Current Affairs - June to August 2019

Month August 2019 Type Appointments

86 Current Affairs were found in Last Three Months for Type - Appointments

Appointments 1. Abdalla Hamdok is appointed as prime minister of Repiblic of Sudan (Northeast Africa). 2. Abhay Thakur has been appointed as New Indian permanent representative to economic Community of West African States ( ECOWAS). 3. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Leader of Congress party in ) appointed as Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC). PAC has 15 members from Lok Sabha and seven from Rajya Sabha. Term of office of members of PAC committee does not exceed 1 year at a time. Notably, Girish Bapat was appointed as chairman of . 4. Ajay Kumar Bhalla appointed as new Union Home Secretary, succeeding Rajiv Gauba. Other Misc. ACC Appointments - Secretaries (Ministeries) - Subhash Chandra Garg - Secretary in Ministry of Power. R. S. Shukla - Secretary in Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. Ravi Capoor - Secretary in Ministry of Textiles. Secretaries (Departments) - Atanu Chakraborty - Secretary in Department of Economic Affairs (Ministry of Finance). Anuradha Mitra - Secretary in Department of Official Language (Ministry of Home Affairs). Anshu Prakash - Secretary in Department of Telecommunications (Ministry of Communications). Anil Kumar Khachi - Secretary in Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Ministry of Finance). Guruprasad Mohapatra - Secretary in Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (Ministry of Commerce & Industry). Atul Chaturvedi - Secretary in Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying). P.O. Vaghela - Secretary in Department of Pharmaceuticals (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers). Chairperson - S.P. Singh Parihar - Chairman in Central Pollution Control Board (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change). 5. Ajit Doval has been Re-appointed as National Security Adviser (NSA). He has also been given cabinet rank (with tenure of five years), as recognition of his contribution in national security. 6. Alejandro Giammattei has been elected as new president of Guatemala (Central America). 7. Amit Agarwal (Former Amazon head) has been appointed as new chairman of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). 8. Arun Kumar has been given additional charge of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). He currently holds position of an additional secretary at aviation ministry. 9. BJP's BS Yeddyurappa has been appointed as chief minister of Karnataka for his 4th term. Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri elected as Speaker of Karnataka Assembly. BJP staked claim for government formation after HD Kumaraswamy's government failed to prove majority. HD Kumaraswamy resigned as Karnataka CM after Congress-JD(S) coalition government lost trust vote in Karnataka floor test. Floor test took place after 15 rebel legislators submitted their resignation to speaker of house and two independents withdrew their support to Congress-JD(S) coalition. 10. Bharatiya Janta Party’s (BJP) Virendra Kumar appointed as Pro-tem Speaker of Newly Elected . After formation of a new government, a pro tem speaker is selected to chair first meeting after election when Speaker and Deputy Speaker are selected. 11. Boris Johnson took charge as new Prime Minister of United Kingdom (UK). He replaced outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May, who was forced to step aside after failing to deliver a Brexit deal. Newly appointed UK Cabinet has 3 Indian-origin ministers - Priti Patel - UK home secretary Alok Sharma - International development secretary Rishi Sunak - Chief secretary to the Treasury. 12. Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian and B. Sriram former (MD and CEO of IDBI Bank) are appointed part-time members of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI). IBBI is headed by M. S. Sahoo. 13. China’s Qu Dongyu elected as new director general of United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at Rome (Italy) for 4 years. 14. Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has been elected as external auditor of World Health Organization (WHO) for four years term (2020 to 2023. 15. Cricket Administrator Body BCCI appointed Rahul Dravid as Head of National Cricket Academy (NCA), Located in Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru). 16. Denmark’s Inger Andersen appointed as new Executive Director (ED) of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), for 4 years term. 17. Eastern Army Commander Manoj Mukund Naravane has been appointed as next vice-chief of Indian Army. He will succeed D Anbu. 18. Exporters body Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has elected Sharad Kumar Saraf as its new president. 