PERSONS APRIL 2014

PERSONS APRIL 2014

• Michael Hudson McHugh---- The Supreme Court of India on 29th April 2014 appointed former judge of the High Court of Australia, Michael Hudson McHugh as the third arbitrator to resolve the dispute between the Central government and Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on KG basin. McHugh was named as the Chairman of the Arbitral Tribunal on 2nd April 2014.The other two members of the tribunal are former Chief Justices of India, SP Bharucha and VN Khare. Former Justice Bharucha was nominated by Reliance as its arbitrator. Former Justice Khare nomination was chosen by Centre as its arbitrator. The decision of appointment of an international arbitrator as the Chairman was taken by the Supreme Court for adjudication of dispute that exist between Reliance and the government on the issue of recovery of cost for developing the country's key natural gas field in KG basin.
  
• Justice G Rohini (58)---- President of India on 11 April 2014 approved the name of Justice G Rohini (58) for appointment as the Next Chief Justice of Delhi High Court. With this, she will become the first women Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. Now, Justice Rohini is serving as the senior-most judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. She will serve the High Court of Delhi as its Chief Justice for a period of four years. She will succeed Acting Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed. Justice Rohini enrolled herself as an advocate in December 1980 and further became the chairman of the Andhra Pradesh State Bar Council. In 2001, she was appointed as an additional Judge and in 2002 was made a permanent Judge.
  
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez (87) --- Renowned Latin American author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, passed away in Mexico on 17 April 2014. He was considered as the most popular Spanish-language writer of our times. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1982 for literature. His novels and short stories vividly depicted the Latin America’s passion, superstition, violence and inequality. His first and epic novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” was published in 1967. This novel was a huge success and was translated into 25 languages around the world. His other books include- Love in the Time of Cholera, Autumn of the Patriarch, Of Love and Other Demons and Living to Tell the Tale.
  
• Admiral RK Dhowan---The Government on 17 April appointed Admiral RK Dhowan as the Chief of the Naval Staff. The Navy has been without a chief since the resignation of Admiral D.K. Joshi in February, when he resigned owning moral responsibility for a series of accidents on board submarines and warships. The government has appointed Vice-Admiral R.K. Dhowan as the new Navy chief, superseding Vice-Admiral Shekhar Sinha. Admiral RK Dhowan was commissioned in the Navy on 01 Jan 1975.
  
  He is a Navigation and Direction specialist who has served with distinction in an array of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments through his exemplary career spanning 40 years. He has commanded frontline warships INS Khukri, INS Ranjit, INS Delhi and served as Chief Staff Officer (Operations) Headquarters Western Naval Command. He has also served as Indian Naval Adviser at the High Commission of India, London. He has commanded the Eastern Fleet as Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet and served as Chief of Staff at Headquarters Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam. He also has the distinction of commanding the prestigious ‘National Defense Academy’, his alma mater as the Commandant.
  
• Arvind Mayaram--- Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram has been designated as Finance Secretary. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on 15 April approved a proposal to designate Mayaram as the Finance Secretary. The post of Finance Secretary was lying vacant since March 31 when Sumit Bose demitted office. Mayaram was a 1978 batch Rajasthan cadre Indian Administrative Service officer. He has been holding charge as Economic Affairs Secretary since 2012. The Finance Ministry currently has five secretaries including Mayaram.
  
• Justice R. M. Lodha --- Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha, Judge of the Supreme Court, is going to be appointed as the Chief Justice of India with effect from 27th April, 2014. The President can appoint in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of article 124 of the Constitution of India. Born on September 28, 1949 at Jodhpur, Justice Lodha practiced Law in the Rajasthan High Court and dealt with all branches of law; Constitutional, civil, company, Criminal, Taxation, Labour, etc. Elevated as a Permanent Judge of Rajasthan High Court on January 31, 1994.He was elevated as a Judge of Supreme Court of India on 17th December, 2008.
  
• Ratan Tata --- Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of the Tata Group on 11 April, become the only Indian member who was honoured to be inducted into the China’s high profile Boao Forum's 15 member board. The former Tata Sons chairman was invited to speak at an annual event known as “China's Davos” in Boao, in the southern island province of Hainan. The Chinese government-backed Boao Forum has become Beijing's most high-profile annual gathering, bringing together Chinese and international political and business elite. Others on the board include the former Communist Party of China Politburo member Zeng Peiyan, retired Chinese Ambassador to the United States Zhou Wenzhong, former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, the former Prime Minister of Singapore Goh Chok Tong, and the retired United States Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
  
• Sanjaya Baru ---- Sanjaya Baru, who was the media advisor of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh between 2004 and 2008 released his memoir book titled “The Accidental Prime Minister-The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh”. The book was released on 11 April 2014. The book has been published by Penguin India. The memoir has highlighted the fact that how the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) suffered from the duality of control and responsibility that affected the overall policy decision making. The writer has also noted that the key appointments to the cabinet and the PMO were also decided by Sonia Gandhi.
  
• D K Pathak---- Government has appointed senior IPS officer D K Pathak as the new Director General of the country's largest border guarding force BSF. Pathak, a 1979-batch officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, was till now posted as the Special DG of the BSF. The post of the Border Security Force chief has been vacant for the last one month after Subhash Joshi retired on February 28th.
  
• Nancy Powell---- US ambassador Nancy Powell has resigned, to her post for making way to reset of US-India relations with the new government in New Delhi. Powell said she had submitted her resignation to US President Barack Obama. Powell in her 37-year career in diplomatic jobs served as head of mission to Pakistan, Nepal and India among other countries.
  
• R. Gandhi---- R. Gandhi on 3rd April, appointed as Deputy Governor of the RBI. He is in his seat for a three year period. With this the RBI has four Deputy Governors. Other three are- KC Chakrabarty, HR Khan and Urjit Patel. R.Gandhi, who joined the RBI in 1980, was Executive Director of the central bank since March 2011.
  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is India's central banking institution which controls the monetary policy of the Indian rupee.
  • H.Q: Mumbai
  • Current Governor is Dr. Raghuram Rajan.
  • RBI was established on 1 April 1935 during the British Raj in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.Following India's independence in 1947, the RBI was nationalised in the year 1949.