Organization. In 1995, Hilary Koprowski was given the title of Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland by the President of Finland. In 1997, he won the Legion d'Honneur from the French government. In 1998, he won the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Poland.

Mr.Robert Edwards (87) --- The British Nobel Laureate who pioneered the development of in vitro fertilization (IVF ) that led to the birth of the world’s first “test tube baby” , died in London, on 9 April, after a long illness. Sir Robert, who founded the world’s first IVF clinic at Bourn Hall in Cambridge in 1980 and developed IVF with Dr. Patrick Steptoe, started work on fertilization in the 1950s. The first test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in July 1978 at Oldham General Hospital. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 2010 and knighted a year later in recognition of his contribution to science.

Mr.R.P. Goenka (83)---- Rama Prasad Goenka, one of the country’s biggest industrialists and the architect of RPG Enterprises, died at his Kolkata residence on 14 april 2013. Known as India’s top “takeover specialist”, Goenka had served as a Rajya Sabha member, was once president of Ficci and chairman of IIT-Kharagpur board of governors. He was twice awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure by Japan’s Emperor.He established RPG Enterprises in 1979, largely with inherited companies like Phillips Carbon Black, Asian Cables, Agarpara Jute Mill and Murphy India. He took up Ceat Tyres of India in 1981, then KEC in 1982, Searle India (now RPG Life Sciences) in 1983, Dunlop in 1984 and Gramophone Company of India (now Saregama India) in 1986. In 1989, Goenka took control of four new companies — CESC, Harrisons Malayalam, Spencer & Co and ICIM in 1989. His last major acquisition was Calcutta Electric Supply Corp. in 1989, which has since been renamed CESC. Under a succession plan, his business empire was split between Harsh (chairman of RPG Enterprises) and Sanjiv (chairman of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group) in 2011. But he remained chairman emeritus of both groups.

Professor Bratindra Nath Mukherjee(79) -- The renowned historian, Padma Shri Awardee, and an epigraphy expert died at his residence in Kolkata on 4 April. He deciphered several ancient scripts; He authored more than 50 books and wrote about 700 articles in different national and international journals. Few of his famous books were Greek and Aramaic Edicts of Ashoka, Rise of Kushan Empire and a book on coins of the country named Indian Gold. He was among few of the scholars from India, who knew Central Asian Lanuages like Sogdian (an Eastern-Iranian language at present Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), Brahmi, Shell and Kharoshti .He was a numismatist and wrote two volumes on it named Coins of Bengal and Numismatic Art of India. He served as the Professor in the Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Calcutta.

Mr.S. Gopalakrishnan-- The co-founder and Executive Co-Chairman of Infosys, on 5 April 2013 was elected as the President of the industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the year 2013-14. He is succeeding Adi Godrej, Chairman of the Godrej Group. S Gopalakrishnan, who is also a Padma Bhushan recipient, Gopalakrishnan was in recent times was voted as the top CEO (IT services category) in Institutional Investor's inaugural ranking of Asia's Top Executives, and was selected as one of the winners of the second Asian Corporate Director Recognition Awards by Corporate Governance Asia.

Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy --- Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy of Indian Navy, who on 6 April 2013 became the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe, solo and non-stop, in a sail boat over a 150-day voyage. This voyage of Lt Cdr Tony placed India in the list of few selected nations, whose citizens were successful in completion of such an arduous voyage. The voyage of Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy ended at the Gateway of India. He started his voyage across the oceans of the world from the same place from in his boat INSV Mhadei on 1 November 2012. The Voyage was conducted under the Sagar Parikrama Project, which was sanctioned by Pranab Mukherjee, when he was the Defence Minister of India. With this achievement Tony turned up to be the first Indian and second Asian to complete such a voyage. At present there are less than 80 people across the world in the list of people who have completed such a voyage. INSV Mhadei is a custom-built boat of Indian Navy that was designed in the year 2009 and in a period of four years, the boat undertook its second solo circumnavigation trip.

National Stock Exchange is set to have a new chief when Mr.Chitra Ramkrishna will take over as Managing Director and CEO and join the select league of women leaders at the helm of affairs of leading stock exchanges of the world. The 49-year old Ms Ramkrishna, who was part of the leadership team that helped set up the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in early 90s, would be only the third person to head the bourse in its entire history of about two decades. As MD and CEO of the NSE, Ms Ramkrishna succeeds Ravi Narain who would assume the role of non-executive Vice Chairman with effect from April 1, 2013, after serving in various leadership roles at the exchange since its inception. Mr Narain had served as Deputy Managing Director of NSE in its first six years and as MD and CEO thereafter. Mr Narain had succeeded R H Patil, who was the first chief of NSE. In November 2012, the board of directors of NSE decided to elevate Mr Ramkrishna, then its Joint MD, as Managing Director and CEO with effect from April 1, 2013.

