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PERSONS IN NEWS - March 2019

Mar 2019

Sep 08, 2019

Noted Lawyer & Former Union Minister Ram Jethmalani Passes Away

Noted lawyer and former Union Minister Ram Jethmalani passed away at his residence in New Delhi. He was 95.
Jethmalani a sitting Member of the Rajya Sabha, was ill for some time due to age-related ailments. He was cremated at Lodhi Road crematorium in New Delhi.
The President, the Vice President and the Prime Minister have expressed grief over the demise of Ram Jethmalani.
Ram Boolchand Jethmalani was an Indian lawyer and politician. He served as India's Union Law Minister, as chairman of the Indian Bar Council, and as the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association. He is noted in the Indian legal fraternity for his forte in criminal law and high-profile civil cases.

Madras HC Chief Justice Tahilramani Resigns After Collegium Transfer Order

Days after the Supreme Court Collegium declined her request for reconsideration of transfer to Meghalaya, Madras High Court Chief Justice Vijaya K Tahilramani has resigned.
Vijaya K Tahilramani tendered her resignation to President Ram Nath Kovind and sent a copy of it to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.
The collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, had recommended transfer of Justice Tahilramani, who was elevated as the Madras High Court's Chief Justice on August 8 in 2018, to the Meghalaya High Court.
The collegium had recommended her transfer on August 28, after which she had made a representation requesting it to reconsider the proposal.
Vijaya K Tahilramani had protested against the collegium's decision to not consider her request against transferring her to the Meghalaya High Court.

Saudi King Replaces Energy Minister, Naming One Of His Sons

Saudi Arabia's King Salman replaced the country's energy minister with one of his own sons, naming Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman to one of the most important positions in the country as oil prices remain stubbornly below what is needed to keep up with government spending.
The new energy minister is an older half brother to 34-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and an experienced oil industry figure in Saudi Arabia. He has been minister of state for energy affairs since 2017, but the brothers are not known to be close.
Prince Abdulaziz replaces Khalid al-Falih, who had been removed just days ago as board chairman of the state-owned oil giant Aramco, a company that he once ran as CEO.
Al-Falih had also seen his Cabinet portfolio diminished recently when mining and industry were removed from his purview and spun off into a new ministry.

Sep 07, 2019

Pakistan Leg-Spin Great Abdul Qadir Dies Aged 63

Legendary Pakistan leg-spinner Abdul Qadir died after suffering a cardiac arrest in Lahore. The former Pakistan cricketer was 63.
Abdul Qadir was rushed to the Services Hospital in Lahore but all the efforts to save him went in vain. Qadir is survived by his wife, 4 sons and a daughter who is married to Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Umar Akmal.
Abdul Qadir had represented Pakistan in 67 Tests and 104 ODIs between 1977 and 1993. The leg-spinner, known for his unusual action, picked up 236 wickets in the longest format of the game and finished his ODI career with 132 scalps.
Abdul Qadir, who made his Test debut in 1977, has the best figures for a Pakistan spinner -- 9/56. The leg-spinner, who bamboozled batsmen demolished a Vivian Richards-led West Indies batting unit in Fasilabad in 1986.

Sahitya Akademi Award-Winning Writer Kiran Nagarkar Dies At 77

Sahitya Akademi Award-winning writer Kiran Nagarkar died at the age of 77. He suffered a brain haemorrhage on September 2, 2019 and breathed his last on September 5, 2019.
Nagarkar began his career as an educationist, a journalist and then later as a screenplay writer in the advertising industry. His advertisment campaigns with close friend and poet Arun Kolatkar were considered path-breaking.
Nagarkar wrote his first book Saat Sakkam Trechalis in 1974 in his mother tongue, Marathi. Its English translation (Seven Sixes are Forty Three) was published in 1980 and then re-released in 2017 as a paperback version by Harper Collins.

B. Bala Bhaskar Is Newly Appointed Ambassador To The Kingdom Of Norway

Dr. B Bala Bhaskar is appointed as the next Indian Ambassador to Norway. The ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Bala Bhaskar (IFS: 1993) is appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Norway.
He will replace Krishan Kumar heading the Indian mission in Norway since July 2018. An IFS of 1993 batch will take up the assignment shortly.

