PERSONS AUGUST 2013

PERSONS AUGUST 2013

• Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi (80) ----- Eminent Indian classical singer and music director, better known as a noted vocalist of Jayadeva's 'Gita Govind', Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi died of cardiac arrest in Bhuvaneswar. The doyen of Odissi music maestro had celebrated his 79th birthday on August 10.Pandit Panigrahi's effort to popularise poet Jayadeva's 'Gita Govinda', which has been hailed as the fountainhead of Odissi music, not just in the state but worldwide, has been praised by his admirers. Besides making his place in the world of classical music, Raghunath got the tag of being a 'Suramani' (a title given to him for his deeply mellifluous voice). He had also left an indelible mark on Odissi light classicals like 'Na Jaa Radhika' and an out-and-out modern love song like 'Nali Nali Ei, Krushnachuda' or 'Nupoor Bajaai Kie'.Pandit Raghunath was the first Odia singer to be honoured by the French government for his 'Gita Govinda' composition way back in the 70s. He got Padmashri award in 2010.
  
• Yasin Bhatkal---- In a major breakthrough for security agencies in India, Yasin Bhatkal, a key conspirator in several bomb blasts and co-founder of the banned Indian Mujahideen (IM),was arrested from the India-Nepal border in Bihar’s Raxaul town on 29 August. Yasin, originally named Mohammad Ahmed Zarar Siddibappa, is on India’s list of 12 most-wanted terror suspects. He is involved in Pune’s German Bakery blast and blasts in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai. The Bihar police detained him in Raxaul and the National Investigation Agency made the formal arrest. He was then taken to the district headquarters in Motihari.During his day-long interrogation, Yasin is learnt to have “revealed a lot about Pakistan’s role in several serial blasts in India.
  
• Deepak Sandhu---- Former media adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Deepak Sandhu, is likely to be appointed as next Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) to succeed Satyanand Mishra who retires early next month. Ms. Sandhu’s appointment is understood to have been cleared at a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the file recommending her name has been sent to the President’s office for his approval, official sources said on 27 August. The Chief Information Commissioner is appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee led by the Prime Minister and including the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM. Ms. Sandhu, a retired Indian Information Service (IIS) officer of 1971 batch, has already been serving in Central Information Commission as Information Commissioner since September 2009.
  
• Malati Chandur (84)----Telugu writer, novelist and columnist, Malathi Chandur, passed away following prolonged illness in Chennai on 21 August 2013. Malati Chandur was born in 1930 in Nuzvidu in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. She wrote more than 25 novels and had more than 300 translations into Telugu to her credit. Her more famous novels are Champakam, Cheedapurugulu, Aalochinchu, and Sadyogam. She was also a prolific short story writer and published several of stories in weekly magazines. Malati Chandur’s novels offered practical solutions to the problems women encounter in daily life. Most of her novels had a feminist slant. She was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for her novel Hrudaya Netri, and the Kalaprapoornam by the Padmavathi Women’s University.She was the recipient of Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy Award.
  
• Nishi Vasudeva----Nishi Vasudeva became the first woman to be selected as the head of the Navratna public sector unit (PSU), Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL). She became the head of the state-owned oil company HPCL. At present, she is the Director, Marketing, and HPCL and will take over as the chairman and managing director of the company. She will replace Subir Roy Choudhury, who will retire on 28 February 2014.
  
• Aswini kumar----Former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar has been appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as his Special Envoy to visit Japan in the rank of a Cabinet Minister on 22 August 2013.The Prime Minister has nominated Ashani Kumar to visit for up to seven days as PM's Special Envoy to maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges with Japan and to prepare for the upcoming visit of Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan and the Prime Minister of Japan to India. Ashwani Kumar resigned as Union Law Minister on 10 May 2013 for allegedly interfering in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in coal blocks allocation. The Supreme Court had come down heavily on the CBI for allowing the Law Ministry to vet the draft of its probe report on the coal allocation.
  
• Dilip Trivesi---- Senior IPS officer Dilip Trivedi has been appointed as the new chief of the country's largest paramilitary force CRPF. Trivedi, a 1978-batch officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, is presently serving as the Special Director General of the BSF. Trivedi has served in various positions in the state police and has also served in the Centre as ADG of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. The post of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) DG fell vacant on July 31st after incumbent Chief Pranay Sahay retired.
  
• Zafar Futehally (93)---- One of India’s best known naturalists and ornithologists, Zafar Futehally, passed away on 11th August, at his home in Kihim in Maharashtra. He was 93. Mr. Futehally spearheaded the early years of the conservation movement in India, serving as a link between conservationists and corporate. The Newsletter for Birdwatchers,which he founded, was a vital publication and served to document observations at a time when there was no digital documentation and there were few scientific studies on wildlife in the country. Mr. Futehally was associated for 60 years with the Bombay Natural History Society, of which he was honorary secretary for 16 years, till the 1970s, when he shifted to Bangalore. In Bangalore, Mr. Futehally’s home for four decades, he will be most remembered for nurturing a vibrant bird watching community.
  
