Appointments - Current Affairs for January, 2017

Patnaik, who is from the AGMUT cadre, got the prestigious G-Files Excellent Contribution Award in 2015 for his outstanding track record.

A police medal for meritorious service also goes to his list of accomplishments.

Superseding two seniors, Amulya Kumar Patnaik, the 1985-batch IPS officer, was appointed the next Delhi Police Commissioner on 30th Jan 2017.

Having become the police chief at a relatively younger age of 57, Mr. Patnaik will have one of the longest tenures till January 2020 when he is scheduled to retire.

He replaces Alok Kumar Verma, who was appointed as the CBI Director.

He edged out Deepak Mishra and Dharmendra Kumar, both of whom are 1984 batch officers.

Currently Special Commissioner of Police (Administration),Mr. Patnaik has handled several critical assignments in the Delhi Police.

The chief among which was heading the Crime Branch and the Southern Range as Joint Commissioner.

Known to be adept in handling both law and order and investigation, he solved an abduction case in Sarita Vihar in a record 12 hours.

He also led the police action during the anti-Dunkel protest in 1994 in which he received serious injuries.

In 1995, Patnaik took the initiative to launch ‘Pratidhi’, a Delhi Police programme to extend counselling and other assistance to victims of traumatic crimes.

Mr. Patnaik is also credited with steps like launching the Anti-Obscene Call Cell and the Anti-Stalking Cell.

Supreme Court on Monday appointed a four-member panel of administrators led by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai. This includes the legendary women test cricket player, Diana Edulji.

SC also appointed noted historian Ramchandra Guha and IDFC Ltd MD and CEO Vikram Limaye, who is expected to provide the committee with expertise in financial matters.

They will function as the new interim bosses of the BCCI. They will also run the day-to-day administration of BCCI till the Lodha reforms are fully implemented. This is until elections are held.

The BCCI CEO was in the driver's seat since the Supreme Court ousted former BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke in a January 2 order for stalling Lodha reforms.

He was ordered to submit a report to the new Committee detailing the level of compliance achieved by the BCCI and its members in adopting the Lodha recommendations upheld by the apex court on July 18, 2016.

The Lodha Committee secretary and advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan was asked to give the BCCI CEO a check-list of 16 timelines the Lodha panel had prepared for the BCCI and State associations to implement the reforms within the cricket body.

The CEO would consider the timelines to prepare his compliance report.

The Bench advised the BCCI to come up with a proposition of a respectable amount for the Supreme Court to consider as payment to the new administrators for services they would render.

Meanwhile, the Bench appointed Amitabh Choudhary and Anirudh Choudhary - both BCCI nominees - and Mr. Limaye to represent BCCI in the crucial ICC meet.

Nalanda University’s third chancellor will be Vijay Bhatkar, a well-known computer scientist.

He president of RSS-affiliated outfit Vijnana Bharati, which promotes ‘swadeshi’ science.

He was formerly chair of IIT Delhi’s board of governors.

The university’s newly-constituted governing board recommended Bhatkar’s name to the Visitor, President Pranab Mukherjee, who then approved the appointment on Friday, January 27.

Bhatkar’s appointment was confirmed after George Yeo, former Singapore foreign minister, resigned from the post in protest.

He said Indian government had not consulted him before making a series of decisions, including deciding:

• Not to extend the term of the Nalanda Mentors Group-Governing Board,
• Ending interim vice-chancellor Gopa Sabharwal’s extended term and
• Determining the constitution of the new governing board.

Yeo had succeeded Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, after the latter withdrew himself from consideration for a second term, accusing the government of intervening in the university’s affairs.

Bhatkar led India’s supercomputing initiative by setting up the Center for Development of Advanced Computing in Pune in 1987, which is responsible for creating Param 8000 and Param 10000, India’s first supercomputers.

Bhatkar received a Padmashri in 2000 and a Padma Bhushan in 2015.

Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya, ICCR president Lokesh Chandra and Arvind Sharma of McGill University are the new members of the board.

China and Thailand have re-nominated their members, while Laos and Australia are yet to confirm the names of their representatives.

N.K. Singh, former revenue secretary and Rajya Sabha member, was the only Indian nominee left out from the previous mentors’ group.

As per the statutes, the governing body has to recommend at least three names for appointment as vice-chancellor to the president.

