March 2019 Current Affairs - Appointments

Appointments

◾A.K. Mohanty appointed as Director in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).

◾Acuite Ratings and Research appointed S S Mundra (former deputy RBI governor) as its non-executive chairman.

◾Aditya Kumar Misra has been appointed as new Chairman of the Agricultural Scientific Recruitment Board (ASRB).

◾Ajit Singh (Former Chief Justice of Gauhati HC) has been appointed as first Lokayukta of Odisha.

◾Axis Bank appointed Rakesh Makhija as its non-executive chairman for 3 years, to replace Sanjiv Misra, whose term expires on July 17.

◾Azali Assoumani is re-elected as President of Comoros (island country in Indian Ocean).

◾Bhagwan Lal Sahni appointed as Chairman of National Commission for Backward Classes.

◾C Lalsawta appointed as first Chairman of newly-constituted Lokayukta in Mizoram.

◾Former Indian cricketer Anil Kumble has been reappointed as Chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee for 3rd consecutive term.

◾Former SC judge Pinaki Chandra Ghose has been appointed first Lokpal of India (anti-corruption watchdog). President also appointed 4 Judicial Members (Dilip B. Bhosale, Pradip Kumar Mohanty, Abhilasha Kumari, Ajay Kumar Tripathi) and 4 non Judicial Members (Kumar Jain, Archana Ramasundaram, Mahender Singh and Indrajeet Prasad Gautam).

◾Government Appointed P V Ramesh as director-general of National Archives of India.

◾Government appointed Karambir Singh as next Indian Navy Chief, replacing Sunil Lanba. Karambir Singh is presently Flag Officer Commander-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) Eastern Naval Command.

◾Government appointed Subhash Chandra Garg as Finance Secretary, replacing Ajay Narayan Jha who retired recently. Conventionally, senior-most among 5 secretaries in Finance Ministry is designated as Finance Secretary.

◾Indian Scientist Soumya Swaminathan has been named Chief Scientist at WHO (World Health Organization).

◾Indian-American Padma Lakshmi appointed by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as its Goodwill Ambassador, supporting agency’s fight against inequality and discrimination around the world.

◾Indian-origin Jagmeet Singh became first non-white leader of a major opposition party in Canada, as he made his debut in House of Commons. Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, was elected in federal by-elections held in February 2019.

◾Jagdish Mukhi has been appointed as Governor of Mizoram, after Kummanam Rajasekharan Resigned from post.

◾Kaja Kallas, leader of the Reform Party has been appointed as first female Prime Minister of Estonia (Northern Europe).

◾Krishna Kumari Kohli appointed as first female senator of Pakistan from Hindu Dalit community. She is also the first Thari Hindu woman to be elected to the Pakistan senate.

◾M R Kumar has been appointed as new Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

◾MA Hampiholi has been appointed as Director General Naval Operations in Indian Navy.

◾Macky Sall re-elected as President of Senegal (West Africa).

◾Misc. Appointments (Mar 2019) –

◾Ajay Narayan Jha joined Fifteenth Finance Commission as a Member. 15th Finance Commission was constituted in November 2017 under Chairmanship of N. K. Singh to decide formula for devolution of revenue between Centre and States, for 5 years (April, 2020 to March, 2025.

◾Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah has been re-elected as president of Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) for eighth term. Randhir Singh appointed as chairman of Coordination Committee of 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games by General Assembly of Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

◾Hasmukh Adhia appointed as non-executive chairman of Bank of Baroda.

◾Indian American Medha Narvekar appointed as Vice President and Secretary of University of Pennsylvania in USA.

◾Railways appointed S.S.Srinivas as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) for newly formed South Coast Railway Zone at Visakhapatnam.

◾Citibank named Ashu Khullar as Chief of Its India Operaions.

◾President approved appointment of Hasmukh Adhia as chancellor of Gujarat Central University.

◾Jammu and Kashmir administration approved appointment of E Sreedharan (Known as Metro Man) as principal advisor to two mass rapid transit systems to be built in Jammu and Srinagar.

◾Election Commission of India made several appointments in states, to overlook lawfulness during upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2019 –

◾Shailendra Handa as special expenditure observer in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

◾Special Observers will be monitoring work being done by electoral machinery and ensure that stringent action is undertaken based on intelligence inputs and complaints received through C-VIGIL and Voter Helpline 1950 against all entities trying to induce voters by distributing cash, liquor & freebies etc.

