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PERSONS IN NEWS - August 2019

Aug 2019

Nov 04, 2019

Former IRS Officer Kumar Appointed Expenditure Observer For Jharkhand Poll

The Election Commission appointed former Indian Revenue Service officer B Murali Kumar as special expenditure observer for Jharkhand Assembly poll.
A Commission statement said that he will supervise and monitor work being done by electoral machinery and ensure stringent and effective enforcement action against abuse of money power to allure voters.
Given his past experience in the investigation wing of Income Tax Department, Kumar was also appointed Special Expenditure Observer for Vellore Parliamentary Constituency in Tamil Nadu and for the recently concluded assembly elections in Maharashtra.

Billionaire Ajay Piramal Plans To Step Down From Shriram Capital

Ajay Piramal plans to resign as chairman of Shriram Capital Ltd., the Indian non-bank finance company backed by South Africa's Sanlam Group, as he works to sell his stake in Shriram's parent group.
Piramal, who was named chairman of unlisted Shriram Capital in 2014, is exiting the Chennai-based group after failing to consolidate his holdings into a non-banking financial behemoth amid a cash crunch in India's financial system.
He is now planning two funds to invest in embattled realty projects and lend to retail borrowers after announcing a $770 million capital raise.

Industrialist And Son Of Modinagar's Founder, K K Modi Passes Away

The scion of one of the oldest business families in the country - the Modi family - and the eldest son of late Rai Bahadur Gujarmal Modi (founder of the city of Modinagar), Krishan Kumar Modi passed away. He was 79.
K K Modi served as the chairman of Modi Enterprises, which includes companies like Godfrey Phillips, Indofil Industries and Modicare. Modi Enterprises has interests in education, agriculture, tea and beverages among others. Modi was also a former president of FICCI. Modi led FICCI in 1997 and was also the president of Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry from 2002 to 2006.

Nov 03, 2019

Indusind Bank Finalises Sumant Kathpalia As New MD & CEO

Sumant Kathpalia has been chosen by private sector lender IndusInd Bank as the successor to Romesh Sobti.
Kathpalia is the head of consumer loans at the Hindujas-promoted lender. Sobti, who has been at the helm for over a decade, will be retiring in March 2020 after hitting 70.
The 55-year-old Kathpalia has also been with the bank since 2008 and is credited with building consumer loans portfolio from scratch, as part of a strategy to diversify the loan book adopted by the bank.

Nov 02, 2019

Air Marshal Amit Dev takes over as Air Officer-in-charge Personnel at Air Headquarters

Air Marshal Amit Dev took over as Air Officer-in-charge Personnel at Air Headquarters.
Air Marshal was commissioned in the flying branch of IAF on Dec 29, 1982 as a fighter pilot. He is an alumnus of National Defence Academy.
In a career spanning nearly 37 years, the Air Officer has flown a wide variety of fighter and trainer aircraft.
He has flying experience of more than 2500 hours, including operational flying on Mig 21 and Mig 27 fighter aircraft.

Islamic State Group Names Its New Leader As Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi

The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) has for the first time confirmed the death of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and named his successor.
An IS outlet announced on the messaging service Telegram that Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurashi was the group's new leader and "caliph".
US special forces tracked down Baghdadi in north-west Syria and attacked his compound.

Sanjeev Nandan Sahai Takes Charge As Power Secretary

Sanjeev Nandan Sahai has assumed charge as Secretary of the Power Ministry.
Prior to this, he was serving as the Special Secretary in the Ministry of Power.
Sahai is a UT cadre IAS officer of 1986 batch. He has also served as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Power from May 2018 to July 2019.

Beto O'Rourke Ends 2020 Presidential Bid

Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas ended his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, telling supporters he couldn't raise enough money to remain competitive with his party's leading 2020 contenders.
He announced his exit hours before Iowa Democrats began their biggest evening of the year -- with most of the party's presidential field set to speak at the packed Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines for the Liberty and Justice Celebration.

Tarania Clarke: Jamaica Women's Midfielder Dies After Stabbing Incident

Jamaica women's international Tarania Clarke has died after a stabbing incident in the capital city Kingston.
Police said the 20-year-old midfielder was pronounced dead in hospital.
Officers said the student died after a dispute over a mobile phone. A woman has been arrested.
Clarke, who played for Waterhouse FC, scored on her international debut in September's 12-1 win over Cuba in the Olympic qualifiers.

Nov 01, 2019

Veteran CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta dies at 83

Former Parliamentarian and veteran CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta died in Kolkata after prolonged illness. He was 83. Dasgupta was suffering from Heart and Kidney related ailments.
He was former Deputy General Secretary of CPI and well known trade unionist. Dasgupta was elected General Secretary of All India Trade Union Congress - AITUC, in 2001.
He was member of Rajya Sabha and also elected in Lok Sabha from Midnapore district of West Bengal. Leaders cutting across party lines including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee have condoled his death.