About Nalanda University

• Nalanda University in Rajgir, Bihar, is a cluster of multi-disciplinary schools.
• Currently, the School of Historical Studies, School of Ecology and Environment Studies, and the School of Buddhist studies, Philosophy and Comparative Religion have admitted students.
• Five more schools in linguistics, international relations, information science and technology, economics and management, and public health are also planned.
• India had proposed the revival of Nalanda University at the East Asia Summit in 2007. This is showcasing the project to evoke India’s cultural linkages with the South East Asia and beyond.

After the resignation of V Shanmuganathan as Governor of Meghalaya and AP, current Assam governor Banwarilal Purohit has been given additional charge of Meghalaya.

Purohit was elected in the Maharashtra Assembly as a member of Congress in 1979 and 1980. After this, the party sent him to the Lok Sabha.

In 1984, he was elected to the 8th Lok Sabha as Congress MP.

He was re-elected in 1989 on the same ticket.

He was expelled from the Congress after he took part in Kar Seva in Ayodhya.

He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1991 after the party launched its movement to build a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, and contested Lok Sabha elections in 1991 as the party’s candidate.

The current governor is also the ME of The Hitavada, an English daily founded by Gopal Krishna Gokhale in 1911.

He is a known name in the Marwari community in Vidarbha.

He also heads the Shri Ramdeobaba Sarvajanik Samiti which takes care of various social, religious and educational programmes.

Meghalaya Government: Know More

• Governor: Banwarilal Purohit
• Chief Minister: Mukul Sangma (INC)
• Legislature: Unicameral (60 seats)
• Parliamentary constituency: Rajya Sabha (1), Lok Sabha (2)
• High Court: Meghalaya High Court

Siddhartha Murarka has been appointed as the Chairman of the Eastern India Regional Council of The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).

His term began from January 19,

A fellow member of the ICSI, he was the head of risk management and compliance at a member firm of the PwC before starting his own practice.

Murarka is also a “regular faculty”at ICAI and other professional bodies and chambers of commerce like the Merchant Chamber of Commerce and the BCCI.

Currently, the president of the Eastern Council of ICSI is Mamta Binani.

Know More About Mamta Binani

• Mamta Binani has been elected President of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) since 2016.
• She took charge on January 19, 2016.
• Binani has been an empanelled trainer with ICICI Bank, and also with the mutual fund industry.
• She has been the Chairperson of the Eastern India Regional Council of The Institute of Company Secretaries of India in 2010.
• Binani was also the first CS to be conferred the 'Bharat Nirman Awards' in 2010.

All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel was on 21^st Jan 2017 appointed member of FIFA finance committee.

He was appointed for a four-year term.

The FIFA finance committee monitors the financial management. It also advises the FIFA executive committee on financial matters and asset management.

It analyses the FIFA budgets and the financial statements prepared by the FIFA general secretary.

It then submits them to the FIFA executive committee for approval.

3 member collegium led by PM Narendra Modi and CJI J. S. Khehar appointed Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Verma as the next director of the CBI.

The third member in the panel, Congress leader Mallikaarjuna Kharge opposed the appointment.

The 1979 batch IPS officer from Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre has been appointed CBI Director for a period of two years following appointment by ACC

Verma took charge of Delhi Police chief post in February 2016. Anil Sinha was the previous CBI director.

1984 batch IPS officer from Gujarat cadre was presently looking after CBI work as interim director.

Kharge reportedly gave his dissent note of selecting Alok Verma for the CBI Director citing that he

59 year old Verma, who was due to retire from service in July this year. He will now have a fixed tenure of two years as CBI Director.

He had worked in various positions in Delhi Police. He also held posts in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Mizoram and in the Intelligence Bureau.

He took charge of Delhi Police from B S Bassi last year, after relinquishing the charge of DG of Tihar Jail.

Verma is the 27th Director of CBI.

The other strong contender IPS officers were:

• MHA special secretary Rupak Kumar Dutta,
• Maharashtra Director General of Police Satish Mathur and
• ITBP Director General Krishna Chaudhary.

Baidu, leading Chinese ISP major announced the appointment of Dr. Qi Lu as the Baidu Group president and COO.

The appointment is with immediate effect. Lu is in charge of products, technology, sales and marketing operations.

Prior to this, he was Microsoft Global Executive Vice President. Lu hasalso led one of three Microsoft business units.

With leadership and management experience, Lu is a leading authority in the area of artificial intelligence.