19. Former Indian Cricketer Vikram Rathour has beee appointed as India's new batting coach, replacing Sanjay Bangar. Bharath Arun and R. Sridhar were retained as bowling and fielding coaches. Ravi Shastri was earlier retained as head coach. 20. Former International Monetary Funf (IMF) Chief Christine Lagarde will now be new head of European Central bank (ECB), replacing Mario Draghi. Christine Lagarde will become first woman to lead ECB. She will step down 2 years before end of her second five-year term as IMF Chief. 21. Former Supreme Court judge A K Sikri has been appointed as an International Judge of Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC). 22. Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen appointed as President-designate of the European Commission, replacing Jean-Claude Juncker. 23. Giriraj Prasad Gupta appointed as Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in Department of Expenditure (Ministry of Finance). 24. Government Appointed Shefali Juneja as India’s representative in Council of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), for 3 years. ICAO is a United Nations agency, tasked with regulating international air travel. ICAO was established in 1944 by Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention). It is headquartered in Quartier International of Montreal (Canada). 25. Government appointed V.S. Kaumudi as Director General of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), lowering the post to the rank of Additional Director General. 26. Government appointed VG Somani as Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), to head Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). 27. Government gave additional charge of post of Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau to Rakesh Asthana (Director General of Civil Aviation Security (DG CAS)). 28. Govt Appointed M Nageswar Rao (Former Additional Director of CBI) as Director General of Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guard. 29. Govt. Appointed Amita Prasad as Chairperson in Inland Waterways Authority of India. Also, Arun Kumar Jha has been appointed as Director General in National Productivity Council. Amita Prasad was earlier posted as Chairperson in National Productivity Council. 30. Govt. Appointed Arun Kumar as new Director General (DG) in Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). 31. Govt. Appointed as new Finance Secretary of India, to replace Subhash Chandra Garg, who has been sent to Power Ministry. 32. Govt. Appointed Vivek Kumar as Private Secretary to Prime Minister. He was earlier working as Director in Prime Minister’s Office. 33. Govt. appointed Ajay Kumar Bhalla as Union Home Secretary. Previous Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba was recently appointed as cabinet secrtetary. 34. Govt. appointed Arvind Kumar as Director of Intelligence Bureau (IB) for 2 years, succeeding Rajiv Jain. Govt also appointed Samant Kumar Goel as Director of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), for 2 years, succeeding Anil K Dhasmana. Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) also approved extension of tenure of Amitabh Kant as CEO of NITI Aayog for 2 years. 35. Govt. appointed Vikas Swarup as Secretary, (consular, passport, visa and Overseas Indian affairs) in External Affairs Ministry. 36. Govt. made several key Appointments - Rajiv Gauba as Cabinet Secretary, for 2 years term. Ajay Kumar as Secretary in Department of Defence (Ministry of Defence) (called defence secretary). Brij Kumar Agarwal as Secretary to the Lokpal. Subash Chandra as as Secretary in Department of Defence Production (Ministry of Defence). 37. Govt. reappointed NS Vishwanathan as Deputy Governor of RBI for one year. Other RBI Deputy Governors are - M. K. Jain, B.P. Kanungo. Another Deputy Governor Viral Acharya Resigned recently. 38. ITBP Director General S S Deswal has been given additional charge of counter-terror force National Security Guard (NSG). 39. Indian Airline SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh elected to board of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). 40. Indian Author Amish Tripathi named as the director of London’s Nehru Centre, under Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). London’s Nehru Centre was established in 1992, to promote cultural exchange between India and UK. 41. Indian Olympic Association president Narinder Batra has been elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee. 42. Indian theoretical physicist Atish Dabholkar has been appointed as new director of Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. 43. International Monetary Fund (IMF) appointed American economist David Lipton as its interim leader, replacing Christine Lagarde. Christine Lagarde will now be new head of European Central bank (ECB), replacing Mario Draghi. Christine Lagarde will become first woman to lead ECB. She will step down 2 years before end of her second five-year term as IMF Chief. 