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PERSONS IN NEWS - August 2019

Aug 2019

Oct 25, 2019

BR Sharma Appointed as SSC Chairman

Former Chief Secretary Braj Raj Sharma, has been appointed Chairman of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC). BR Sharma was presently posted as Secretary, Border Management, in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
A 1984-batch IAS officer, Braj Raj Sharma has served as Chief Secretary in the Jammu and Kashmir government from September 7, 2015, to April 28, 2017.
Later he was appointed as Adviser to former Chief Minister- Mehbooba Mufti.

Bureaucratic Reshuffle -New Appointments

Senior IAS officer Arvind Singh has been appointed as the chairman of Airports Authority of India and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu will head the National Highways Authority of India as part of a major bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre.
Singh is at present working in his cadre-state Maharashtra. He has been appointed as the chief of AAI in the rank and pay of additional secretary, an order issued by the personnel ministry said.
Sandhu is a 1988-batch IAS officer of Uttarakhand cadre. He is currently additional secretary, department of higher education, ministry of human resource development.Sandhu has been appointed as the NHAI chairman against the vacancy caused due to the appointment of Nagendra Nath Sinha, who was earlier appointed as the secretary, department of border management.
Ganji Kamala V Rao, at present in his cadre-state Kerala, has been named the chairman and managing director, India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) Ltd.
Pramod Kumar Tiwari, joint secretary, department of food and public distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution will be the director general of the Bureau of Indian Standards in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
Debashri Mukherjee, joint secretary in the Prime Minister's Office has been appointed as the additional secretary, department of water resources in the river development and Ganga rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti. She has been appointed in place of T Rajeshwari on her appointment as additional secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
IAS officer Amit Yadav, joint secretary in the department of telecommunications, has been appointed as the director general, directorate general of foreign trade.
Rakesh Sarwal will be additional secretary in the department of higher education in place of Sandhu.
Ashish Upadhyay, a 1989-batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as additional secretary & financial advisor in the Ministry of Power. He is joint secretary in the Ministry of Power.
Senior bureaucrat K Sanjay Murthy, additional secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs will be chief executive officer and managing director, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Keshav Kumar Pathak, who is serving in his cadre-state Bihar, has been appointed as managing director, National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
K Moses Chalai, additional secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development will be secretary, North Eastern Council Secretariat.
Bureaucrat S Gopalakrishnan, joint secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been named as additional secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Rachna Shah, joint secretary, Cabinet Secretariat will be additional secretary in the same department. B Srinivas has been named as the managing director, National Horticulture Board, department of agriculture, cooperation and farmers welfare.
Satya Brata Sahu, who is director, National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited will be additional secretary, department of land resources.
IAS officer Vijayendra will be chairman & managing director,National Small Industries Corporation Ltd. He is at present joint secretary, department of defence production.

Oct 24, 2019

Satya Pal Malik Likely To Be First Lieutenant Governor Of Jammu & Kashmir

The Centre has proposed Satya Pal Malik's name as the new lieutenant governor of J&K ahead of October 31, 2019 transition of the state into Union territories of J&K and Ladakh.
The ministry further announced that the government employees of J&K and Ladakh will get salaries and benefits as per the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations.
The annual financial implication of the allowances like children education allowance, hostel allowance, transport allowance, LTC, fixed medical allowance for existing 4.5 lakh government employees will be around Rs 4,800 crore.
A modest Rs 607 crore of the total Rs 4,800 crore will be for children's education allowance, Rs 1,823 crore for hostel allowance, Rs 1,200 crore for transport allowance, Rs 1,000 crore for leave travel concession, Rs 108 crore for fixed medical allowance and Rs 62 crore for other allowances.

Oct 23, 2019

Bureaucratic Reshuffle In The Central Administration

The Union Government named Sanjeev Nandan Sahay as Secretary, Ministry of Power, in place of S.C. Garg, who had sought Voluntary Retirement from Service (VRS) after he was unceremoniously shunted out from the Ministry of Finance, where he had been Secretary, Economic Affairs.
Outgoing Power Secretary Garg's application was accepted and, as rules prescribe, his three month period of service will come to an end on October 31, 2019, a year before his superannuation in the normal course.
Another important appointment is that of Pankaj Kumar, a 1987 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the body that governs and implements Aadhaar.
With his appointment, the government has started appointing IAS officers belonging to the 1987 batch as Secretaries, after 25 officers were empanelled recently to hold the post of Secretary in the government.
Another notable change in top bureaucracy is the repatriation of Anil Kumar Khachi, who was appointed as Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management in July 2019, but has been replaced by Tuhin Kanta Pandey, who has been brought in from the Odisha State cadre. Mr. Khachi has been repatriated to his parent cadre of Himachal Pradesh on personal grounds.

Ashok Malik appointed MEA policy advisor

Ashok Malik, former press secretary to President Ram Nath Kovind, has been appointed policy advisor in the Ministry of External Affairs with the rank of additional secretary, an order by the Department of Personnel and Training.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Malik, a distinguished fellow in the Observer Research Foundation on contract basis.

Oct 22, 2019

Indian Banks Association Elects Rajnish Kumar As Chairman

SBI's head Rajnish Kumar has been elected as the chairman of the banking industry lobby Indian Banks Association for fiscal 2019-20.
The body, which represents banks' interests with the government and regulators, said it has three top bankers from various lenders as its deputy chairmen.
An official statement said these include Union Bank of India G Rajkiran Rai, S S Mallikarjuna Rao of Punjab National Bank and Madhav Kalyan JP Morgan Chase Bank.

Oct 21, 2019

Maha Wrestling Legend Dadu Chougule Dies Of Heart Attack

Wrestling legend Dadu Chougule died of a heart attack in Kolhapur in Maharashtra.
He was 73. He is survived by two sons.
Born in a farmer's family, Chougule received wrestling lessons early on and went on to join Motibaug Talim, one of the oldest talims (akharas or places for practicing wrestling), in Kolhapur which is known for its love for the traditional Indian sport.

EC Appoints Vinod Zutshi As Special Observer For Haryana Assembly Elections

Election Commission has appointed Vinod Zutshi, former Deputy Election Commissioner as Special Observer for the ensuing elections to Assandh Assembly Constituency in Karnal District of Haryana.
Mr Zutshi has been asked to take necessary corrective action and ensure a free, fair and peaceful election.
The decision was taken in view of the alleged circulation of controversial information on a video circulating on social media.
Mr Zutshi has earlier worked as Chief Electoral Officer, Rajasthan.

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