Lu received bachelor and master degrees in computer science from Fudan University in Shanghai.

He holds a PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University.

He owns over 40 US patents and has authored many papers in his field.

Lu joined Yahoo! in 1998 and later became Senior Vice President in charge of search and advertising technologies.

He then became Executive Vice President in 2007.

In 2009 he joined Microsoft as President of its Online Services Group.

In 2013, Lu was appointed as Microsoft's Global Executive Vice President.

Baidu is a leading ISP provider in China.

Baidu: Know More

• CEO: Robin Li (since Jan 2004)
• Revenue: 66.38 billion CNY
• Headquarters: Beijing, China
• Founders: Robin Li, Eric Xu

A new governor of Tibet was appointed by the Chinese government. Tibet is one of the most politically sensitive regions of PrC.

35 year veteran of the Communist Party, Qi Zhala has been appointed as the new Tibet Governor, in place of Luosang Jiangcun who was named secretary of the region's National People's Congress.

Zhala hs also served as the region's Community Party vice secretary and party boss of regional capital Lhasa.

Understanding the remote region of Tibet is difficult for China. Violent unrest in protest against Chinese rule commenced when Chinese troops marched to Tibet in the 1950s.

China has indicated the rule has brought prosperity and rejected charges of widespread repression from Tibetan exiles and rights groups.

Zhala is of Tibetan ethnicity and from the neighbouring province of Yunnan. He was holding official posts in the province before being transferred to Tibet in 2010.

He is currently the second most powerful leader in the region after the regional Communist party head.

Know More About Tibet:

• Tibet is an autonomous region of China.
• It's nicknamed the “Roof of the World” for its high peaks.
• It shares Mt. Everest with Nepal.
• Its capital, Lhasa, is site of hilltop Potala Palace, once the Dalai Lama’s winter home.
• Jokhang Temple, Tibet’s spiritual symbol,is revered for its golden statue of Buddha.
• Currency: Renminbi
• Capital: Lhasa

Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton will resign from his post to become chairman of the board of messaging app owner Snap Inc.

This puts the Hollywood exec in a prominent role. Technology major Snap Inc is preparing for an IPO.

Japanese major Sony said Lynton gave up the post on Feb 2, 2017 but remained as Co-CEO to help find a successor.

Snap, the owner of the popular app Snapchat is to go public this year, vying for USD 25 billion valuation.

Lynton was an early investor on this company. Its CEO Evan Spiegel founded this company. Lynton served on its board for 4 years.

Venice, CA based Snap Inc has made the move towards news and entertainment content highlighting competition with social networks like Twitter and FB.

It also shares videos from TV networks through a feature called Snapchat Discover.

Snapchat has also seen deals with media companies such as NBC Universal and Walt Disney

Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai will take over the larger role at the Sony division, adding the position of Co-CEO and Chairman of the unit.

Snap Inc: Know More

• Previously called: Snapchat Inc. (2011-2016)
• Type: Private
• Industry: Technology & Social media
• Founded: September 16, 2011
• Founders: Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy
• Headquarters: Venice, Los Angeles, California, United States
• CEO: Evan Spiegel
• CTO: Bobby Murphy
• CFO/Vice President of Finance: Drew Vollero
• CSO: Imran T. Khan

TCS MD and CEO, N Chandrasekaran has been appointed Chairman of TATA Sons. He is expected to take charge on Feb 21, 2017.

Popularly called “Chandra” the 54-year-old was chosen to step in as the new chairman after the removal of Cyrus Mistry. He will replace interim chairman Ratan Tata.

This is as per the recommendation of the Selection Committee.

He will now step down from his position in TCS which will be taken over by Rajesh Gopinathan, currently the company’s CFO,

Meanwhile, a battle is on at the National Company Law Tribunal with Mistry, who has challenged his ouster.

About Chandrasekaran's Career Milestones

Mr. Chandrasekaran was the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services since 2009.

A Tata employee for life, he had joined the company in 1987.

He was appointed as a Director on the board of Tata Sons on October 25, 2016.

He is the third non Tata to be chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Group .

Chandrasekaran is an avid photographer and a passionate long-distance runner and completed several marathons around the world.

Know More About TCS

• Industry: IT services, IT consulting
• Founded: 1968
• Founder: J.R.D. Tata, F.C. Kohli
• Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• Chairman: Ishaat Hussain
• CEO and MD: Rajesh Gopinathan

Former Tiger Global executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy has been named the new CEO of Flipkart following managerial restructuring.