Mr.Narendra Kumar Verma on 4 April 2013 was appointed as the new director of the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp’s (ONGC) Exploration. 54 year old Narendra Kumar Verma would be replacing S.V. Rao, who term super-annuated on 31 March 2013.As Director-Exploration at OVL, Responsibility of N.K. Verma is to look for development and implementation of exploration strategy and Business Development for past 15 months. Narendra Kumar Verma is an M.Sc in Geology and an M.Tech Gold Medalist in Petroleum Exploration. Narendra Kumar Verma will be the 11th Director (Exploration) in the world’s number 3 exploration and Production Company. He also holds an MBA (Finance) degree and has 30 years of experience in oil and gas industry. Prior to becoming Director (Exploration) in ONGC, Verma was Director (Exploration) in the firm’s overseas arm, ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL). He has published more than 20 technical papers and 40 technical reports.

American film critic Roger Ebert died after a long battle with cancer in Chicago on 4 April 2013. He was 70. He was found to be suffering from thyroid cancer in 2002, losing his jaw and his ability to speak in a subsequent surgery. But he later resumed writing full-time and also returned to TV, the BBC reported. Ebert, known for his thumbs-up or down reviews on a TV programme with partner and friend Gene Siskel, became a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1967 and later became the first person to win the Pulitzer Prize for criticism. His columns were syndicated in hundreds of newspapers worldwide. On 2 April, Ebert had written on his popular blog that he was facing a fresh bout with cancer and was taking a "leave of presence," writing fewer reviews. He had suffered a hip fracture in December, which he said "had recently been revealed to be a cancer."He wrote that the disease was being treated with radiation, which had also made it impossible for him to attend as many movies as he used to. 

Persons-2013 | Current affairs-2013

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December

Rangaswamy Srinivasan-An Indian-American Rangaswamy Srinivasan, a renowned inventor at IBM, has been nominated by the US President Barack Obama for the prestigious National Medal of Technology for Innovation. Along with Srinivasan, Obama named 12 eminent researchers as recipients of the National Medal of Science and 10 extraordinary inventors as recipients of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honors bestowed by the United States Government upon scientists, engineers, and inventors. The recipients will receive their awards at a White House ceremony in early 2013. In 1981, Srinivasan discovered that an ultraviolet excimer laser could etch living tissue in a precise manner with no thermal damage to the surrounding area. He named the phenomenon Ablative Photo-decomposition (APD). The award recognises those who have made lasting contributions to America's competitiveness and quality of life and helped strengthen the Nation's technological workforce.

Smitha Singh- The Obama administration has appointed Smita Singh as member of the president's Global Development Council. The Council will inform and provide advice to the President and other senior US officials on American global development policies and practices, support new and existing public-private partnerships, and increase awareness and action in support of development by soliciting public input on current and emerging issues in the field of global development.The Global Development Council was established in February through an executive order of the President.Along with Singh, Obama also announced names of eight other members of the Council.Singh was the Special Advisor for Global Affairs and the founding Director of the Global Development Program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, where she worked from 2001 to 2010.From 1998 to 2001, she was a scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. Previously, Singh consulted for the World Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission on Africa.

Justice Swatanter Kumar- has taken over as chairperson of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), to decide on cases relating to environmental protection, and conservation of forests and natural resources.Though Justice Kumar’s tenure as a Supreme Court judge is due to end next week, December 14 was his last working day and he assumed charge of the new office on December 20. He is the first Supreme Court judge to preside over the Tribunal which was, till now, functioning without a full-time chairperson.

Park Geun-Hye Elected As the First Woman President of South Korea
Park Geun-hye was elected as the president of South Korea on 19 December 2012, the first woman who acquired this post. Park Geun-hye is the daughter of longest ruling dictator of South Korea. After the counting of votes, it was declared by the National Election Commission that Park had enjoyed clear victory with 51.64 percent votes in comparison to 47.93 percent votes for Moon Jae-in, who is the former lawyer of human rights. Moon Jae-in was also imprisoned at some point of time for standing in opposition with the authoritarian rule of her father. Moon Jae-in accepted the defeat because clearly her lead was impossible. Election of Park Geun-hye, 60, is said to be the milestone for South Korean society which has remained mainly male-dominated. Dictator Park Chung-hee, the father of Park Geun-hye ruled the country from 1961 to 1979 and left behind political repression, something that is still dividing the country. While in office, Lee intensified several problems such as dwindling job opportunities, political corruption as well as increasing tensions with North Korea. While campaigning, Park had said that being a female would help her in a lot of ways. She never got married. Reputation of Park in South Korea is that of a steely as well as principled leader. Her role models are Queen Elizabeth and British PM Margaret Thatcher.