• Abdul Karim Tunda--- the Delhi Police on 16th August arrested one of India's 20 most wanted terrorists, Abdul Karim Tunda, from Indo-Nepal border. 70-year-old Tunda, a bomb expert of Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit, was wanted in 21 terror cases. Tunda was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi police and produced in a Delhi court. Born in western UP and allegedly indoctrinated into the terrorist activities of Pakistan's ISI in the eighties, Tunda was trained in making improvised explosive devices and ranks number 15 in the dossier India handed over to Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks.After the serial blasts, Tunda allegedly fled to Bangladesh where he came under direct command of Lashkar chief Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi and soon became LeT's top bomb maker under the guidance of Lakhvi.
  
• "Metro Man" E. Sreedharan has been selected for the prestigious Lokmanya Tilak award for 2013 for his outstanding contribution to society. The name of Sreedharan, considered as the architect of the ambitious Delhi metro project, was announced by Deepak Tilak who heads the Lokmanya Tilak Trust. The Padmashree laureate is also credited for pulling off the Konkan Railway project. The award comprising a gold medal, a citation and Rs one lakh cash, will be conferred on Sreedharan on August 1, Tilak said.
  
• Ms. Runa Laila---- SAARC Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS made official visit to India from 31st July to 2nd August 2013, with the objective to extend support to the cause of HIV/AIDS especially on the issues of stigma and discrimination related to People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV). Ms. Laila from Bangladesh has been conferred the honorary title of SAARC Goodwill Ambassador by SAARC Secretariat for the next two years along with Ajay Devgan from India and Ms. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy from Pakistan. In the capacity of SAARC Goodwill Ambassador on HIV/AIDS, Ms. Laila would be contributing towards creating awareness on HIV/AIDS through public appearances using different platform. She would address the issues of stigma and discrimination prevailing in the community of SAARC Member States including mainstreaming HIV/AIDS to form part of development agenda and advocate for affordable treatment, care and support for PLHIV, facilitating fund raising from within and outside the SAARC region.
  
• Sharad Kumar-----Senior IPS officer Sharad Kumar was on 30 July, appointed as the new Director General (DG) of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).The DG post of the agency was lying vacant for about last two months following the retirement of incumbent SC Sinha. Sinha was later appointed as a member of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).Kumar is a 1979-batch Haryana cadre officer and he takes over the top post of the probe agency at a time when it is investigating important cases like Hyderabad blasts and the recent Bodh Gaya blasts in Bihar.
  
• Sujatha Singh--Assumed charge as Foreign Secretary on 1 August. Singh, a 1976 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, moved into her office in the Ministry of External Affairs in South Block. She succeeds Ranjan Mathai and will have a fixed tenure of two years. Asked about her priorities, Singh said the “immediate neighborhood” will be high on her agenda besides strengthening relations with strategic partners around the world. Singh said she would also optimize resources in the MEA and build on the work done by her predecessor.
  
• Samantha Power ----Samantha Power, on 2 August 2013 took oath to the office of US ambassador to United Nations.Vice-President, Joe Biden administered her, the oath to the office in a ceremony at the White House. Power succeeded Susan Rice, now the President Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser. Earlier, Samantha Power served as the Foreign Policy Adviser to Obama during his 2008 election campaign, and subsequently worked as an adviser in the White House. She started her career as a journalist and won a Pulitzer Prize for her book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide in 2003.
  
• The Senate of US approved the decision of Barack Obama to choose James Comey as the next director of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Comey was supported by the Senators with the vote of 93-1 on 29th July. He will be replacing Robert Mueller, who had remained the Director of FBI since 2001. In May 2013, Comey was reportedly nominated for the post of Director of FBI and news got confirmed officially in June 2013. He was chosen over Lisa Monaco, who had overseen the security issues of US at the Justice Department during the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya on 11 September 2012. Finally, on 29 July 2013, it was confirmed that the Senate gave approval for James Comey to be the Director of FBI for a complete 10-year term.
  
• Raghuram Rajan----The government has appointed Raghuram Rajan as the next governor of the Reserve Bank of India, raising hopes that the former IMF chief economist, who in 2005 famously predicted the financial crisis that hit the developed world three years later, will bring a fresh and perhaps more innovative approach to pull the economy out of the current crisis of slowing growth and a weakening currency. Rajan, 50, who is currently the chief economic advisor, will take over from D. Subbarao on September 4. He is the youngest governor of India's central bank since Sir C.D. Deshmukh, the first Indian governor whose tenure ran from August 1943 to June 1949.