Binny Bansal has been moved to the newly created position of Group CEO. Krishnamurthy joined Flipkart in June 2016 as head of commerce unit.

Tiger Global is the largest shareholder and investor in the Bengaluru based company. Binny Bansal took over as CEO previously from co-founder Sachin Bansal who was named executive chairman for the group.

The newly formed organisation will focus on creating future value through a portfolio of new, high growth businesses, managing capital allocation across group companies.

Krishnamurthy will report to Binny Nansal along with Myntra Jabong CEO Ananth Narayanan, while Nithin Seth will be COO for Flipkart. Current Ekart CEO Saikiran Krishnamurthy will move to a new role.

Know More About Flipkart

• Type of site: E-commerce
• Founded: 2007
• Headquarters: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
• Area served: India
• Founder: Sachin Bansal, Binny Bansal
• Key people: Sachin Bansal (Chairman), Kalyan Krishnamurthy (CEO)
• Industry: Internet
• Services: Online shopping
• Employees: 35,000 (2015)
• Subsidiaries: Myntra, Jabong.com, PhonePe
• Website: www.flipkart.com

At Indoor Stadium, many gathered for the induction of J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti's brother Mufti Tassaduq Hussain into PDP on 7th Jan 2016, the first death anniversary of their father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

Before the event, Hussain visited Sayeed's grave in Bijbehara. The Bengaluru-based cinematographer formally join the party. Tassaduq is likely to contest the bypoll for the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency that fell vacant after Mehbooba took over as CM last year.

Tassaduq has worked on hit films like 'Omkara' and 'Kaminey'. PDP youth chief Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra said Tassaduq's plunge into politics would attract more youths into the political mainstream.

Know More About PDP

• Leader/Chairperson: Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed
• Headquarters: 2, Circuit House, Emporium Lane, Residency Road, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
• Founder: Mufti Mohammad Sayeed
• Founded: 1999
• Ideology: Self-rule in Jammu and Kashmir
• Alliance: National Democratic Alliance (2015-present), United Progressive Alliance (2002-2008)

General Raheel Sharif, the former Pakistani army chief, will now head the Saudi Arabia-led 39-nation military coalition formed to serve as a platform for security cooperation and combat terrorism, the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism.

The decision to appoint Gen (retd) Raheel, who retired in November 2016, was taken after taking the incumbent government into confidence and both the governments and army were on board regarding the decision to let Raheel take charge of the alliance.

Raheel retired as the army chief in November and has been succeeded by General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

According to Saudi Arabia, the alliance is formed to fight ISIS and other militant outfits. At the time of its constitution, there were 34 countries in the alliance which has raised to 39.

The countries include Turkey, UAE, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Sudan, Malaysia, Egypt, Yemen and others. The Joint Command Centre, headquarters of the military alliance, is based in Riyadh.

Islamabad was also part of the new alliance to combat militancy.

Iran was not included in the grouping which appeared as a vague attempt to forge a Sunni Muslim alliance against Shiite Iran to curtail its influence in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and rest of the Middle East.

The Saudi-led coalition is also engaged in a military operation in Yemen since March 2015 when Houthis drove out the government led by President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is believed to be in exile in Saudi Arabia.

US President elect Donald Trump has appointed an expert on strategic communications and political research, Raj Shah as his deputy assistant and research director on the White House staff.

Trump has also announced on 4th Jan 2016 that Shah would also hold the post of deputy communications director. Shah aided Trump's campaign by highlighting contradictions in Clinton's political positions and issues like her handling of the private email server.

Republican National Committee has credited him with developing the organisation's opposition research book on Hillary Clinton.

Reince Priebus has been announced as Trump's chief of staff.

Know More About Raj Shah

• Research director and deputy communications director at the Republican National Committee.
• Shah is also MD of America Rising.
• His area of specialisation is opposition research.
• He worked as a research assistant during George W.Bush's presidency.
• He also worked in John McCain's 2008 unsuccessful presidential campaign against Barack Obama.

Tata Power has said that S Padmanabhan has been nominated as chairman of the board of directors of the company. S Padmanabhan, additional director on the company’s board, has been nominated as Chairman of the board of directors of the company effective January 4, 2017, Tata Power said in a BSE filing.