Virbhadra Singh sworn in for sixth time as CM
Veteran Congress politician Virbhadra Singh was sworn in as Himachal Pradesh’s Chief Minister for a record sixth term on 24 December along with nine cabinet colleagues. Governor Urmila Singh administered the oath of office to Virbhadra Singh, 78, who has been chief minister of the hill state for more than 16 years, at the historic Ridge. He is 13th Chief Minister of the state. The others who took oath were eight-time legislator Vidya Stokes, seven-time legislator Kaul Singh, G.S. Bali, Sujan Singh Pathania, Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Mukesh Aghnihotri, Sudhir Sharma, Parkash Chaudhary and Dhani Ran Shandil. Outgoing BJP chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and his erstwhile cabinet colleagues were conspicuously absent from the ceremony.

Biswal is new APPSC chief
The APPSC, which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, gets a new chief who is reputedly honest, hard working and simple. The State Government has appointed Chitta Ranjan Biswal, IAS (retired) as chairperson of Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) in place of Rachel Chatterjee, IAS. Orders were issued on 26 December which come into effect from December 29. Chatterjee will retire a day before that. Biswal retired as principal secretary of Panchayatraj on November 30. Belonging to 1981 IAS batch, he would assume charge on December 29, and will be in the officer for the next 23 months.

Kamal Nath appointed as the new ex-officio Member of Planning Commission
Prime Minister’s Office on 26 December 2012 re-constituted the Planning Commission and appointed the Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development Minister - Kamal Nath as its new ex-officio member, replacing Jairam Ramesh. The decision was taken with the view to lay down government emphasis on the Urban Development and schemes like MNREGA, already in existence for rural development. The other ex-officio members of the Commission are Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister M K Alagiri, Communications Minister Kapil Sibal, Law Minister.

Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) appointed S Raman as Whole Time Member
Indian Market Regulator SEBI on 28 December 2012 appointed S. Raman as Whole-time Member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Prior to this appointment, Raman, had served as Chairman and Managing Director of Canara Bank from September 2010 to September 2012 and had also served as Executive Director of Union Bank of India from October 2008 to August 2010. As per the Finance ministry Raman is going to hold the post of SEBI whole-time member for a period of five years from the day he assumes charge or up to 65 years of age or until further orders, whichever is earlier. With this appointment, SEBI has three wholetime members, including Prashant Saran and Rajeev Kumar Agarwal.

MS Sahoo appointed as Secretary of Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI)
MS Sahoo, the former member of SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) on 27 December 2012 had been appointed secretary of the Institute of Company Secretaries. The appointment of MS Sahoo is going to be effective from 1 January2013.

MS Sahoo had over three decades of rich work experience in self-employment, private sector, public sector, regulator and government in varied functional areas such as reforms, policy, regulations, research and analysis.

Before joining the ICSI, he was an eminent legal practitioner in the field of securities laws.

He was a Whole Time Member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) during 2008-11.

He served as the Joint Secretary (non-functional), Director and Joint Director in the Ministry of Finance, as the Chief General Manager with SEBI, and as Economic Adviser with National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE).

As an officer of Indian Economic Service (1985 batch), he served the Government of India for 22 years. He played a key role in designing of major reforms in securities market, including dematerialization of securities, trading of derivatives, corporatisation and demutualization of exchanges, building regulatory and market infrastructural institutions, enforcement process / actions. M S Sahoo was instrumental in development of human resource capacity in securities markets through various interventions such as NSE’s Certification in Financial Markets (NCFM), National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM) and a number of reputed publications. He has served / serves as a member on several expert committees / boards and professional groups.

Subhash Joshi-S.Joshi on 18 December 2012 appointed as the new chief of Border Security Force (BSF). Subhash Joshi is at present is the director general of National Security Guard and he is going to lead the 1.8 lakh strong border force BSF. The post of the chief of Indian Border Force had fallen vacant on 1 December 2012 due to retirement U K Bansal’s, the director general of the Border Security Force ( BSF).Subhash Joshi is a 1976 batch IPS officer from Uttrakhand cadre and is due to retire in February 2014.

