General Awareness

PERSONS IN NEWS - December 2019

Dec 2019

Jul 08, 2020

Ennio Morricone, Italian Composer Passed Away

Two times Oscar winner, Ennio Morricone, Italian Composer passed away at the age of 91 in Campus Bio-Medico, a clinic in Rome, Italy, where he was admitted due to a broken femur. He was born on 10th November 1928 in Rome, Italy.
At the age of 12 he joined Rome's conservatory and started studying trumpet and later joined the orchestra of Academy of Santa Cecilia.
He worked for theatres and radios and worked with Italy's popular pop stars from 1950s to 1960s.
He got his first credit for the feature film, Il Federale in 1961.
He worked as a composer for 500 films, television programmes, songs and orchestras.
He became famous through his scores for Spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood directed by Sergio Leone.

Sijo Kuruvilla George Becomes Member of Centre's Committee on Science and Tech Policy

Sijo Kuruvilla George, the CEO of start-up village and founder of Re-think Foundation has been selected as a member of Central Government's Expert Committee on Science and Technology Policy led by Harkesh Mittal (also heads the department of Science and Technology).
The Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 is a formation by the Department of Science and technology and principle Scientific advisor of union Government.
It is the fifth science and technology policy in the country.
Sijo kuruvilla is the only member from Kerala, as a part of the eight member panel.
The committee is updating the existing 2013 policy to encourage scientific innovations.
The policy changes in the area of entrepreneurship including space, health, and atomic physics are considered.
Sijo is a part of an expert committee to initiate the first phase of policy making.

Jul 07, 2020

Injeti Srinivas New Chairman of IFSCA

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the appointment of Injeti Srinivas as chairman of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).
The former corporate affairs secretary and 1983-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre will head the IFSCA for a period of three years.
While at the helm of the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA), Srinivas was instrumental in pushing through significant reforms in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and the Companies Act.
The IFSCA was established by the finance ministry in April 2020 as the unified authority to regulate all financial services in International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) in the country.

Thierry Delaporte Takes Charge as Wipro CEO and MD

Thierry Delaporte took charge as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of IT services major Wipro.
In January this year, Wipro had said that its CEO and Managing Director Abidali Z Neemuchwala had decided to step down from the company. Abidali Neemuchwala relinquished his position as CEO and MD on June 1.
Rishad Premji was overseeing the day-to-day operations of the company until July 5.
Thierry Delaporte was the Chief Operating Officer of Capgemini Group and a member of its group executive board. During his 25 year career with Capgemini.

Jul 06, 2020

Earl Cameron: British Film and TV Star Dies

Earl Cameron, one of the first black actors to forge a successful career in British film and television, died aged 102.
Cameron first appeared on screen in the 1951 film Pool of London, in a rare starring role for a black actor.
Cameron was an inspirational man who stood by his moral principles.
Cameron was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.
His other screen credits include 1965 Bond movie Thunderball and Doctor Who.
As an artist and actor he refused to accept roles that demeaned or stereotyped the character of people of colour.

Jul 03, 2020

Chola MS General Insurance Gets New MD

The Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company promoted V. Suryanarayanan, President and COO of the company as the new Managing Director (MD). He succeeded S. S. Gopalarathnam.
S. S. Gopalarathnam, who joined the Murugappa Group in 1979 served the company for around 41 years in finance and marketing function retired in July.
S. S. Gopalarathnam, started Cholamandalam MS General Insurance in 2002 as a founding member.
Suryanarayanan served in Cholamandalam Investments and Finance for 10 years and moved to Chola MS as the CFO in 2006 and became the President and COO in April 2019.

Saroj Khan Passes Away

Bollywood choreographer Saroj Khan died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 71.
Saroj was admitted to Mumbai's Guru Nanak Hospital last month after she complained of trouble in breathing. She had tested negative for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
She was fondly called 'Masterji' by stars whom she choreographed, Saroj directed over 2000 songs in her long and storied career.
Born in 1948, Saroj Khan started her career as a child artiste at the age of 3. Graduating to a back-up dancer in the 1950s, she worked with choreographer B Sohanlal.
She started working as a choreographer with Geeta Mera Naam (1974), but it was while working with Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit in the 80s and 90s that her career touched new heights.

Rattan Lal and Dr. Uma Lele from India Named by UN Chief to Scientific Group for 2021 Food Summit

Antonio Guterres, Chief of United Nations, named Prof. Rattan Lal and Dr. Uma Lele (Agricultural experts) from India as members of International Scientific group to offer foremost scientific evidence for sustainable food systems for global food summit 2021.
UN Secretary General, Gutters will Convene the Food Systems Summit in 2021, as a critical contribution to the decade of Action to deliver 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
It aims to raise awareness about the food system challenges to be solved by the nations and to change food systems to provide safe and nutritious food around the globe.
Prof. Lal is an Indian-American soil scientist.
Dr. Uma is from the International Association of Agricultural economists (IAAE).

Jul 02, 2020

Shrikant Madhav Vaidya Takes Charge as IOC Chairman

Shrikant Madhav Vaidya took charge as the new chairman of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
Prior to his elevation, Vaidya was the Director (Refineries) on the IOC Board, since October 2019. He succeeded Sanjiv Singh, who superannuated from the services of the Corporation on June 30.
Concurrently, Vaidya will also be Chairman of Chennai Petroleum Corporation, a stand-alone refining subsidiary of IOC and Indian Oiltanking Ltd. Vaidya who is on the board of Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd will be taking over as its Chairman and will also be Director on the Board of Petronet LNG.

Indra Mani Pandey India's Next Permanent Representative to UN

Diplomat Indra Mani Pandey was appointed as India's next Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organisations in Geneva.
Pandey, a 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is currently serving as an additional secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
He is expected to take up the assignment shortly. Pandey succeeds Rajiv K. Chander in Geneva.
In his nearly three-decade career, Pandey served in Indian missions in Damascus, Cairo, Islamabad, Kabul, Muscat and Geneva.

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