◾Madhu Mahajan as special expenditure observer in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

◾K K Sharma as Special Central Police Observer for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

◾Vivek Dube appointed as Central Police Observer for West Bengal and Jharkhand.

◾Mrinal Kanti Das as Special Central Police Observer for Tripura and Mizoram.

◾Gopal Mukherjee as Special Expenditure Observer for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

◾D.D.Goel as Special Expenditure Observer for Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

◾Paralympic high jump Silver Medalist Girish Gowda is appointed as ambassador for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 in Karnataka.

◾Transgender social activist Gauri Sawant appointed as one of 12 election ambassadors from Maharashtra. She is the first transgender election ambassador.

 

◾KVS Manian and Gaurang Shah appointed as Kotak Mahindra Bank’s whole-time directors.

◾Indian fashion designer Ritu Beri has been appointed as Cultural and Tourism Ambassador of Uzbekistan in India.

◾K.M. Mammen elected as chairman of Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA).

◾Payments platform PhonePe appointed Bollywood Actor Aamir Khan as its brand Ambassador.

◾Tata Group Firm Tata Coffee appointed Chacko Purackal Thomas as MD and CEO.

◾Karur Vysya Bank appointed N S Srinath as Non-Executive Independent Chairman for 3 years.

Defence Appointments –

◾Navkaranjit Singh Dhillon appointed as new commander-in-chief of Strategic Forces Command.

◾Rajesh Pendharkar as Flag Officer Commanding Maharashtra Naval Area.

◾Radm Mahesh as Flag Officer Commanding Karnataka Area.

◾Suraj Berry as Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet.

◾Sanjay Jasjit Singh appointed as chief of Western Fleet of Indian Navy, the Sword Arm. Also, Krishna Swaminathan appointed as Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) in Indian Navy.

◾R Nambiar appointed as chief of Western Air Command, while RD Mathur took charge of Eastern Air Command.

◾New Indian Envoys Appointments –

◾Abhay Thakur - Benin (West Africa).

◾Pranay Kumar Verma - Vietnam.

◾Ausaf Sayeed - Saudi Arabia.

◾Manpreet Vohra - Mexico.

◾B. S. Mubarak - El Salvador.

◾Kishan Dan Dewal - Armenia.

◾Shambhu S Kumaran - Kingdom of Morocco.

◾Anurag Bhushan - Malawi.

◾Ms. Padmaja - Fiji.

◾Santosh Jha - Uzbekistan.

◾Supreme Court-appointed BCCI Ombudsman Justice D K Jain (retd) will now also serve as Ethics Officer of BCCI.

◾K. Govindaraj re-elected as president of Basketball Federation of India (BFI).

◾Kenichi Ayukawa appointed as MD and CEO of Maruti Suzuki for his 3rd 3-year term.

◾Vijay Chandok has been appointed as MD and CEO of ICICI Securities.

◾Mohammad Shtayyeh has been named as new Palestinian Prime Minister, by President of Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas.

◾P K Bezbaruah has been reappointed as Chairman of Tea Board for 2nd tenure. He is first non-IAS chairman of the Tea Board.

◾P K Mishra is appointed as acting Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh HC, after previous Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh High Court A K Tripathi joined as as a Member of Newly Formed Lokpal.

◾Pramod Sawant has been appointed as 13th Chief Minister of Goa, succeeding Manohar Parrikar, who passed away recently. Also, Vijai Sardesai and Manohar Ajgaonkar are appointed as Deputy Chief Ministers of Goa. Sudin Dhavalikar was also appointed Deputy CM earlier, but later removed from the post.

◾President Ram Nath Kovind nominated Justice SA Bobde as Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), to replace AK Sikri who will retire on 6th.

◾Rakesh Kumar Vats appointed as Secretary-General of Medical Council of India.

◾Sanjeev Ranjan has been appointed as as secretary in Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).

◾Supreme Court appointed PS Narasimha as a mediator for resolving various disputes related to cricket administration within Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

◾Veselin Matic (Serbia) has been appointed as national men’s basketball team coach by Basketball Federation of India.

◾Zuzana Caputova became First female to be appointed as president of Slovakia (Central Europe), after she won elections for the same.