Ajay Chandha- The special secretary (Internal Security) was appointed as director general of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). Ajay Chadha is a 1977 batch IPS officer of AGMU cadre and is going to have his tenure till August 2013.The post of director general of ITBP had fallen vacant after Ranjit Sinha was appointed as director of CBI.

Naina Lal Kidwai became the First Woman President of FICCI
Naina Lal Kidwai on 15 December 2012 took over as President of FICCI, becoming the first woman to head the leading industry body. Kidwai, is the first woman and professional manager to be elected as President of the chamber. She is 55 years old. Digjam Ltd,Sidharth Birla was elected as Senior Vice-President of FICCI. Kidwai succeeds R V Kanoria of Kanoria Chemicals & Industries Ltd. Chairman of Xpro India Ltd. Naina Lal Kidwai on 15 December 2012 took over as President of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry), becoming the first woman to head the leading industry body. Kidwai, is the first woman and professional manager to be elected as President of the chamber. She is 55 years old. Chairman of Digjam Ltd, Sidharth Birla was elected as Senior Vice-President of FICCI. Kidwai succeeded R V Kanoria of Kanoria Chemicals & Industries Ltd. Chairman of Xpro India Ltd. Naina Lal Kidwai is the Country head of HSBC India and Director of HSBC Asia Pacific.

Shinzo Abe-led LDP wins Japan general elections
Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party surged back to power in a major election victory on 16 December. Just three years after it was defeated in 2009, former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe-led LDP trounced PM Yoshihiko Noda's ruling Democratic Party of Japan and bagged 294 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament, according to a tally from public broadcaster NHK.
The election victory for LDP means that Shinzo Abe will return as Japanese PM and will be the seventh PM in six-and-a-half years.
LDP has ruled Japan for most of the post-World War II era till 2009, when Noda’s Democratic Party of Japan came to power. Abe’s win also spells a rightward shift in the government that further signifies a possible increase in tensions with China over the disputed islands in South China Sea.

Cyrus Pallonji Mistry Appointed as Chairman of Tata Sons
Cyrus Pallonji Mistry was appointed as the chairman of Tata Sons, the firm that holds more than 100 billion dollar Tata Group, on 18 December 2012. Cyrus Pallonji Mistry would take on the role of chairman of Tata Sons with effect from 28 December 2012, after Rata Tata retires as the current Chairman of the company. Ratan Tata who will also celebrate his 75th birthday on 28 December 2012 was conferred the honorary title of chairman emeritus. Tata Sons Board gave the title to Ratan Tata. Cyrus Pallonji Mistry, 43, is billionaire Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry’s son. Cyrus Mistry has already remained the director of Tata Sons since 2006. He was appointed as the deputy chairman of Tata Sons in November 2011. Pallonji Mistry, along with the sons, Cyrus Mistry and Shapoor Mistry are the owners of 18.5 percent stake in the company. This makes the Mistrys the largest shareholders on individual basis of this company. Earlier in December 2012, Cyrus Mistry was also appointed as chairman of Tata Motors. He would commence playing his role from 28 December 2012. He was also appointed as chairman of two other Tata companies- Tata Chemicals and Tata Steel. In November 2012, Ratan Tata also bowed out from Tata Global Beverages as the chairman, which paved way for Mistry.

Pandit Ravi Shankar(92)- Pandit Ravi Shankar had passed away on 11 December 2012 after heart-valve replacement surgery in California. Ravi Shankar is said to be a pioneer for introducing Indian music to Western world. The most well-known Sitar player of not just India, but the world, he is also said to be ambassador of the international music.He received the Padma Bhushan in 1967, Padma Vibhushan in 1981 and Bharat Ratna in 1999. He is also a three-time Grammy award winner. He bagged a nomination again for the 2013 Grammy Awards for his album “The Living Room Sessions Part-1?. Interestingly, he is pitted against his daughter Anoushka in the category. He shared an Oscar with George Fenton for the original musical score for the 1982 movie “Gandhi”. Shankar was an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and also a member of the United Nations International Rostrum of composers. He received the Music Council UNESCO award in the year 1975. Shankar won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the 1957 Berlin International Film Festival for composing the music for the movie “Kabuliwala”. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1962, and was named a Fellow of the academy for 1975. He received the Kalidas Samman from the government of Madhya Pradesh for 1987-88, the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 1991, the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1992, and the Polar Music Prize from Swedan in 1998.In 2001, Shankar was made Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his “services to music”.Shankar in 1997 received the Praemium Imperiale for music from the Japan Art Association.In 2010, Shankar received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Norman Woodland(91)-The inventor of bar code, which revolutionalised retail in 70s, died on 8 December 2012 at New Jersey. Woodland was the co-inventor of bar code; the zebra pattern which stores information about the products. He as well as his partner Bernard Silver (who died in 1963) patented this idea of bar code back in 1952 and also sold that to Philco, the electronics company for 15000 US dollar. For his invention, Woodland was also awarded National Medal of Technology in 1992.

