Persons in News
A) Appointments
Obama appoints IIT graduate to admin post
U.S. President Barack Obama has announced to appoint eminent Indian-American, Romesh Wadhwani, to a key administration post by making him board of trustees of the prestigious John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Browne is new chairman of chiefs of staff
IAF chief Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne, who has become the senior most among the three Service chiefs after Admiral Nirmal Verma retired on 31st August 2012, has taken over as the new chairman of the chiefs of staff committee (CoSC) on 1st September 2012.
Chief Justice of India names Justice Kabir as his successor
Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia, who retires 28th September 2012, has recommended the name of seniormost Supreme Court judge Justice Altamas Kabir as his successor, setting in motion the process of change of guard in the apex court.
Deveshwar appointed on RBI board
The government has appointed ITC chairman Y.C. Deveshwar as a director on the central board of directors of the Reserve Bank of India.
Kaushik Basu World Bank chief economist
Kaushik Basu appointed as chief economist and Senior Vice President of World Bank by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim on 05th September 2012.He take charges from 1st October 2012.
Sachin Pilot commissioned as Territorial Army officer
Sachin Pilot 06th September 2012 became the first Union minister to be commissioned as a regular officer in the Territorial Army, fulfilling his desire to follow his father’s footsteps to be in the armed forces.
Indian-American elected to Royal Society of Canada
Ponisseril Somasundaran, an Indian American member of the faculty of Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been chosen as the sole foreign fellow of the prestigious Royal Society of Canada.
K N Tilak Kumar elected president of INS
K N Tilak Kumar of Deccan Herald and Prajavani was on 13th September 2012 elected president of The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) for 2012-13 at its 73rd annual general meeting held at Bangalore. He succeeds Ashish Bagga of India Today.
BCCI joint secretary Anurag Thakur becomes member of Asian Cricket Council
BCCI joint secretary and Hamirpur BJP MP, Anurag Thakur has been inducted as member of executive board of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).BCCI chief N Srinivasan is also the president of ACC.
Mary Kom brand ambassador of Raj Kundra’s SFL
Actress Shilpa Shetty Monday named Olympic bronze medal-winning boxer Mary Kom as the brand ambassador of Super Fight League (SFL).Shilpa’s husband, Britain-based businessman Raj Kundra, has collaborated with actor Sanjay Dutt for SFL, India’s first professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan appointed as International Goodwill Ambassador
The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has appointed Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as its International Goodwill Ambassador.She will raise global awareness on protecting children from HIV infection and increasing access to antiretroviral treatment.
Ramesh Abhishek is FMC chairman
Ramesh Abhishek, an IAS officer of 1982 Bihar cadre, appointed as chairman of Forward Markets Commission (FMC) on 24th September 2012
Woman of Pakistani origin becomes minister in Norway
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has appointed a Pakistani Muslim woman, Hadia Tajik as Norway’s culture minister.
Sandeep Patil appointed as the Chief for BCCI Senior Selection Committee
Former Cricketer and all-rounder, Sandeep Patil was appointed as the Chairman of the five member senior selection committee of BCCI on 27 September 2012. The other four members of the committee include Saba Karim, Roger Binny, Vikram Rathour and Rajinder Singh Hans.
Ex-Navy chief Admiral Verma to be envoy to Canada
Nirmal Verma, the former navy chief on 27 September 2012 was appointed as India’s high commissioner to Canada.
Altamas Kabir sworn in as new Chief Justice of India
Justice Altamas Kabir, seniormost Judge of the Supreme Court, was sworn in as the 39th Chief Justice of India on 29th September 2012.
B) Resigns
Australian Cricketer, Matthew Hayden retired from all formats of the game
Former Australia Test opener Matthew Hayden has decided to retire from all forms of cricket, adding the Twenty20 version of the game to the Test and international one-day formats he stopped playing in 2010.Hayden played 103 Tests for Australia, hitting 30 centuries with a top score of 380 and an average of 50.73.
Ajit Pawar resigns as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar resigns as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister on 25th September 2012 due the allegations of an irrigation scam when he was the state’s water resource minister.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, S.H. Kapadia, retired
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, S.H. Kapadia, retired on 28th September 2012.
C)Deaths
Dr. Verghese Kurien, father of India’s White Revolution passes away
Dr. Verghese Kurien, the Father of the White Revolution, passed away on 9th September 2012 after a brief illness. Dr. Kurien was the architect of India’s White Revolution, which helped India emerge as the largest milk producer in the world.
