General Awareness

PERSONS IN NEWS - November 2018

Nov 2018

Feb 25, 2020

Katherine Johnson Dies

Pioneering African-American NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson died at the age of 101.
Ms. Johnson calculated rocket trajectories and Earth orbits for NASA's early space missions.
She was portrayed in the 2016 Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures.
The film tells the story of African-American women whose maths skills helped put US astronaut John Glenn into orbit around the Earth in 1962. Ms. Johnson verified the calculations made by new electronic computers before his flight.
Ms. Johnson had previously calculated the trajectory for the space flight of Alan Shepard - the first American in space.

Ms. Padmaja Next High Commissioner to Vanuatu

Ms. Padmaja, presently High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Fiji, has been concurrently accredited as the next High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Vanuatu, with the residence in Suva.
Padmaja is the Post Graduate in History from the University of Allahabad and joined the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in 1986 and her first posting abroad was in Bangladesh.
She worked in Indian Council of World Affairs before proceeding to London in 2010, and dealt with Media & Information and Public Diplomacy.

Abhay Kumar Singh Appointed CMD of NHPC

State-run hydro power giant NHPC appointed Abhay Kumar Singh as the company's Chairman & Managing Director from February 24, 2020.
Abhay Kumar Singh assumed the charge of Chairman and Managing Director of the company on February 24, 2020 till the date of his superannuation, i.e. August 31, 2022, or until further orders, whichever is earlier in place of Ratish Kumar who was holding additional charge of the post of Chairman & Managing Director in addition to his duties as Director (Projects).

MP Drafts Right to Water Law

Madhya Pradesh drafted a Right To Water legislation that promises a minimum of 55 litres a day per person to the state's 76.2 million residents, a fine and a jail term of up to 18 months for anyone affecting the quality of water, and a 0.5% cess on all construction work to fund development of water infrastructure. MP is the first state in the country to have drafted such a law. The Centre last year announced a Jal Shakti Mission promising piped drinking water to every household by 2024.
The draft law, a copy of which has been seen by Hindustan Times, is based on the public trust doctrine, which provides for citizens having the first right over natural resources. The MP government seeks to consider water a "fundamental right" on the lines of right of life enshrined in the Constitution.
"The Right to Water Act will be based on equal and fundamental right of every citizen over natural resources like the Right to Food and Freedom.
The draft aims to set up two bodies — the state water management authority (SWMA) to ensure protection of quality of water sources and soil health besides stipulating regulations for treatment plans and Jal Manch, a committee of stakeholders in every panchayat.

Ram Niwas Goel Re-elected Delhi Assembly Speaker

Aam Aadmi Party MLA Ram Niwas Goel was unanimously re-elected as the Speaker of the Delhi Legislative Assembly for the second consecutive time.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia moved a proposal nominating the name of Goel for the post of Speaker.
The proposal was supported by MLAs Kuldeep Kumar, Satendra Jain, Praveen Kumar, Dinesh Mohania, S. K. Bagga, Vishesh Ravi and Raghav Chaddha after which the motion was passed.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that it is a good thing that Goel was unanimously re-elected by both ruling and opposition members of the House. Goel is an MLA from Shahdara.

Feb 24, 2020

USIBC Appoints Vijay Advani as New Chairman of Global Board

The US-India Business Council appointed Vijay Advani as new Chairman of its Global Board of Directors. Advani took the charge as Board Chairman at a time of significant growth in US-India bilateral trade, which reached USD 160 billion in 2019.
Prior to assuming his current role as Executive Chairman in January 2020, Advani served as the CEO of Nuveen. Earlier, he was also Co-President of Franklin Templeton Investments. Advani has spent over a decade at the World Bank, advising governments on developing financial markets and arranging equity, quasi-equity and debt financing.
The council also announced two new members of the Global Board of Directors -- Lockheed Martin International Senior Vice President Tim Cahill and GE South Asia President & CEO Mahesh Palashikar.