Girish Chandra Murmu Sworn In As First Lieutenant Governor Of Union Territory Of Jammu And Kashmir

Girish Chandra Murmu took oath as the lieutenant governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir as J-K officially lost its statehood and was spilt into two UTs- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Murmu was sworn in by chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir high court Gita Mittal in a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan in Srinagar. The warrant of Murmu's appointment was read out by Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam.
A 1985 batch IAS officer from Gujarat, Murmu served as expenditure secretary at the Centre before being appointed as Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.

R.K. Mathur Sworn In As Ladakh Lt Governor

Former bureaucrat Radha Krishna Mathur was sworn-in as the first Lieutenant Governor of the strategically located Union Territory of Ladakh, which came into existence after the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr. Mathur was administered the oath of office by the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Gita Mittal, at a function held at the Sindhu Sanskriti auditorium.

Ladakh LG RK Mathur Launches New Website For Ladakh

Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh RK Mathur launched new Ladakh website. After swearing in as Lt. Gov in an interactive session with the District administration of Leh, RK Mathur launched the attractive and all new www.ladakh.nic.in website.
The new dynamic website is prepared in just three days with all new features. Till now, Leh and Kargil have separate websites with district orientation.
The new Lt. Governor RK Mathur who is IITian and former Chief Information Commissioner has suggested technical changes and thrusted upon more transparency through the new Ladakh website.

Pavan Kapoor Appointed as Ambassador to UAE

Pavan Kapoor, a 1990 batch Indian Foreign Service officer on November 1, 2019 took charge as the new Ambassador to UAE.
Ambassador Kapoor replaced Navdeep Singh Suri, who retired in October 2019.
During his diplomatic career, Pavan Kapoor has served in different capacities at the Indian Missions in Moscow, Kyiv, London and Geneva.
During his last posting, Mr Kapoor served as the Ambassador to Israel.
He has also served in the Ministry of External Affairs and the Prime Minister's Office in New Delhi.
Pavan Kapoor was India's High Commissioner to Mozambique and the Kingdom of Swaziland from January 2014 to February 2016.
He has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad and also holds a Masters in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics.

Oct 31, 2019

Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Datta Padsalgikar Appointed As Deputy NSA

Former Mumbai Police Commissioner and Maharashtra DGP Datta Padsalgikar has been appointed as Deputy National Security Advisor (NSA).
The 1982-batch IPS officer had earlier served in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) for 26 years before he was picked as the Mumbai Police Commissioner in 2016.
He retired as the Director General of Police (DGP) in 2018. Among other assignments, Padsalgikar had also served as DCP (Detection) in crime branch, and in EOW (Economic Offences Wing).
His last posting was deputy Lokayukta for Maharashtra. He had worked with current National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval during his stint in the IB.
His colleagues in Maharashtra Police hail the role played by Padsalgikar in nailing Pakistan's involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Nation Remembers Former PM Indira Gandhi On Her 35th Death Anniversary

Nation remembers former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 35th death anniversary. She was martyred on this day in 1984 at her residence in New Delhi.
In a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid heartfelt tribute to Indira Gandhi on her death anniversary.

Former Karnataka Lokayukta N. Venkatachala Passes Away

N. Venkatachala, former judge of the Supreme Court and former Lokayukta of Karnataka, died at the age of 89.
He had an accidental fall after getting up around 6 a.m. According to a statement from Ramaiah Memorial Hospital, he was brought in an unresponsive state. Despite all resuscitative measures, he remained unresponsive. He was declared dead at 7 a.m.
Mr. Venkatachala was known for bringing to light the existence of Karnataka's autonomous anti-corruption wing as the Lokayukta by conducting raids on public servants and disclosing their names and particulars of seized assets, besides allowing the media to show video footage of his raids on public institutions such as hospitals on complaints related to poor public service.
Born on July 3, 1930, at Mittur village in Mulbagal taluk of Kolar district in a farming family, he obtained his B.Sc. degree and B.L. degree from Mysore University.

Argentine Diplomat Rafael Grossi Appointed Chief of UN Nuclear Watchdog

Argentine diplomat Rafael Grossi was appointed to succeed late Yukiya Amano as the new director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a United Nations' nuclear watchdog.
He will be appointed for a term of four years and assume office no later than January 1, 2020. The 58-year-old will be the sixth head of the IAEA since it was founded more than six decades ago.
Grossi is a nuclear and diplomatic veteran from Buenos Aires in Argentina.
He graduated from the Argentine Foreign Ministry's National Foreign Service Institute and the University of Geneva in 1985.
He served as a diplomat for a decade before holding several senior positions within the United Nations. He chaired expert panels on the UN Register of Conventional Arms in 1997 and 2000.

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