Naina Lal Kidwai- Country Head-HSBC India and Director-HSBC Asia Pacific has taken over as the first woman president of the country’s leading chamber of commerce, Ficci, on 15 December. Kidwai is known for being the first woman CEO of a private sector bank India besides being the first Indian woman MBA to have passed out of Harvard Business School. At Ficci, she has, in the past, chaired several committees, including the Water Mission, the Finance Council, the Capital Markets Committee and Financial Inclusion Committee and has served on the Chamber’s national executive committee for several years. She is a member of the Government of India’s Industry Task Force, and the Working Group on Banking, Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission; and on the governing boards of the National Council of Applied Economic Research and the National Institute of Bank Management.

Bhanu Athaiya(85)- the first Indian to win an Oscar for costume design in the movie Gandhi decided to return her award to the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in December 2012. Bhanu Athaiya fears that she might lose her trophy as the government might not be able to protect it.Bhanu Athaiya blamed that the central government had neglected her work and contributions. She also blamed that there was no one or no museum that could protect these things. Athaiya had won the most prestigious Oscar award for costume design for classic film Gandhi in 1982. Athaiya had dressed Ben Kingsley in the film Gandhi.

Justice PN Bhagwati- A copy of memoirs of former Chief Justice of India PN Bhagwati titled ‘My Tryst with Justice’ was presented to the President, Pranab Mukherjee on 12 december, by Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir at a function held in Rashtrapati Bhavan. The President said Justice P.N. Bhagwati is much more than a great jurist, an extraordinary judge and an ambassador of human rights across the world. He is a humanist whose heart aches for marginalized and forgotten millions. The President said Justice Bhagwati is a pioneer of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in India, promoter of the right to legal aid and emissary of Lok Adalats. He converted the courtroom into a site of people’s struggle in humanizing law.

T.Shanmugam(93)-Olympian T Shanmugam, one of India's most illustrious footballers, passed away on 14 December, due to respiratory problem.Shanmugam had represented India in 1952 Olympics at Helsinki and was also a part of the team that won the Asian gold medal at New Delhi 1951.Legendary midfielder represented Maharaja Socials and Bangalore Student Football Club in the Bangalore Senior Division League but his big jump came when he joined the Sullivan Police Sports Club of the Bangalore Police Force in 1941.He was quite an extraordinary coach and was instrumental in Karnataka lifting Santosh trophy in 1983-84 season.He also coached the state team to success when it lifted the Santosh Trophy in 1968-69 along with Basheer as chief coach at Cuttack Nationals.Shanmugam was much in demand as a coach not only in Karnataka, but also in other states. He played for Karnataka in Santosh Trophy between 1944 and 1954.

Vinod Rai Re-Elected As Chairman of UN Panel of External Auditors
United Nations gave Vinod Rai, the comptroller and auditor general of India a second term as the designation of chairman of UN Panel of External Auditors for 2013. CAG of the UK, Amyas Morse was re-elected as the vice-chairman. Panel of the United Nations is the deciding body of the course as well as subject of audit of the different UN organisations which also include International Atomic Energy Agency. The UN Panel of External Auditors for 2013 includes apex auditors of various countries such as Switzerland, Tanzaniam, Canada, China, India, Italy, Philippines, UK, France and Pakistan as the members.

