General Awareness

PERSONS IN NEWS - March 2019

Mar 2019

Jun 16, 2019

Franco Zeffirelli Dies at 96

Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, who delighted audiences with his extravagant productions like Romeo and Juliet and the miniseries Jesus of Nazareth, died at the age 96.

Jun 15, 2019

Sarah Sanders Quits

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is quitting after a rocky two-year tenure marked by loyalty to US President Donald Trump, sharp exchanges with reporters, accusations of lying and being turned away by a restaurant.

Shivpal Yadav Rules out Merger

Shivpal Yadav asserted that he would not be merging his party with the Samajwadi Party (SP) or any other outfit, putting to rest speculation over the issue.
Mr. Yadav, who is the younger brother of SP founder Mulayam Singh, also said that his party would contest the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections alone.
His assertion puts to rest the possibility of an early patch-up with Akhilesh.

SEBI Bars Prannoy and Radhika Roy

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) barred Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy from holding any directorship in New Delhi Television Ltd. (NDTV) for a period of two years.
Mrs. and Mr. Roy, along with their holding firm RRPR Holdings, have also been barred from accessing the securities' market for two years for allegedly concealing material information from shareholders while entering into loan agreements between 2008 and 2010.
Mr. Roy and his wife have also been restrained from being directors in any listed entity for a year.

JD(U) Spokesman Resigns

JD(U) leader Ajay Alok resigned from the post of party spokesperson stating that he does not wish to cause embarrassment to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the party.
He shared his resignation letter, addressed to the party's state unit chief Vashishtha Narayan Singh.

Jun 14, 2019

Taiwan President Wins Nomination for 2020 Election

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen won the ruling party`s hotly contested nomination for the 2020 presidential election in a boost to her administration, which suffered a poll defeat amid rising threats from China.
Tsai beat her former premier, William Lai, in a national tally for the party`s primary race.

Devaagyh Dixit Credited with Seven World Records

The 6-year old Devaagyh Dixit from Lucknow is credited with making not one but seven world records, all in a day.
According to Rashi Dixit, mother of Devaagyh, Devaagyh Dixit is Asia's only boy to have made seven world records in playing drums.
In March 2019, he made the records in categories like most drum beats in a minute, most drum kicks in a minute, maximum paradiddles in a minute, maximum drum rolls in a minute, most drum beats in a second, most drum kicks in a second and fastest 10, 000 beats performer.
While all of his records now find place in 'The Golden Book of World Records', in music circles, Devaagyh is known as India's youngest drummer.

Sri Lanka's New Chief of National Intelligence

Major General Ruwan Kulatunga would be Sri Lanka's new chief of National Intelligence after President Maithripala Sirisena sacked his predecessor for blaming him for failing to avert the Easter Sunday terror attacks.
Kulatunga would replace Sisira Mendis, a retired senior police superintendent, who was sacked by Sirisena after he testified before a parliament select committee formed to probe the Easter bombings that targeted three Catholic churches and high-end hotels, killing 258 people.

Johnson Wins First-round Vote

Brexit hardliner Boris Johnson topped the ballot by a landslide in a first-round vote for a leader to replace British Prime Minister Theresa May.
In the ballot of Conservative MPs, Mr. Johnson secured more than twice the number of votes won by his nearest challengers as 3 of the 10 candidates were eliminated from the race.
Mr. Johnson secured 114 votes, way ahead of Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on 43 and Environment Secretary Michael Gove with 37.
Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab (27), Interior Minister Sajid Javid (23), Health Secretary Matt Hancock (20) and International Development Secretary Rory Stewart (19) also survived the cut.
The seven candidates go through to the second round, when contenders will need the votes of 33 of the 313 Conservative MPs to stay in the contest.

Renowned Indian-origin Writer Passes Away

Ahmed Essop, renowned author and educationist of Indian-origin died in South Africa. He was 88.
He was a beloved teacher of English who clashed with the apartheid authorities and was barred from teaching.
Born in India in 1931, Essop migrated to South Africa as a child.
One of Essop's early books, 'The Hajji and Other Stories' won the coveted Olive Schreiner Prize from the English Academy of Southern Africa in 1979. It was later turned into a film.
In 2018, Essop received the Lifetime Achievement Literary Award at the annual South Africa Literary Awards.

Jun 13, 2019

Darvesh Kumari Yadav Shot Dead

The newly elected president of the Uttar Pradesh Bar Council, Darvesh Kumari Yadav was shot dead by a colleague in her chamber on the civil court premises.
The colleague, Manish Babu Sharma, fired at her thrice after an altercation and then shot himself in the head.

Contenders for Bank of England Governor Job

The UK government formally launched its hunt for a new Bank of England Governor.
The following are some of the potential runners and riders:
Agustín Carstens – general manager, Bank for International Settlements, Raghuram Rajan – former governor of Bank of India, Janet Yellen – former head of the US Federal Reserve, Andrew Bailey – chief executive, Financial Conduct Authority, Shriti Vadera – chair, Santander UK, Jason Furman – professor, Harvard University, Sir Jon Cunliffe – deputy governor for financial stability, Bank of England, Ben Broadbent – deputy governor for monetary policy, Bank of England, Andy Haldane – chief economist, Bank of England, Nemat Shafik – director, London School of Economics and Sharon White – chief executive, Ofcom.

China Appoints Sun Weidong as New Envoy to India

China named career diplomat Sun Weidong as its ambassador to India weeks after outgoing envoy Luo Zhaohui was appointed a vice foreign minister.
A former ambassador to Pakistan, Sun held the post of director general at the foreign ministry's planning department before being named as the envoy to India.
Sun takes over at a time when the diplomatic corps of the two countries are preparing for President Xi Jinping's visit to India in October for the second informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sun, an expert on South Asia worked with Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar during his tenure as Ambassador in Beijing. Sun was the Deputy Director General at the time.

Reckitt Picks Pepsi's Narasimhan

Consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser picked PepsiCo executive Laxman Narasimhan as its next chief executive officer (CEO), becoming the latest industry heavyweight to turn to a company outsider to tackle faltering growth and new media-savvy rivals.
Narasimhan, PepsiCo's global chief commercial officer, is the first external candidate to be appointed as CEO at Reckitt since the maker of Durex condoms, Nurofen tablets and Dettol cleaners was formed in 1999.
Narasimhan would join Reckitt as CEO-designate and be appointed to the board in July 2019. He would become CEO in September 2019, replacing Rakesh Kapoor, who has led Reckitt for more than eight years.

Jun 12, 2019

New Rajya Sabha Leader

Social Justice Minister Thawarchand Gehlot was appointed the leader of the house in Rajya Sabha.
He would replace Arun Jaitley, the former Finance Minister who opted out of the council of ministers due to health reasons.
Gehlot is a prominent Scheduled Caste leader of the BJP, and the only SC leader to have a seat in the party's parliamentary board.

Dr. Virendra Kumar to be Protem Speaker

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Dr. Virendra Kumar would be the Protem Speaker of 17th Lok Sabha. He represents the Tikamgarh constituency of Madhya Pradesh and has been a member of the Lok Sabha in the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th Lok Sabha too.
A Protem Speaker's duty is to administer the oath of office to new members of the Lok Sabha.
A temporary post, the Protem Speaker presides over the first meeting of lower House of Parliament after the General election besides presiding over the sitting in which the Speaker and Deputy Speaker are elected if it is a newly constituted House.

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