44. K Natarajan has been appointed as new Director General (DG) of Indian Coast Guard (ICG), succeeding Rajendra Singh. 45. Karnataka Chief Minister Yediyurappa appointed Govind Makthappa Karajol, Ashwath Narayan CN and Laxman Sangappa Savadi as deputy chief ministers. Its first time that 3 deputy CMs have been appointed in state. 46. Kazakhstan Interim President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev won Presidential elections. Earlier Prez Nursultan Nazarbayev had resigned in March 2019, Presidentship was then transferred to Speaker of Upper House, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. 47. Kyriakos Mitsotakis Appointed as the prime minister of Greece (Southeastern Europe). 48. LIC Subsidiary LIC Housing Finance appointed Siddhartha Mohanty as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. 49. Lionel Aingimea has been appointed as new president of pacific nation Nauru. 50. Manoj Kumar Nambiar (MD of Arohan Financial Services) elected as chairman of Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN). 51. Misc. Appointments (August 2019) - Govt. appointed Madhumita Hazarika Bhagat as New Indian Ambassador to Republic of Cyprus. PSU Power Grid Corporation appointed Kandikuppa Sreekant as its chairman and managing director. Global Financial Firm HSBC appointed Noel Quinn as interim CEO. Indian IT Firm Mindtree appointed Debashis Chatterjee as its new MD & CEO. Government extended tenure of State Bank of India (SBI) Managing Director (MD)Dinesh Kumar Khara by 2 years. Government appointed Ghotu Ram Meena as New Indian Ambassador to Democratic Republic of Congo (Central Africa). Elangbam Valentina Devi, a 9-year-old girl from Manipur was made the ambassador of ‘Chief Minister’s Green Manipur Mission’. She had planted two Gulmohar trees near her house in Kakching district of Manipur when she was in class 1. She wept immensely when she saw the trees uprooted after coming from school. Yes Bank appointed Anurag Adlakha as Group Chief Financial Officer and Raj Ahuja as Group Chief Strategy Officer. Former New Zealand Cricketer Brendon McCullum appointed as head coach of IPL Team Kolkata Knight Riders, replacing Jacques Kallis. Financial Firm Paytm Appointed Madhur Deora as its President. National Housing Bank (NHB) appointed Jaishankar R. Padmanabhan as Executive Director (special grade). Shavendra Silva is appointed as Sri Lankan Army Chief. He has earlier been accused of war crimes. HDFC Bank appointed Srinivasan Vaidyanathan as Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Padmaja appointed as New India High Commissioner to Cook Islands. Government appointed Pavan Kapoor as New Indian Ambassador to United Arab Emirates(UAE). Pramod Agrawal will be appointed as Chairman and Managing Director of Coal India Limited. Former Delhi HC Judge Sunil Gaur has been appointed as Chairperson of PMLA Appellate Tribunal. Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Shalija Dhami became 1st female officer to be appointed as flight commander of a flying unit, after she took over a Chetak helicopter unit at Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad. Govt. approved extension of tenure of CBDT Chairman Pramod Chandra Mody, by one year. 52. Misc. Appointments (July 2019) - Karnam Sekar is appointed as MD & CEO of Indian Overseas Bank (IOB). Haryana Government appointed Keshni Anand Arora as state’s new chief secretary. Govt gave additional charge of Secretary in Ministry of Textiles to Rabindra Panwar (Secretary in Ministry of Women and Child Development). Govt. appointed MTNL CMD P.K. Purwar as Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, as an additional charge for 3 months. RBI appointed AK Misra as an additional director at Jammu and Kashmir Bank. B Harideesh Kumar has been appointed as director of Institute of Banking Personnel Selection, the Prime Recruitment Agency of Govt. American employment-oriented service LinkedIn appointed Ashutosh Gupta as its new Head for India Operations. Dinesh Bhatia has been appointed as New Indian Ambassador to Oriental Republic of Uruguay (South America). US Based IT Firm Accenture Appointed Julie Sweet as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and David Rowland as Executive Chairman. Former Indian Cricketer Kiran More appointed as interim coach of USA cricket team. Chandrakant Kavlekar appointed as new Deputy Chief Minister of replacing . is chief minister of Goa. Purnendu S. Mishra appointed as new Member Traffic in Railway Board. Upender Singh Rawat appointed as New Indian Ambassador to Panama (Central America). Sanjeev Kumar Singla appointed as New Indian Ambassador to Israel. Ajay Bhadoo has been appointed as Joint Secretary to the President. India’s Kishen Mangaldas Narsi appointed as Chairman of Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) competitions commission. India’s Vivek Kohli and M P