Uttarakhand’s First Chief Minister Nityanand Swami Passed Away
The first chief minister of Uttarakhand, Nityanand Swami, passed away on 12 December 2012. He was 85 years old and belonged to the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). Nityanand Swami, served the people throughout his life, focused on developmental issues and built a very good rapport with the people. Uttarakhand Government had declared three days' of state mourning as a mark of respect to the departed leader. Nityanand Swami was born on 27 December 1927 in Haryana. He was the first chief minister of the Uttarakhand and had served serving from 9 November 2000 to 29 October 2001 and then resigned willingly in favor of Bhagat Singh Koshiyari when asked by the BJP leadership.
Parthasarathy Shome- Government on 10 December, appointed tax expert Parthasarathy Shome as adviser to Finance Minister P Chidambaram with the rank of Minister of State. Shome was appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the Chairman of Committee on General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) in July.The committee submitted its draft report in September wherein it has suggested deferring implementation of GAAR by three years to April 2016. The committee also submitted its final report to the Finance Minister in October.Between October 2004 - January 2008, Shome acted as adviser to the then Union Finance Minister. He was also a member of the Prime Minister's Trade & Economic Relations Committee. As co-convener, Shome submitted the first report on Goods and Services Tax (GST) to the Empowered Committee of state FMs and Union Finance Minister in December 2007. Shome, who has authored several books on tax policies, was a Professor with the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).He has earlier worked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and also advised the World Bank and the United Nations in various projects.

DevendraLal(83)-Noted geophysicist and Visiting Professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography [SIO] in California, USA, Devendra Lal, has died on 6 December. He contributed much to the earth and planetary nuclear physics during his 40-years of career at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego .Starting his research career at the age of 20 at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research at Mumbai, the primary thrust of his work was in the field of cosmic ray physics, earth and planetary sciences and astrophysics. He was particularly interested in studying records of climate found in terrestrial minerals, and chemical history of ocean waters based on marine biogenic minerals. His contributions included the setting up a national radiocarbon laboratory at TIFR to facilitate chronological studies of Indian archaeological sites going back to the Harappan era. He had also set up a Tritium Laboratory at TIFR which was later shifted to the National Geophysical Research Institute at Hyderabad. He won the CSIR’s prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award in 1967 and was conferred Padma Shri in 1971. He was the recipient of NASA Group Achievement Award , and Hans Peterson Medal from Royal Swedish Academy. He was Director of the Physical Research Laboratory from 1972 to 1983.

Oldest Person of the World, Besse Cooper Died At 116
Besse Cooper, the woman listed as the oldest person of the world died on 4 December 2012 in Georgia nursing home at 116 years of age. Besse Cooper had died peacefully in Monroe. Besse was recently taken ill with the stomach virus. Besse Cooper was declared as the oldest person of the world in January 2011 by the Guinness World Records. She was also the first Georgian who had world record with her. The birth place of Besse was Tennessee and she had moved during the First World War to Georgia. Guinness World Records declared that as of now, merely 8 people have reached the age of 116. Besse Cooper held this title of oldest person of the world since 2011. She explained her secret of living for such a long time, to Guinness World Records. She explained that she didn’t eat junk food.

Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi on the List of Top 20 Most Powerful People of the World
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have been named in the list of top 20 most powerful people in the world by the Forbes Magazine in annual power rankings which were declared on 5 December 2012. Enjoying the first position for the second year consecutively is the US President Barrack Obama. Prime Minister Manmohan Sign was ranked at number 19. Sonia Gandhi dropped from the rankings of 2011 to number 12 in 2012. Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, the richest business tycoon of India as well as Arcelor Mittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal also appeared in this list. Ambani is ranked at number 37 and he outranked Mittal by various positions. Forbes Magazine also noted that Rahul Gandhi was next to reign the most popular political dynasty of India. The magazine also described Ambani’s Reliance Industries as the most valued company of India and Mukesh Ambani’s home called Antilia was described as the most expensive private residence of the world. Antilia is the 27-storeyed 400000 sqft private residence of Ambani in Mumbai.

S.A. Ibrahim's Appointment as Director for Intelligence Bureau Approved
The Competent Authority on 3 December 2012 approved appointment of S. A. Ibrahim the IPS (MP-77) as officer on Special Duty in the Intelligence Bureau and also as the Director for Intelligence Bureau for a next two years from the date he acquires his charge or till the next order that is is further sent. His tenure to the post of Officer on Special Duty in the Intelligence Bureau started from 1 December 2012. At Present S.A. Ibrahim is serving as Special Director, Intelligence Bureau and will be taking over the charge of Director, Intelligence Bureau after vice Nehchal Sandhu will retire from his office on 31 December 2012.

Ranjit Sinha(59)-An IPS officer of 1974-batch Bihar cadre on 3 December 2012 acquired the office as new CBI director. Ranjit Sinha, who was holding the designation of director general Indo-Tibetan Border Police, succeeded A.P. Singh who retired from the CBI office on 30 November 2012. Sinha will have two-year duration as the CBI director. He had served in CBI agency initially as the DIG and joint director as well.