KVIC Chief Gets 3 Year Extension

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena will continue to head the organisation for another three years.
An official from the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) said that the Centre granted the extension to Saxena, the only person in the government from corporate side heading an autonomous body, with effect from September 5, 2019.
Saxena, first appointed KVIC Chairman in October 2015, explored untapped streams of Khadi and Village Industries and implemented many innovative schemes like 'Honey Mission', 'Kumhaar Sashaktikaran Scheme' and leather artisans development scheme.

IAS Officer Sasikanth Senthil Resigns

S. Sasikanth Senthil, a 2009 batch Karnataka cadre IAS officer and Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district, has resigned from the civil services.
In a note, he said it was "unethical" on his part to continue as civil servant when "fundamental building blocks of diverse democracy are being compromised".
The coming days would present extremely difficult challenges in the basic fabric of the Nation. As such it would be better to be outside IAS to continue his work.

Sep 06, 2019

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram Sent To Tihar Jail In INX Media Case

Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has been sent to judicial custody till September 19, 2019 in the INX Media case being probed by CBI. He will be lodged in Tihar jail.
The order was pronounced by the Rouse Avenue Court. Chidambaram's counsel opposed the plea for judicial custody and offered that the former Finance Minister be taken into ED custody in the money laundering case.
The court allowed him to carry his medicines to jail. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured that there will be adequate security for Chidambaram in jail.
With regard to Chidambaram's plea seeking to surrender in the money laundering case, the court issued notice to ED.
Chidambaram, 73, was produced before a Delhi court after the expiry of his 2-day CBI custody in the case.
Chidambaram's 15-day CBI custody, ordered by the special court in five spells, which started after his arrest on August 21, 2019 night, was to end on 5 Sept 2019.
The CBI had registered an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram's tenure as the finance minister. Thereafter, the Enforcement Directorate lodged a money laundering case in this regard in 2017.

Noted Novelist, Playwright Kiran Nagarkar Passes Away

Noted novelist and playwright Kiran Nagarkar, known for his books 'Cuckold,' and 'Bedtime Story', died at a hospital in Mumbai night.
He was 77.
Nagarkar had been ailing for some time and was admitted to the hospital in south Mumbai where he died.

Former President Of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe Died

Former president of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe has died at the age of 95. His successor, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, expressed his utmost sadness calling Mr. Mugabe Zimbabwe's founding father and an icon of liberation.
Mugabe was a former guerrilla chief who took power after the end of white minority rule in 1980. He was ousted in a military coup in November 2017, ending three decades in power.

Sep 05, 2019

Dawood Ibrahim, Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi and Masood Azhar declared terrorists under UAPA

India's most wanted Dawood Ibrahim, Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi and Masood Azhar have been declared terrorists under the recently amended - Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act.
They have been declared individual terrorists under the amended terror law by the government.
In a notification, Home Ministry said, all these were involved in terrorist activities.
Masood Azhar is designated as a global terrorist by the United Nations under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 on the 1st of May in 2019.
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi are also designated as global terrorists by the United Nations in December 2008.
Dawood Ibrahim who is also designated as a Global terrorist by the United Nations executed a series of bomb blasts with his associates in Mumbai in March 1993.

Kumari Selja Will Be Congress Haryana Unit Chief

Former Union Minister and Congress MP, Kumari Selja will be the Congress Haryana unit chief, while Former state Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been appointed as Congress legislature party leader and chairman of the state election committee.
The announcement in this regard was made by Party Haryana in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad in New Delhi.

Sep 04, 2019

CEC Sunil Arora Assumes Charge As AWEB Chairman

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora assumed Chairmanship of Association of World Election Bodies, AWEB for the term 2019-21 as India takes over the Chair from Romania.
India was unanimously nominated to be the Vice-Chair of AWEB at the last General Assembly held at Bucharest in 2017.
The AWEB Flag was handed over to the new Chairman, Sunil Arora and it will remain with Election Commission of India for the two year term till 2021. More than 110 delegates from 45 countries attended the meeting.
Mr Arora announced that an AWEB Centre would be set up at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management, New Delhi for documentation, research and training and for sharing best practices.

Former Kalahandi King Udit Pratap Deo Dies At 71

Udit Pratap Deo, former king of the erstwhile princely state of Kalahandi, has breathed his last at a private hospital. He was 71.
Deo was a former lawmaker from Junagarh Assembly segment in Odisha from 1974 to 1977.
He is survived by wife, a son and a daughter.
Deo and his queen Padma Manjari Devi had joined the BJP.

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