Singh elected as chairman and secretary-general respectively of Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation (CTTF). U.S. Senate confirmed Mark Esper as US Secretary of Defence. Govt. extended term of Sanjay Kothari as Secretary to the President. Bandhan Bank appointed Sanjeev Naryani as its head of business. Sunil Kumar has been appointed asb chairman and managing director of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL). Government re-appointed Badri Narayan Sharma as chairman of the National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) for another 2 years. Dinesh Bhatia has been appointed as New Indian ambassador to Paraguay (South America). India’s first and only Sports Gaming self-regulatory industry body, Indian Federation of Sports Gaming (IFSG) named former Supreme Court judge A. K. Sikri, as its ombudsman and Ethics Officer. 53. Misc. Appointments (June 2019) - Chhattisgarh government has been appointed as new advocate general of State. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank appointed Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal as its independent director. Gianni Infantino has been re-elected as President of Football Governing Body FIFA until 2023. Indonesia's Anton Aditya Subowo re- elected as President of Badminton Asia. Government appointed PJS Pannu as Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence staff (operations). Government appointed Arun Kumar Sahu as next High Commissioner of India to Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Cabinet Secratary Pradeep Kumar Sinha has been given extension for three months. Jammu and Kashmir government removed Parvez Ahmad as J&K Bank Chairman, and appointed RK Chibber as interim chairman. Indian-American Pramila Jayapal became first South Asian American woman to preside over US House of Representatives as a temporary speaker. N Gopalaswami appointed as electoral officer to supervise BCCI’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) election. Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi has been appointed as new Indian Ambassador to Belize (Central America). Dinesh K Tripathi appointed as commandant of Indian Naval Academy Ezhimala (Kerala). British consumer goods Firm Reckitt Benckiser Appointed PepsiCo's Indian Origin Executive Laxman Narasimhan as New CEO. Govt. appointed Nripendra Misra as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister and P.K. Mishra as Additional Principal Secretary to Prime Minister. Both Designations will be assigned rank of Cabinet Minister. Also, IV Subba Rao will Continue as Secretary to Vice President. Bhola Nath Shukla appointed as Chairman-cum-Managing Director of PSU Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL). V Ravi Anshuman appointed as part-time member in Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for 3 years. China appointed Sun Weidong as new Ambassador to India. Government appointed Ms. Padmaja as next Indian High Commissioner to Republic of Oceanic Nation Tuvalu. RBI promoted Rabi N Mishra as executive director (ED). Faiz Hameed appointed by Pakistan military as new Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), military-led spy agency of Pakistan. ISI Chief is answerable only to Army chief and not Prime Minister. Govt. approved extension to Alok Vardhan Chaturvedi's tenure as Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). Uttar Pradesh Govt. appointed Prabhat Kumar as new chairman of Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission. 54. Mohamed Ould Ghazouani Became First Elected President of Mauritania (Northwest Africa). Mauritania went to polls for first time since gaining independence from France 60 years ago. After independence, it was mostly ruled by Non-elected military governments. 55. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra is appointed as Director-General India Meteorological Department (IMD). 56. NASA selected Dipankar Banerjee, solar physicist from Indian Institute of Astrophysics as a Co-Investigator for its PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere), which will image the Sun. This is a landmark mission that will image regions beyond the Sun’s outer corona. 57. Nagaland Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya has been given additional charge of Governor of Manipur, in absensce of (Governor of Manipur). 58. Nalin Shinghal appointed as chairman and managing director of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL). 59. Nayib Bukele has been appointed as New President of El Salvador (Central American Nation). 60. New Governors Appointed - Himachal Pradesh - Kerala - Arif Mohammad Khan - - Telangana - Tamilisai Soundararajan (First Separate Governor of Telangana). 61. New Governors Appointed - Kalraj Mishra - Himachal Pradesh Acharya Devvrat - Gujarat (transferred from Himachal Pradesh) Anusuiya Uikey - Chhattisgarh. Biswa Bhushan Harichandan - Andhra Pradesh. 