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PERSONS IN NEWS - March 2019

Mar 2019

Oct 27, 2019

Award-winning Coimbatore Yoga Teacher Nanammal Dies at 99

Nonagenarian yoga exponent V Nanammal died at her residence.
The 99-year-old Nanammal, popularly known as yoga grandma, had a fall from the cot a week ago and since then she was not keeping well, the sources said.
She was conferred the Padma Shri in 2018 and had bagged the Nari Shakti Puraskar and Yoga Ratna awards in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Nanammal had trained over 10 lakh students over 45 years, with nearly 100 students each day. She leaves behind two sons who run yoga centres in the city.

Oct 26, 2019

Radha Krishna Mathur to be LG of Ladakh

IAS officer Radha Krishna Mathur has been appointed the Lieutenant Governor of the union territory of Ladakh, the reorganisation of which will take effect from October 31, 2019.
Radha Krishna Mathur is a retired 1977 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Tripura cadre. Radha Krishna Muthur retired as the Chief Information Commissioner of India (CIC) in November 2018.
Radha Krishna Mathur has been the Union Defence Secretary, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Secretary of India and the Chief Secretary of Tripura.
RK Mathur has also served as the Development Commissioner in Ministry of Textiles and the Chief Enforcement Officer in Ministry of Textiles in the Central government.

PS Sreedharan Pillai is New Mizoram Governor

Kerala state president of the BJP, PS Sreedharan Pillai, has been appointed as the Governor of Mizoram.
The Congress and Mizoram's apex student body MizoZirlai Pawl (MZP) said the Centre has made the state a "dumping ground of Kerala BJP leaders".
Pillai was appointed Mizoram governor by President Ram Nath Kovind. The information about the swearing-in of Pillai is awaited.
Pillai was serving his second term as the state president of the party, after having had a term from 2003-06.
Often known as the 'soft face' in the Kerala unit of the BJP, he rose to this level starting as a student leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in the mid-seventies.
Incidentally, Pillai is the third Keralite to be appointed as Mizoram Governor.
The first was veteran Congress leader Vakkom Purushothaman in 2011.
The BJP failed to win a single seat in Kerala in the Lok Sabha as well as in the bye- elections for five Assembly constituencies held recently.

Former J&K Interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma Appointed Administrator of Lakshadweep

Former interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir Dineshwar Sharma has been appointed as the new administrator of Lakshadweep by President Ram NathKovind.
Dineshwar Sharma, a former IPS officer from the 1976-batch was appointed as interlocutor of Jammu and Kashmir in 2017.
Prior to that, he had served as an intelligence officer between 2015 -2017.

J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik Transferred to Goa

Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik has been transferred and appointed as Governor of Goa.
Satya Pal Malik was the former Governor of Bihar. Malik was also given an additional charge of Governor of Odisha for a couple of months in 2018.
Satya Pal Malik has represented Aligarh Constituency from 1989 to 1991. He was a member of Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh from 1980-86 and 1986-1992.
Malik has also been a member of Uttar Pradesh Assembly from 1974 to 1977.

Birender Singh Yadav Appointed as Indian Ambassador to Iraq

Birender Singh Yadav has been appointed as India's next Ambassador to Iraq, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
A 1997-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, Yadav is expected to take up the assignment shortly.
Meanwhile, the MEA also announced the appointment of Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi as India's next High Commissioner to Samoa.
Pardeshi, who is already serving as the Ambassador to New Zealand, will concurrently work as the next High Commissioner to Samoa, with residence in Wellington.
He is a 1991-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer.

Girish Chandra Murmu Appointed First Lieutenant Governor of J&K

Girish Chandra Murmu, a senior IAS officer, who worked closely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat and is currently the expenditure secretary, was appointed the first Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, six days ahead of the state becoming a union territory.
Murmu, 59, an IAS officer of 1985 batch, worked as Modi's additional principal secretary during his tenure as Gujarat chief minister. He was due for retirement on November 30, 2019.
He will be administered oath of office on October 31, 2019 in Srinagar after which he will be the administrative head of Kashmir and Jammu provinces. The state's third province -- Ladakh-- has been carved out as a separate Union Territory.

Shri Pramod Kumar Das Assumes Charge as Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs

Shri Pramod Kumar Das assumed charge as Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs. Prior to this, he was serving as the Special Secretary, Department of Expenditure in the Ministry of Finance.
Shri Das is a Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer of 1986 batch. He has held several other important positions in the Union as well as State Governments.
These include Additional Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Joint Secretary in DOPT and Ministry of Industry & Commerce at the Centre and Managing Director Trade and Investment Facilitation Corp Ltd. Bhopal and Managing Director State Industrial Dev Corpn Bhopal, Labour Commissioner Labour Department Indore and Commissioner Commercial Taxes Department Indore.

