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PERSONS IN NEWS - March 2019

Mar 2019

Jul 02, 2019

Sekar IOB's New MD and CEO

Former Dena Bank MD Karnam Sekar took over as the new Managing Director and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank. He replaced R. Subramaniakumar, who was instrumental in taking measures to turn around the bank, which has been reporting loses due to high NPA.
Sekar was on Special Duty and was a whole-time director of the Bank since April 2019.
His appointment came into effect on July 1, 2019.
Prior to joining IOB, he was MD & CEO of Dena Bank, a position he held till March 31, 2019.
Before that, he was Deputy MD and Chief Credit Officer in State Bank of India, heading its Highest Credit Committee.

Jul 01, 2019

New Haryana Chief Secretary

The Haryana government appointed 1983-batch IAS officer Keshni Anand Arora as the new chief secretary. She replaced DS Dhesi who retired after having an over four-year long stint.
Keshni is only the fourth woman IAS officer in Haryana to have been appointed to the top bureaucratic post. Her two elder sisters, Meenaxi Anand Chaudhary (2005-06) and Urvashi Gulati (2009-12), have also served as chief secretaries.
Meenaxi was, in fact, the first woman IAS officer in Haryana to have held the post of chief secretary. The third woman IAS officer to have held the top bureaucratic post was Promila Issar.
Being the senior-most IAS officer in the state, Keshni was the obvious choice to succeed Dhesi.
She would have a tenure of 14 months as the chief secretary.
While she would handle general administration, personnel, training parliamentary affairs, administrative reforms department, the charge of the vigilance department has not been handed to the new chief secretary.

Jun 29, 2019

Dreaded Chambal Dacoit Jagan Gujjar Surrenders

Dreaded dacoit Jagan Gujjar, facing over 100 cases of robbery, kidnapping and looting and carrying a reward of Rs. 40,000 on his head, surrendered before the police in Rajasthan's Dholpur district.
He was earlier arrested several times since 1994, and was released on bail. The police had recently launched an operation to arrest him when reports of his attacks on villagers in Dholpur's Dang area surfaced earlier in June 2019.
Rashtriya Loktantrik Party chief and Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal had raised the issue of Gujjar's criminal activities in the Lok Sabha recently and demanded his immediate arrest.
In the rural belts of Uttar Pradesh adjoining Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, his trail of loot and terror evoked images of Gabbar Singh, the iconic dacoit of the film Sholay.
Gujjar had many cases registered against him in these states.

Tamil Nadu's new Chief Secretary, police chief

For the post of Chief Secretary, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami preferred Mr. Shanmugam to others, including R. Rajagopal and Rajeev Ranjan, who are his seniors.
As far as the DGP is concerned, Mr. Tripathy is the seniormost among those considered by the selection committee, which included representatives of the Union Public Services Commission, State and Central governments, apart from the Chief Minister.
Mr. Shanmugam's name figured as a possible successor to his batchmate, P. Rama Mohana Rao, in December 2016 after the latter's residence and Chief Secretary's chamber were searched by the Income Tax department. But, Ms. Vaidyanathan, who belonged to the 1981 batch, made it to the post. .
On 28 June 2019, the IAS Officers' Association held a function at the Secretariat to bid farewell to the outgoing Chief Secretary and A. Ramalingam, Commissioner of Art & Culture, who functioned as a Secretary to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for years. Mr. Shanmugam was among those who attended the function.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Tripathy met Ms. Vaidyanathan and the incoming Chief Secretary.
Mr. Shanmugam, who is holding the post of Finance Secretary since May 2010, was empanelled by the Centre for the post of Secretary or Secretary-equivalent in the Union government.
He is among the few IAS officers to be retained in the same post despite a change in regime in the State.

Ram Vilas Paswan Elected to Rajya Sabha

Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan was elected unopposed as a member of the Rajya Sabha from Bihar. The LJP is an ally of the BJP.
Mr. Paswan replaced BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who had quit the seat to contest the Lok Sabha election from Patna Sahib.
While Mr. Paswan's entry to the Upper House did not change the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) numbers, the Rajya Sabha bypolls in Odisha, also led to the election of two Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MPs and one BJP MP.
Before this bypolls, the BJP had 75 MPs in Rajya Sabha, while its allies, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Shiv Sena, had three each, and the Opposition had 108 MPs in total.
Though its five MPs have been among the 20 undecided members, the BJD has supported the NDA's legislation in the past.

Jun 28, 2019

Haryana Congress Leader Killed

Haryana Congress leader Vikas Chaudhary was shot dead by two unidentified men in Faridabad near Delhi.
The 38-year old had just got into his car at the parking lot of his local gym in Sector 9, when he was shot. The attackers had pumped 10 bullets through the windscreen of his car.
The Congress hit out at the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government over law and order in the state.
Vikas Chaudhary, the spokesperson of the Haryana Congress, had recently switched to the party, after leaving the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).

Jun 27, 2019

Arvind Kumar Named New IB Director

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government appointed chiefs of two key intelligence units of the country, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
Two senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers of the 1984 batch were appointed to the key positions.
The government appointed Samant Goel as the RAW chief and Arvind Kumar as the Director of the Intelligence Bureau.
Goel would replace Anil Dhasmana as the chief of the Research and Analysis Wing.
Arvind Kumar would replace current director Rajiv Jain.

Amitabh Kant Gets Extension

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved extension of tenure of Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog for a further period of two years beyond June 30 2019 i.e. up to June 30 2021, on the same terms and conditions, as approved earlier.
Kant was appointed as the CEO of the government think tank in February 2016, for a fixed two-year term. Kant was later given an extension till June 30, 2019.
Before taking over as the CEO of Niti Aayog, he was secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, which was rechristened as the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

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