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PERSONS IN NEWS - August 2019

Aug 2019

Oct 30, 2019

Narendra Singh Tomar, Avinash Rai Khanna Named Central Observers For BJP Legislative Party meet

Union Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Singh Tomar and Party Vice President Avinash Rai Khanna will be the Central Observers for the BJP Legislative Party meeting scheduled to be held in Mumbai. Party President Amit Shah took the decision in this regard.
Anup Kumar Singh takes charge as new DG of National Security Guard
Senior IPS officer Anup Kumar Singh has taken charge as the new Director General (DG) of National Security Guard (NSG).
A 1985-batch IPS officer of the Gujarat cadre, Singh's appointment was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The NSG is a counter-terrorism unit under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It was raised in 1984.

Nirmal Purja: Ex-Soldier Climbs 14 Highest Mountains in Six Months

A Nepali mountaineer and former British Marine has climbed the world's tallest 14 peaks in six months - beating an earlier record of almost eight years.
Nirmal Purja reached the top of his 14th mountain, Shishapangma in China.
Purja, 36, joined the British Army in 2003 and became a Royal Marine in 2009.
His climbing career began when he walked to Everest base camp in 2012 and, instead of returning as planned, decided to climb the entire mountain.
He was already the holder of numerous records - including the fastest "double-header" of two mountains higher than 8,000 metres - and was awarded the MBE, a civilian honour, by the Queen in 2018.
Nepalese soldiers have served in the British Army - specifically the Brigade of Gurkhas - for more than 200 years.

Sadako Ogata: First female UN Refugee Chief Dies At 92

A Japanese academic and diplomat who became the first female to be appointed UN High Commissioner for Refugees has died aged 92.
Sadako Ogata worked on some of the largest crises of the decade during her time in service from 1991 to 2000.
Challenges included helping Kurdish refugees fleeing from Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, and the Balkans War.
She was known for her great passion in working to protect the "defenceless and dispossessed".

Oct 29, 2019

Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde to be Appointed next Chief Justice

Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde is all set to be the 47th Chief Justice of India after President Ram Nath Kovind signed a warrant appointing the 63-year-old senior-most Supreme Court judge to the post.
Bobde is scheduled to take charge of the top court on November 18, 2019, a day after the present CJI Ranjan Gogoi demits office.
The Presidential warrant follows the recommendation of the serving Chief Justice on October 18, 2019, who, as per convention, proposed Justice Bobde's name as his successor.
As in previous instances, the recommendation was sent a month before the current CJI demits office.
Justice Bobde was part of the five-judge constitution bench hearing the longest running Ayodhya land dispute case and in which the order is expected by November 18, 2019, before CJI Gogoi retires.

Vladimir Bukovsky: Soviet-era dissident dies in Cambridge

A leading Soviet-era dissident and Russian human rights campaigner, Vladimir Bukovsky, has died at a Cambridge hospital at the age of 76.
Bukovsky had a heart attack after ailing for several years.
He became a prominent Soviet dissident in the early 1960s and was soon after declared mentally ill.
In 1971, between prison sentences, Bukovsky helped smuggle to the West the psychiatric hospital records of six well-known dissidents - exposing a Soviet practice of declaring dissidents mentally ill in order to detain and discredit them, rather than have them labelled as political prisoners.

Oct 28, 2019

Former Punjab BJP chief Kamal Sharma Dies

Former Punjab BJP president and senior party leader Kamal Sharma passed away on the morning of October 27, 2019 after suffering a heart attack in Ferozepur district.
Mr. Sharma, 48, went for a morning walk when he suffered a heart attack.
He was taken to a local hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.

Veteran Journalist Raghavachari Dead

Veteran journalist and former editor of Visalandhra Telugu daily C. Raghavachari passed away.
He was 80 and is survived by his wife and daughter. He was undergoing treatment at a private hospital where he was admitted after prolonged illness.
Raghavachari was attracted to Left ideology since his early years and joined the CPI-affiliated All India Students Federation.
Hailing from Warangal district, Mr.Raghavachari, however, made Vijayawada his home since more than four decades.

Oct 27, 2019

Award-winning Coimbatore Yoga Teacher Nanammal Dies at 99

Nonagenarian yoga exponent V Nanammal died at her residence.
The 99-year-old Nanammal, popularly known as yoga grandma, had a fall from the cot a week ago and since then she was not keeping well, the sources said.
She was conferred the Padma Shri in 2018 and had bagged the Nari Shakti Puraskar and Yoga Ratna awards in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Nanammal had trained over 10 lakh students over 45 years, with nearly 100 students each day. She leaves behind two sons who run yoga centres in the city.