Iraq vice president sentenced to death
A Baghdad court sentenced in absentia Iraq’s vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, to death on hanging for the murder of a woman lawyer and terrorism charges .
U.S. ambassador to Libya killed in mob attack
The ambassador of the United States to Libya, Christopher Stevens, has been killed during an armed mob attack in Benghazi on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.Mr. Stevens is the second U.S. ambassador to be killed during an outstation posting since the death of Adolph Dubs in 1979 during his tenure in Afghanistan.
Ex-CJI Ranganath Misra passes away
Former Chief Justice of India Ranganath Mishra died at a private hospital in Bhubaneshwar on 13th September 2012.Misra, served as the Chief Justice from September 25, 1990, till November 24, 1991. He was also the first chairman of the NHRC.
Former RSS chief K Sudarshan passes away
Kuppalli Sitaramayya Sudarshan , who attended his first RSS shakha (class) at the age of nine, was passes away on 15 September 2012 at Raipur.
Veteran actor-director Dinesh Thakur passes away
Veteran theatre actor-director Dinesh Thakur, known for his character roles in Hindi films of the 70s, passed awayin Mumbai on 20th September 2012 after prolonged illness.
Freedom fighter, Telangana leader Bapuji dies
Eminent freedom fighter and a well-known figure in the Telangana movement, Konda Lakshman Bapuji died in Hyderabad on 21st September 2012. He earned the nickname Bapuji for his participation in the Quit India Movement.
Popular Malayalam film actor Thilakan passes away
Thilakan, who had acted in around 200 films and had won the national award for the best actor in a supporting role, died in Thiruvananthapuram on 24th September 2012.
Former National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra dead
Brajesh Mishra, the country’s first National Security Adviser who played a key role in foreign policy matters and pushed for deeper engagement with the US, died in New Delhi on 28th September 2012 following a heart ailment.
D) Visitors
India, Tajikistan upgrade ties, sign four pacts
India and Tajikistan, the energy-rich Central Asian nation, 03rd September 2012 decided to upgrade their ties to the level of strategic partnership and signed four pacts in areas of education, health, sports and culture.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues and decided to upgrade their growing ties to the level of a strategic partnership.
Antony opens army hospital in Male
Defence Minister A.K. Antony, on a three-day visit to the Maldives, on 16th September 2012 opened ‘SENAHIYA,’ a Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) hospital, established in Male with Indian assistance.Maldives Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim thanked India for its assistance to his country in all areas of development and said the enduring friendship between the two countries would improve and expand, irrespective of political changes.
E)Miscellaneous
Washington Post calls PM a ‘tragic figure’
Soon after Time magazine labelled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh an ‘Underachiever’, the noted American news daily, Washington Post, has referred to him as a “tragic figure”.The Washington Post said Singh’s image is of a “dithering ineffectual bureaucrat presiding over a deeply corrupt government”.
Indian writer Jeet Thayil on Man Booker shortlist
Indian writer Jeet Thayil’s first novel ‘Narcopolis’, described as a compelling tale of Mumbai’s hazy world of opium addiction, has made it to the six-author short list for the Man Booker Prize 2012 announced on 11th September 2012.
Sunita Williams takes over command at International Space Station
Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams has taken over command of the International Space Station (ISS), yet another feather in her cap as she already holds three records for female space travellers including a new record for total cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut.
Space Triathlon Completed By Sunita Williams
Williams became the first person in history to complete a triathlon in space.Williams, who is currently aboard the International Space Station finished her half mile swim, 18 mile bike ride, and four mile run in one hour, 48 minutes, and 33 seconds.
Pakistani Government Relents in Judicial Standoff Over Zardari Corruption Case
Pakistan’s government relented on 18th September 2012 to judicial demands that it agree to write a letter to the authorities in Switzerland regarding corruption charges against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Nivedita Bhasin becomes first woman B-787 Dreamliner pilot
Senior Air India pilot Capt Nivedita Bhasin has become the first woman to command the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.She is presently the only women pilot for the B-787’s commercial flight in the world.
$1,00,000 cash reward for the death of an anti-Islam film producer
A Pakistani government Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour has offered a $100,000 (£61,616) reward for the death of the maker of an anti-Islam film produced in the US.
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