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PERSONS IN NEWS - November 2018

Nov 2018

Sep 28, 2020

Alapan Bandyopadhyay New West Bengal's Chief Secretary

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appointed Alapan Bandyopadhyay as the new chief secretary of the state, replacing Rajiva Sinha who has been shifted to West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation.
Apart from this, Banerjee also announced a couple of other changes at the bureaucratic level in the state. The changes include the appointment of HK Dwivedi as new Home Secretary and Manoj Pant was given charge of Finance.

Sep 27, 2020

Jaswant Singh, Former External Affairs Minister, Passes Away

Jaswant Singh, former leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and External Affairs Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, passed away . He was 82.
Singh was one of its early founding members of the BJP after serving in the Indian Army. In 2014, he had a bitter falling out with his party when he was denied a Lok Sabha ticket of his choice from Barmer in Rajasthan.
Singh held several high-profile portfolios like external affairs, defence surface transport, over the years.. He often acted as Vajpayee's globetrotting trouble-shooter. Within the BJP, he was considered a gentleman politician but also known for his heated debates in Parliament.
He contested the 2014 general election, which was his last as an independent, but lost.
Singh has authored six books including "Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence" and "Defending India".

Economist Isher Judge Ahluwalia Passes Away

Economist Isher Judge Ahluwalia passed away at New her Delhi residence after a long battle with high-grade cancer for months. She was 74.
The wife of India's leading economic policy driver, and former deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Isher Judge carved her niche in the sector serving as the head of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Affairs for 15 years.
Isher Judge stepped down as the chairperson of ICRIER on August 10, 2020, on account of her poor health. She was elected as the Chairperson of the Council at the Annual General Meeting held on August 8, 2005.
Isher—as she affectionately known to her friends and colleagues— however, continued as the Chairperson Emeritus of the Council. The position was created to honour her exceptional contributions to ICRIER.
Isher Judge is known to have curated and chaired the ICRIER-India Habitat Centre 'Conversations on Urbanisation' that became very successful and widely appreciated.
She was awarded the Padma Bhushan by President of India in 2009 for her services in the field of education and literature.

Sep 26, 2020

SP Balasubrahmanyam Passes Away

Renowned Indian singer SP Balasubrahmanyam has died after contracting Covid-19.
Balasubrahmanyam, 74, died after spending days in intensive care in a hospital in the southern city of Chennai.
SPB, as he was popularly known, sang more than 40,000 songs for movies in 16 Indian languages over 50 years.
Celebrities and fans alike have paid tributes to him, acknowledging his contribution to music.
Balasubrahmanyam tested positive for Covid-19 in early August and was admitted to hospital soon after. He tested negative in September but continued to receive life support treatment. The hospital where he was being treated said in a statement that he died of a cardio-respiratory arrest.
As news of his death broke, social media was flooded with condolences and memories as people recollected some of their favourite songs sung by him.
He was a legendary "playback singer" - that is, his voice was pre-recorded for use in films in which actors would lip-sync to the songs. He sang for top composers of his time, including AR Rahman and Ilaiyaraaja.
Balasubrahmanyam began his career in Tamil and Telugu cinema in southern India - but he was also the first crossover singer who gained success in Bollywood.
His breakthrough Bollywood film came in 1981 when he sang for Ek Duuje Ke Liye (We Are Made For Each Other), a romantic tragedy that was one of the year's biggest hits.

CEAT Signs up Aamir Khan as Brand Ambassador

Actor Aamir Khan will be CEAT Tyres' brand ambassador for two years. He will be a part of the new marketing campaign of the Mumbai-based company, featuring in two commercials during the course of IPL 2020, as per the terms of the deal. Khan will promote CEAT's SecuraDrive, a range of mass premium tyres.
According to Arnab Banerjee, COO, CEAT, tyre is a low involvement purchase category and primarily male dominated. So our media plan has always focussed on cricket and Bollywood.
As per Arnab, CEAT has been associated with cricket since 1995 with CEAT Cricket Ratings and has been a partner of several cricketers, including Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill and Harmanpreet Kaur. The company has also been a strategic time-out partner of the IPL since last year, spending Rs. 23 crore annually.

