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PERSONS IN NEWS - March 2019

Mar 2019

Mar 20, 2019

Bill Gates Joins Jeff Bezos

Bloomberg tracks the fortunes of some 2,800 billionaires. Of those, 145 are worth at least $10 billion, making them decabillionaires.
Now, the world contains two centibillionaires simultaneously.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, once the world's richest person, has again eclipsed the $100 billion threshold, joining Amazon.com Inc.'s Jeff Bezos in the exclusive club.
Gates's fortune, now $100 billion on the nose, hasn't reached such heights since the dot-com boom, when Bezos was only beginning his march up the world's wealth rankings.
The Amazon founder is now worth $145.6 billion, having added $20.7 billion this year alone, while Gates has gained $9.5 billion.

Mar 19, 2019

Bengali Actor Chinmoy Roy Dies

Veteran Bengali actor Chinmoy Roy, renowned for his comic characters, died at the age of 79.
Mr. Roy is survived by his son and daughter.
His wife, actress Jui Banerjee, had died a few years ago.
The actor had immortalised the character of Tenyda in the film Charmurti.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Reappointed

Shareholders of IT services company Infosys have approved the reappointment of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw as independent director by an overwhelming majority.

Goa's New Chief Minister

Dr. Pramod Sawant took oath as Chief Minister of Goa.
The 45-year-old MLA from Sanquelim constituency took charge of the office hours after his predecessor, Manohar Parrikar's final rites were conducted with full state honours.
Along with Sawant, Goa Forward Party's Vijai Sardesai and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP)'s Sudin Dhavalikar, also took oath as Deputy Chief Ministers.
It is for the first time that the tiniest state of the country will have two deputy CMs.

Swaminathan, VSM Takes Charge as Flag Officer

Rear Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, VSM, assumed charge as Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) at Kochi. Rear Admiral Swaminathan, a specialist in Communication and Electronic Warfare was commissioned into the Indian Navy in July 1987.
Rear Admiral Swaminathan has commanded five frontline ships of the Indian Navy including the missile vessels, INS Vidyut and INS Vinash; the missile corvette, INS Kulish; the guided missile destroyer, INS Mysore; and the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.
Prior to assuming charge as FOST, the Admiral was the Chief Staff Officer (Training) at Headquarters Southern Naval Command.

Mar 18, 2019

Manohar Parrikar Bids Adieu

Four-time Goa Chief Minister and former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar (63) died at his private residence after a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer for over a year.
Mr. Parrikar resigned as Chief Minister and served as Defence Minister from 2014-17 on the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He returned to State politics to lead a coalition government of disparate parties and independents headed by the BJP, as Chief Minister in 2017, after Goa had a hung house and the BJP had lost power.

Mar 15, 2019

TMC Leader and Four-time MLA Joins BJP

TMC leader and four-time legislator from West Bengal Arjun Singh joined the BJP, giving a boost to the saffron party's prospects in the state for the Lok Sabha elections.
The four-time MLA from Barrackpore is likely to contest on a BJP ticket in the Lok Sabha polls against TMC heavyweight Dinesh Trivedi.
Singh is the latest entry into the BJP from the TMC. Earlier, expelled TMC MP Anupam Hazra joined the saffron party.
The BJP is aiming to get a sizeable number of seats in West Bengal in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

M. R. Kumar New Chairman of LIC

M. R. Kumar, the newly-appointed chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), has taken charge.
Mr. Kumar, who had joined LIC as a direct recruit officer in 1983, took over from Hemant Bhargava who had been the acting chairman since January 2019. The government had also named two MDs for LIC, Vipin Anand and T. C. Suseel Kumar.
Mr. Kumar was the zonal manager of north zone at LIC while Mr. Suseel Kumar was the zonal manager of south-central zone.
Mr. Anand was the zonal manager of the western zone.

Nitin Unilever's New COO

FMCG major Unilever announced that it has promoted Sanjiv Mehta, EVP, South Asia, as President, South Asia while President of Foods & Refreshment, Nitin Paranjpe, has been appointed to the new role of Chief Operating Officer.
Nitin will be responsible for all of Unilever's go-to-market organisations, driving and co-ordinating in-year performance across our countries in line with our Divisional strategies.
Paranjpe replaces Kees Kruythoff who has decided to leave Unilever after 27 years of service to pursue external opportunities.

Maate Mahadevi Passes Away

Maate Mahadevi, a prominent woman pontiff of Lingayat community and seer of the 'Basava Dharma Peetha', died at a private hospital following cardiac arrest.
She was at the forefront of the movement demanding separate religion status for the Lingayat community that erupted in the state in 2017-18.
Installed as 'Jagadguru' in the 1970s, Maate Mahadevi launched several educational and religious institutions and published several books.

O'Rourke to Join Race for Presidency

Beto O'Rourke, a skateboarding former punk rocker feted as one of the Democratic Party's rising stars, announced that he is running for President.
Mr. O'Rourke now enters a pool of 14 other Democrats seeking to oust President Donald Trump.
They include several U.S. Senators — Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, and the leader among current candidates, liberal powerhouse Bernie Sanders.

Mar 14, 2019

Five IPS Officers Made CBI Joint Directors

The Centre inducted five IPS officers as Joint Directors in the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Sampat Meena, 1994 batch IPS officer of Jharkhand cadre. She will be the Joint Director till September 2022.
Anurag, 1994 officer from Tripura cadre, will serve as Joint Director till August.
Himachal Pradesh cadre IPS officer Rakesh Aggarwal of the 1994 batch will be Joint Director till September 2020.
Similarly, 1997 batch Jammu and Kashmir cadre IPS officer Viplav Kumar Choudhry has been inducted as Joint Director till September 2022.
A 1991 batch IPS officer of Rajasthan cadre, D.C. Jain has been appointed Joint Director for five years from the date he assumes charge of the post.

Greta Thunberg in Nobel Peace Prize Race

Three Norwegian lawmakers have nominated Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg, who has become a prominent voice in campaigns against climate change, for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Freddy Andre Oevstegaard and two other members of the Socialist Left Party said that they believe the massive movement Greta has set in motion is a very important peace contribution.
Ms. Thunberg has encouraged students to skip school to join protests demanding faster action on climate change, a movement that has spread beyond Sweden to other European nations.

Rahul Bajaj Resigns

Bajaj Finserv said that its chairman and non-executive director Rahul Bajaj has resigned and will take over as the chairman emeritus from May.
His appointment as chairman emeritus will be effective from May 16, 2019.
The board of directors has appointed Nanoo Pamnani as independent non-executive chairman in place of Rahul Bajaj, with effect from May 17, 2019.
The firm has also approved the reappointment of independent directors D. J. Balaji Rao, Nanoo Pamnani and Gita Piramal for a second term of five years.
While the appointment of the former two will take effect from April 1, Dr. Piramal's term will begin from July 16, 2019.

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