Oct 25, 2019

BR Sharma Appointed as SSC Chairman

Former Chief Secretary Braj Raj Sharma, has been appointed Chairman of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC). BR Sharma was presently posted as Secretary, Border Management, in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
A 1984-batch IAS officer, Braj Raj Sharma has served as Chief Secretary in the Jammu and Kashmir government from September 7, 2015, to April 28, 2017.
Later he was appointed as Adviser to former Chief Minister- Mehbooba Mufti.

Bureaucratic Reshuffle -New Appointments

Senior IAS officer Arvind Singh has been appointed as the chairman of Airports Authority of India and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu will head the National Highways Authority of India as part of a major bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre.
Singh is at present working in his cadre-state Maharashtra. He has been appointed as the chief of AAI in the rank and pay of additional secretary, an order issued by the personnel ministry said.
Sandhu is a 1988-batch IAS officer of Uttarakhand cadre. He is currently additional secretary, department of higher education, ministry of human resource development.Sandhu has been appointed as the NHAI chairman against the vacancy caused due to the appointment of Nagendra Nath Sinha, who was earlier appointed as the secretary, department of border management.
Ganji Kamala V Rao, at present in his cadre-state Kerala, has been named the chairman and managing director, India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) Ltd.
Pramod Kumar Tiwari, joint secretary, department of food and public distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution will be the director general of the Bureau of Indian Standards in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
Debashri Mukherjee, joint secretary in the Prime Minister's Office has been appointed as the additional secretary, department of water resources in the river development and Ganga rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti. She has been appointed in place of T Rajeshwari on her appointment as additional secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
IAS officer Amit Yadav, joint secretary in the department of telecommunications, has been appointed as the director general, directorate general of foreign trade.
Rakesh Sarwal will be additional secretary in the department of higher education in place of Sandhu.
Ashish Upadhyay, a 1989-batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as additional secretary & financial advisor in the Ministry of Power. He is joint secretary in the Ministry of Power.
Senior bureaucrat K Sanjay Murthy, additional secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs will be chief executive officer and managing director, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Keshav Kumar Pathak, who is serving in his cadre-state Bihar, has been appointed as managing director, National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
K Moses Chalai, additional secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development will be secretary, North Eastern Council Secretariat.
Bureaucrat S Gopalakrishnan, joint secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been named as additional secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Rachna Shah, joint secretary, Cabinet Secretariat will be additional secretary in the same department. B Srinivas has been named as the managing director, National Horticulture Board, department of agriculture, cooperation and farmers welfare.
Satya Brata Sahu, who is director, National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited will be additional secretary, department of land resources.
IAS officer Vijayendra will be chairman & managing director,National Small Industries Corporation Ltd. He is at present joint secretary, department of defence production.

Oct 24, 2019

Satya Pal Malik Likely To Be First Lieutenant Governor Of Jammu & Kashmir

The Centre has proposed Satya Pal Malik's name as the new lieutenant governor of J&K ahead of October 31, 2019 transition of the state into Union territories of J&K and Ladakh.
The ministry further announced that the government employees of J&K and Ladakh will get salaries and benefits as per the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations.
The annual financial implication of the allowances like children education allowance, hostel allowance, transport allowance, LTC, fixed medical allowance for existing 4.5 lakh government employees will be around Rs 4,800 crore.
A modest Rs 607 crore of the total Rs 4,800 crore will be for children's education allowance, Rs 1,823 crore for hostel allowance, Rs 1,200 crore for transport allowance, Rs 1,000 crore for leave travel concession, Rs 108 crore for fixed medical allowance and Rs 62 crore for other allowances.

Oct 23, 2019

Bureaucratic Reshuffle In The Central Administration

The Union Government named Sanjeev Nandan Sahay as Secretary, Ministry of Power, in place of S.C. Garg, who had sought Voluntary Retirement from Service (VRS) after he was unceremoniously shunted out from the Ministry of Finance, where he had been Secretary, Economic Affairs.
Outgoing Power Secretary Garg's application was accepted and, as rules prescribe, his three month period of service will come to an end on October 31, 2019, a year before his superannuation in the normal course.
Another important appointment is that of Pankaj Kumar, a 1987 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the body that governs and implements Aadhaar.
With his appointment, the government has started appointing IAS officers belonging to the 1987 batch as Secretaries, after 25 officers were empanelled recently to hold the post of Secretary in the government.
Another notable change in top bureaucracy is the repatriation of Anil Kumar Khachi, who was appointed as Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management in July 2019, but has been replaced by Tuhin Kanta Pandey, who has been brought in from the Odisha State cadre. Mr. Khachi has been repatriated to his parent cadre of Himachal Pradesh on personal grounds.

Ashok Malik appointed MEA policy advisor

Ashok Malik, former press secretary to President Ram Nath Kovind, has been appointed policy advisor in the Ministry of External Affairs with the rank of additional secretary, an order by the Department of Personnel and Training.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Malik, a distinguished fellow in the Observer Research Foundation on contract basis.

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