Bhaskar Khulbe and Amarjeet Sinha Advisors to PM

Retired IAS officers Bhaskar Khulbe and Amarjeet Sinha were appointed as Advisors to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointments in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in the rank and scale of Secretary.
Both the Indian Administrative Service officers are from the 1983 batch. Khulbe was from the West Bengal cadre and Sinha was from the Bihar cadre.
Sinha retired as the Rural Development Secretary last year, while Khulbe has served in the PMO.
The appointments have been made on contractual basis initially for a period of two years, or until further orders.

Feb 21, 2020

Larry Tesler, Inventor of 'Cut, Copy, and Paste,' Dies

Larry Tesler, also known as the computer scientist behind cut, copy and paste, died at the age of 74.
Born in 1945 in New York, Tesler studied computer science at Stanford. He began his professional journey with Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in 1973. During his stint with Xerox, he developed the cut, copy, and paste – a functionality which will go on to become one of the most commonly used features on computers.
The cut and paste command was reportedly inspired by old time editing that involved actually cutting portions of printed text and affixing them elsewhere with adhesive. Tesler created the idea of 'cut, copy, & paste' and combined computer science training with a counterculture vision that computers should be for everyone.
The command was made popular by Apple after being incorporated in software on the Lisa computer in 1983 and the original Macintosh that debuted the next year.

Feb 20, 2020

Sanjay Kothari Appointed New CVC, Bimal Julka as CIC

Sanjay Kothari, the Secretary to the President, has been selected as the new Chief Vigilance Commissioner by a high-powered committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The committee also chose by a majority decision, former Information and Broadcasting Secretary Bimal Julka, currently serving as an Information Commissioner, as the new Chief Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission.
Both Kothari and Julka are retired Indian Administrative Service officers.
The panel also decided by majority the appointment of Suresh Patel as Vigilance Commissioner and Anita Pandove as Information Commissioner.
The orders related to the appointments are expected to be issued after formal approval from President Ram Nath Kovind.

Feb 19, 2020

Barry O'Farrell Australia's New High Commissioner to India

Australia appointed former NSW (New South Wales) premier Barry O'Farrell as the next High Commissioner to India. Barry O' Farrell will be the successor of Harinder Sidhu.
Barry O'Farrell served in the New South Wales (NSW) Parliament from 1995-2015, as the 43rd premier of the province, also has non-resident accreditation to Bhutan and as NSW special envoy for India & made a significant contribution as the Deputy Chair of the Australia- India Council Board.

V. L. Dutt Passes Away

V. L. Dutt, the executive chairman of KCP Group, died at his residence. He was 82.
The KCP Group, which boasts of a turnover of $250 million and has interests in cement, sugar and heavy industrial machinery, scaled new heights under his leadership.
In appreciation of his outstanding contribution to the areas of rural development, medical care, education and industry, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the Nagarjuna University, Andhra Pradesh, and became an Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Turkey in Chennai for Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry.
He was also awarded the Medal of Friendship by the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Mr. Tran Dai Quang, in 2017.

Tapas Pal, Former Trinamool Congress MP & Bengali Actor, Passes Away

Bengali actor & former Trinamool Congress MP (Member of Parliament) Tapas pal passed away at the age of 61 in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
He was born on 19th September 1958 in Chandannagar, West Bengal and completed his graduation from the Hooghly Mohsin College in Bio-Science.
Tapas Pal was a member of All India Trinamool Congress. He was an MLA from Alipore for 2 terms (2001-2006 & 2006-2009) and former MP (Member of Parliament) of Krishnanagar constituency from 2009 to 2019.
He became popular with his debut film Dadar Kirti (1980) and other films are Saheb (1981), Parabat Priya (1984), Bhalobasa Bhalobasa (1985) and Anurager Choyan (1986) etc.,
He was awarded Filmfare Award for his role in Saheb (1981).

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