In December 2016, Mr. Padmanabhan was appointed the Additional Director.

Previously, he was the Executive Chairman, Tata Business Excellence Group (TBExG), and was recently given the additional responsibility as Head of Group HR for Tata Sons.

Mr. Padmanabhan has been associated with the Tata group for over 34 years.

The nomination comes against the backdrop of Cyrus Mistry’s resignation as director of the company in December.

TATA Power: Know More

• CEO: Anil Kumar Sardana (since Feb 1, 2011)
• Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Revenue: 330.3 billion INR (2013, US$4.9 billion)
• Parent organization: Tata Group

Reserve Bank of India has appointed Smt. Surekha Marandi as the ED in place of US Paliway who retired on Dec 31, the bank announced on 3rd Jan 2016.

RBI handed over charge to Marandi who assumed office on 2nd Jan 2016. She will look afterConsumer Education and Protection Department, Financial Inclusion and Development Department, and Secretary's Department, as per an RBI release.

Previous posts held by Marandi include serving on Boards of United Bank and Bank of Baroda.

Prior to being promoted as ED, Marandi was Principal Chief General Manager and Chief Vigilance Officer in the Reserve Bank.

She has, over a span of three decades, served in regulatory and supervisory, financial inclusion and development and human resource management areas in the Reserve Bank.

Know More About Surekha Marandi

• Surekha Marandi started her career with the RBI in May 1983 and has over 30 years of banking experience.
• She has been working for various offices at the RBI, including departments of supervision, management services, information technology, human resources management, rural planning and credit.
• Along with holding many positions in various capacities such as Banking Ombudsman, Maharashtra and Goa, she has been associated with various committees.
• These are including committees on customer service, financial inclusion and education, financial stability and financial sector planning for the state of Chhattisgarh.
• She has been a Non Executive Director of Bank of Baroda since June 10, 2014.
• She served as a Nominee Director of United Bank of India from July 30, 2010 to March 13, 2014.

Marandi holds a Master's Degree in Arts from the Jadavpur University in Kolkata, West Bengal. She has trained at several foreign universities as well.

President Pranab Mukherjee on Jan 2nd 2016 appointed Professor David R. Syiemlieh as the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

Syiemlieh is from Meghalaya and was a UPSC member. The 63-year-old Syiemlieh will assume charge on January 4 and retire on January 21, 2018.

As per reports, Syiemlieh was functioning as a UPSC member from June 25, 2012.

Syiemlieh follows Alka Sirohi, a retired IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre.

63-year-old is the second person from Meghalaya to be appointed to the coveted post.

Rose Bathew Kharbuli from Meghalaya was the first woman chairperson of the Commission in the 1980s.

Prof. David Syiemlieh, was also was Pro-Vice-Chancellor, North-Eastern Hill University and Vice-Chancellor of the Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar.

He is a graduate from Edmund's College in Shillong and a PHD from NEHU. He is currently the vice chancellor of NEHU and Rajiv Gandhi University at Doimukh in AP.

He received the Charles Wallace Grant for research in UK. He is also a Fullbright senior fellow and an author of several books.

Preeti Sudan, an IAS officer of AP cadre 1983, has been appointed Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

This follows the superannuation of IAS officer Ms. Vrinda Sarup.

Ms. Sudan had also served in various capacities in Union Ministries and Departments including WCD and MoD

In a career spanning 33 years, she has served in the Revenue Department, Disaster Management Department, Health and Family Welfare, Finance, Seeds/Agriculture Corporation.

Ms. Sudan is proficient in Hindi, English, Punjabi and Telugu.

Meanwhile, Shri Anoop Srivastava, a 1981 batch AS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre has taken over as Secretary in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

He was appointed OSD on Nov 2016 in the same ministry servinf in various other capacities as Secretary in the Departments of Official Language, Border Management, Ministry of Home Affairs, Additional Secretary and Special Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Joint Secretary in Ministries of Home Affairs and Finance.

In the States of Assam and Meghalaya, he served in various departments such as Agriculture, Health & Family Welfare, Public Health Engineering, Transport, Tourism, Power, Information Technology, Social Welfare, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary and Cooperation.
He also served as Chief Electoral Officer of Meghalaya. Shri Srivastava has also served in two State PSUs. He also won the Web Ratna award 2009 in platinum icon category of National Portal Coordinator.