62. New Governors Appointed - Uttar Pradesh - (Earlier Madhya Pradesh) Nagaland - R. N. Ravi Madhya Pradesh - Lalji Tandon (Earlier Bihar) Bihar - Phagu Chauhan Himachal Pradesh - Kalraj Mishra Gujarat - Acharya Dev Vrat West Bengal - Jagdeep Dhankhar Andhra Pradesh - Tripura - Ramesh Bais Chhattisgarh - Anusuiya Uikey 63. Newly Appointed Deputy CMs and Speakers of Recently elected State Assemblies - Andhra Pradesh - Speaker - Tammineni Sitaram Deputy CM - Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose, Alla Nani, K. Narayana Swamy, Pushpasreevani Pamula, Amzath Basha Shaik Bepari Chief Minister - Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy Also, Ajeya Kalama is appointed as Principal Advisor to Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jaganmohan Reddy. Arunachal Pradesh - Speaker - Pasang Dorjee Sona Chief Minister - Odisha - Speaker - Surjya Narayan Patro Chief Minister - Naveen Patnaik (CM for his 5th Consecutive Term) Sikkim - Speaker - L. B. Das Chief Minister - Prem Singh Tamang 64. Noted Indian historian Romila Thapar elected as international member of American Philosophical Society (APS). She is renowned for her scholarship on emperor Aśoka, epigraphy of Mauryan period, and ground-breaking studies about contested Hindu and Muslim history of Somnath. She is among 1013 members elected to APS at its spring 2019 meeting. 65. Noted Indian sprinter P.T. Usha has been appointed as a member of the Asian Athletics Association’s (AAA) Athletes Commission, as her 2nd appointment at the post. 66. Noted biologist Chandrima Shaha became first woman to get elected as President of Indian National Science Academy (INSA), for 3 years. 67. Om Birla (BJP MP from Kot-Boondi in Rajasthan) elected as Lok Sabha Speaker for 17th Lok Sabha. He replaced Virendra Kumar who was appointed as Pro-tem Speaker of Newly Elected 17th Lok Sabha. 68. P.K. Sinha has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty in Prime Minister's Office, after Nripendra Misra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister submitted his resignation. 69. Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ehsan Mani has been appointed as head of the ICC’s influential Finance and Commercial Affairs committee. 70. Paramjit Singh has been appointed as New Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of Indian Army, replacing Anil Chauhan. 71. Prasanta Kumar Saikia Appointed as Chairperson of Lokayukta in Arunachal Pradesh. 72. Prashant Kumar has been Appointed as Acting Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court, after previous Chief Justice D N Patel was appointed as Chief Justice of Delhi High Court. 73. RBI approved appointment of Rakesh Makhija as chairman of Axis Bank, with effect from July 18, 2019 to July 17, 2022. 74. RBI assigned deputy governor B.P. Kanungo to run the monetary policy portfolio and forecasting department, After exit of Viral Acharya. Now, all 3 deputy governors N S Vishwanathan, B P Kanungo and M K Jain have been made responsible for 12 departments each. 75. Raghvendra Singh Chauhan appointed as Chief Justicee of Telangana High Court. Also, V Ramasubramanian appointed appointed as Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court. 76. Ravi Shastri has been re-appointed as head coach of Indian men’s cricket team till 2021 by Kapil Dev-led Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC). 77. Ravinder Takkar has been appointed as MD and CEO of Telecom Firm Idea-Vodafone, replacing Balesh Sharma. 78. Russell Domingo (South Africa) has been head coach of Bangladesh Cricket Team (Men), replacing Steve Rhodes(England). 79. SBI MD Anshula Kant has been appointed as Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of World Bank. She will be the 1st woman CFO of World Bank. Since September 2018, she has been a Managing Director and member of World Bank Board. 80. Sarada Kumar Hota (MD & CEO of Can Fin Homes) has been appointed as MD of National Housing Bank. 81. Sharad Kumar has been named interim Central Vigilance Commisioner until a new incumbent is chosen. 82. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawarchand Gehlot has been appointed Leader of Rajya Sabha (Council of States). 83. Tamil Nadu Government appointed K Shanmugam as Chief Secretary (CS) of Tamil Nadu, and JK Tripathy as Director General of Police (DGP) of State. 84. Thailand Parliament elected Prayuth Chan-ocha as Prime Minister. 85. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande (Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN)) has been elected as President of 74th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). He will succeed Maria Fernanda Espinosa as President of next General Assembly session that commences in September 2019. 86. VP Sivakolundhu has been elected as new Speaker of Puducherry Assembly. Top

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