Yuvraj Singh Brand Ambassador of Akash Educational Services

Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL) appointmented Yuvraj Singh as its brand ambassador. The cricketer has come on board to help promote the company and its various brands including Aakash Institute, Aakash IIT-JEE, Aakash Digital and Meritnation. As the face of Aakash, Yuvraj Singh will lead the brand's latest omni-channel 'Success is Waiting' campaign for Aakash Digital.
The 'Success is Waiting' campaign, conceptualised in partnership with Cheil India, the creative agency of AESL, will be for students re-appearing for medical and engineering entrance examinations. It intends to inspire such students to give it another shot and will be visible through the digital medium.
As per the company, Yuvraj was the ideal fit to drive home the message effectively as the company needed an inspiring comeback story of a sportsperson, with the core messaging of 'come back stronger'. With cricket being the most widely followed sport in the country, the communication has been designed around the comeback story of Yuvraj Singh. He has been an inspirational figure for many Indians, first through his successful cricketing career, then his battle with cancer and his inspirational comeback and now with his humanitarian initiatives.

Sep 25, 2020

Nuclear Scientist Sekhar Basu Passes Away

Veteran atomic scientist and former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Dr. Sekhar Basu succumbed to COVID-19. He breathed his last just three days after turning 68.
A mechanical engineer, Dr. Basu is revered for his contributions to the country's atomic energy programme. He was awarded Padma Shri in 2014.
He had also pioneered the highly complex reactor for India's first nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant.
He had also worked as the project director of the Nuclear Submarine Programme at BARC, before taking over as its director in 2012.
Dr. Basu was also the brain behind designing, construction and operation of nuclear recycle plants at Tarapur and Kalpakkam.

Dean Jones, Former Australia Cricketer, Passes Away

Former Australia cricketer and renowned commentator Dean Jones passed away on Thursday following a massive cardiac arrest in Mumbai. He was 59. A batsman during his playing days, Jones played 52 Tests and 164 ODIs for Australia between 1984 and 1994 before venturing into commentary.
Jones was part of the Australian team that won the 1987 World Cup, playing a starring role in the campaign. Jones was Australia's third highest run-getter in the tournament, scoring 314 runs in 8 matches. He was currently in India as part of the team of experts working on the Indian Premier League with host broadcaster Star Sports.
Dean Jones was one of the great ambassadors of the game associating himself with Cricket development across South Asia. He was passionate about discovering new talent and nurturing young Cricketers. He was a champion commentator whose presence and presentation of the game always brought joy to millions of fans.

Acer India Signs Sonu Sood as Brand Ambassador

PC brand Acer India announced actor Sonu Sood as its brand ambassador. The actor will be seen endorsing the brand's range of products across media platforms for campaign to talk about Acer's commitment to improving people's lives through technology. This association will help Acer India drive awareness of leading India's next-generation digital evolution through its cutting-edge innovation and products which are strong and dependable just like what Sonu has represented during the pandemic crisis.

Sep 24, 2020

A. K. Dixit as New Administrator of PMC Bank

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed former Union Bank of India general manager A. K. Dixit as the new administrator of crisis-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank with effect from September 23. The present administrator Jai Bhagwan Bhoria stepped down on September 22 due to health reasons.
Mumbai-based PMC Bank has been placed under directions of the RBI since September 23, 2019 after the central bank superseded the troubled lender's board and appointed Jai Bhagwan Bhoria as the administrator of the bank. The directive is presently valid till December 22, 2020.
The central bank had imposed restrictions on the urban cooperative bank after it discovered that the lender allegedly created fictitious accounts to hide over Rs. 6,700 crore in loans extended to the almost-bankrupt Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL).

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