Oct 26, 2019

Radha Krishna Mathur to be LG of Ladakh

IAS officer Radha Krishna Mathur has been appointed the Lieutenant Governor of the union territory of Ladakh, the reorganisation of which will take effect from October 31, 2019.
Radha Krishna Mathur is a retired 1977 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Tripura cadre. Radha Krishna Muthur retired as the Chief Information Commissioner of India (CIC) in November 2018.
Radha Krishna Mathur has been the Union Defence Secretary, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Secretary of India and the Chief Secretary of Tripura.
RK Mathur has also served as the Development Commissioner in Ministry of Textiles and the Chief Enforcement Officer in Ministry of Textiles in the Central government.

PS Sreedharan Pillai is New Mizoram Governor

Kerala state president of the BJP, PS Sreedharan Pillai, has been appointed as the Governor of Mizoram.
The Congress and Mizoram's apex student body MizoZirlai Pawl (MZP) said the Centre has made the state a "dumping ground of Kerala BJP leaders".
Pillai was appointed Mizoram governor by President Ram Nath Kovind. The information about the swearing-in of Pillai is awaited.
Pillai was serving his second term as the state president of the party, after having had a term from 2003-06.
Often known as the 'soft face' in the Kerala unit of the BJP, he rose to this level starting as a student leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in the mid-seventies.
Incidentally, Pillai is the third Keralite to be appointed as Mizoram Governor.
The first was veteran Congress leader Vakkom Purushothaman in 2011.
The BJP failed to win a single seat in Kerala in the Lok Sabha as well as in the bye- elections for five Assembly constituencies held recently.

Former J&K Interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma Appointed Administrator of Lakshadweep

Former interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir Dineshwar Sharma has been appointed as the new administrator of Lakshadweep by President Ram NathKovind.
Dineshwar Sharma, a former IPS officer from the 1976-batch was appointed as interlocutor of Jammu and Kashmir in 2017.
Prior to that, he had served as an intelligence officer between 2015 -2017.

J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik Transferred to Goa

Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik has been transferred and appointed as Governor of Goa.
Satya Pal Malik was the former Governor of Bihar. Malik was also given an additional charge of Governor of Odisha for a couple of months in 2018.
Satya Pal Malik has represented Aligarh Constituency from 1989 to 1991. He was a member of Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh from 1980-86 and 1986-1992.
Malik has also been a member of Uttar Pradesh Assembly from 1974 to 1977.

Birender Singh Yadav Appointed as Indian Ambassador to Iraq

Birender Singh Yadav has been appointed as India's next Ambassador to Iraq, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
A 1997-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, Yadav is expected to take up the assignment shortly.
Meanwhile, the MEA also announced the appointment of Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi as India's next High Commissioner to Samoa.
Pardeshi, who is already serving as the Ambassador to New Zealand, will concurrently work as the next High Commissioner to Samoa, with residence in Wellington.
He is a 1991-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer.

Girish Chandra Murmu Appointed First Lieutenant Governor of J&K

Girish Chandra Murmu, a senior IAS officer, who worked closely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat and is currently the expenditure secretary, was appointed the first Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, six days ahead of the state becoming a union territory.
Murmu, 59, an IAS officer of 1985 batch, worked as Modi's additional principal secretary during his tenure as Gujarat chief minister. He was due for retirement on November 30, 2019.
He will be administered oath of office on October 31, 2019 in Srinagar after which he will be the administrative head of Kashmir and Jammu provinces. The state's third province -- Ladakh-- has been carved out as a separate Union Territory.

Shri Pramod Kumar Das Assumes Charge as Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs

Shri Pramod Kumar Das assumed charge as Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs. Prior to this, he was serving as the Special Secretary, Department of Expenditure in the Ministry of Finance.
Shri Das is a Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer of 1986 batch. He has held several other important positions in the Union as well as State Governments.
These include Additional Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Joint Secretary in DOPT and Ministry of Industry & Commerce at the Centre and Managing Director Trade and Investment Facilitation Corp Ltd. Bhopal and Managing Director State Industrial Dev Corpn Bhopal, Labour Commissioner Labour Department Indore and Commissioner Commercial Taxes Department Indore.

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