PERSONS AUGUST 2015

PERSONS AUGUST 2015

• Vince Chhabria: A 46-year-old Indian-American federal judge is among 11 people elevated as a full-time judge in the third largest US state California by President Barack Obama. Vince Chhabria was appointed the Bay Area's first Indian-American federal judge. The appointment was made as President Obama transformed most of the Bay Area's federal judiciary, filling 11 of the 14 full-time judgeships on the region's federal court -- the most dramatic makeover of a district court bench in the nation
  
  Chhabria was confirmed last year year to a seat in San Francisco. He once clerked for US Supreme Court Judge Stephen Breyer, as well as his brother, San Francisco federal judge Charles Breyer. He has issued significant decisions allowing cases, inlcuding that of labour laws, against transport companies Uber and Lyft's models to proceed. Previously in a historic moment for the Indian-Amercican community, Obama had nominated Chhabria, to serve as a federal judge in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. San Francisco-born Chhabria, whose father came to the US from Mumbai on a college scholarship, is a graduated with honours from University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall) and the University of California, Santa Cruz.
  
• Devpreet Singh: Devpreet Singh has been appointed as the new CBI spokesperson in place of Kanchan Prasad who will resume charge as director(News) in Doordarshan News. In an order issued by information and broadcasting ministry, Singh, who was on a study leave for completion of her PhD, has been appointed as chief information officer with effect from September 9 next month. A 1992-batch Indian Information Service officer, Singh was director (News-News Services Division) All India Radio before she went on a sabbatical.
  
• Girish Sahni: Girish Sahni has assumed charge as the next Director General of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, Ministry of Science & Technology, with effect from August 24. The post had been lying vacant since the retirement of Samir Brahmachari in December 2014. Sahni, a PhD from Indian institute of Science, Bengaluru, had earlier been the Director, CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh.
  
• Marcy Borders: Marcy Borders, who became known as the “dust lady” from a defining picture of her covered in ash and grime on Sept. 11, 2001, died on 25th August. She is a survivor of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York who was featured in one of the most iconic photographs of the outrage has died of stomach cancer.
  
• Novak Djokovic: Novak Djokovic, the world’s top ranked tennis player, was appointed Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), after having served as the agency’s Serbia Ambassador and promoting children’s rights within his own private foundation.
  
  He also signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the World Bank and the Novak Djokovic Foundation, setting out how the two institutions can partner more closely to promote early childhood development.
  
  The Fund and the Foundation have established a close cooperation on bringing early childhood services to every child and family in Serbia, and the welcome addition of the Bank’s resources will allow an even broader reach to the most deprived children around the world.
  
• Shaktikanta Das: Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das was appointed Secretary, Economic Affairs. He will replace Rajiv Mehrishi who superannuates on August 31.
  
  Financial Services Secretary Hasmukh Adhia will be the new Revenue Secretary while Corporate Affairs Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal has been named the new Financial Affairs Secretary. She will replace Adhia.
  
  According to the appointments cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), Rajasthan cadre IAS officer Sunil Arora will replace Bimal Julka as the new Information and Broadcasting Secretary. Julka also retires on August 31.
  
• Vassiliki Thanou: Greece's Supreme Court judge, Vassiliki Thanou, has been sworn in as caretaker Prime Minister to lead the country to elections next month. Her appointment ended week-long political deadlock after leftist leader Alexis Tsipras resigned.
  
  Vassiliki Thanou, the first woman to assume the post, is an opponent of austerity and has argued against wage cuts for judges and court officials. Meanwhile, outgoing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has ruled out forming a national unity government should he fail to win a outright majority in the snap elections triggered after his resignation.
  
• Shahnaz: India’s beauty icon Shahnaz Husain has been nominated as the Cultural Ambassador for the Seychelles in India by President James A. Michel during his visit to New Delhi.
  
• Hamida Salim: Eminent Urdu writer Hamida Salim passed away at her residence in Jamia Nagar, New Delhi on 16th August. Salim was the first woman graduate of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). She had penned down many books including' Shorish-e-Dauran', 'Ham Saath Thhe','Parchhaiyon Ke Ujale' and ' Hardam Rawan Hai Zindagi'. She was sister of the legendary poet Israrul Haqu Mazaj and aunt of famous lyricist Javed Akhtar.
  
• Varaha Pande: Sanskrit Scholar and Indologist NR Varhadpande passed away on 21 August 2015 in Nagpur following age related issues. He was famously known for his book titled Aryan Invasion: A Myth that exposes fallacy of Aryan invasion and is considered as one of the most profound works in changing the course of ancient Indian history. An ardent student of Psychology, Varhadpande worked as the Chief Psychologist with the Ministry of Defence and was instrumental in devising various Psychological tests for the armed forces personnel.
  
• Chetan Bhagat: Famous Author. The book titled Making India Awesome authored by him was released on 19th August 2015
  
  This is the second non-fiction book written by the country’s biggest-selling writer Chetan Bhagat. His first non-fiction book was What Young India Wants which was well received by the readers.
  
• Dayanidhi Maran: The Madras High Court on 10th August cancelled former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran's interim anticipatory bail in the alleged illegal telephone exchange case. The court directed him to surrender before the CBI within three days. The court passed the order after hearing arguments on the CBI plea for cancellation of Maran's interim anticipatory bail.
  
  CBI has registered an FIR against Maran and others alleging that more than 300 high-speed telephone lines were provided at his residence in Chennai and extended to his brother Kalanithi Maran's SUN TV channel to enable its uplinking when Dayanidhi Maran was Telecom Minister from 2004-07.
  
• OP Rawat: Om Prakash Rawat was 13th August appointed as the new Election Commissioner. Om Prakash Rawat, a 1977 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer appointed as new Election Commissioner. With Rawat's appointment, the sole vacancy in the three-member poll body has been filled. His appointment comes days before the poll watchdog takes a call on announcing the schedule for Bihar assembly polls.
  
  Rawat will have a tenure of more than three years which will end in December, 2018. He had retired from government service in December last year. An EC or a CEC has a tenure of six years in office or till he or she attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
  
• OP Munjal: Om Prakash Munjal, the founder of hero cycles passed away on 13th August. He was the world's largest cycle maker, and almost every second cycle sold in the country sported the Hero badge. He also sold components to BMW for its bikes, and had plans to expand abroad.
  
  Munjal dabbled in two-wheelers also, first in 1988 with the Hero Puch rage of mini-motorcycles and then in the 1990s with BMW superbikes. While fuel efficient bikes, including those made by Hero MotoCorp (then called Hero Honda), clobbered Hero Puch, regulatory hassles ruined the BMW gamble. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board had ruled that Hero Motors would have to offset the foreign exchange spent on the import of the BMW superbikes with equivalent exports, and Hero Motors found it difficult to do those exports.
  
• Ajit Kumar Seth: Former Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth was on 14th August appointed as the chairman of the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB), the government’s head-hunter. The PESB is entrusted with the selection and placement of chairman, managing director or chairman-cum-managing director and functional director in Central public sector enterprises, among others.
  
  He has been appointed for a period of three years or till he attains 65 years of age, said the order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training. Seth, a 1974-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been appointed in place of Atul Chaturvedi, who has completed his tenure.
  
  Also, IAS officers Gauri Kumar and Anshuman Das, former CMD of NALCO, have been appointed as members in the PESB.
  
  Ms. Kumar, will be replacing K.M. Acharya, a 1974-batch former IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, who has completed his tenure. Mr. Das has been appointed in place of Ashwani Kumar Datt.
  
• Renu Mandhane, Richa Naujoks, Nee Gautam: Indian origin, both legal luminaries, have done the nation proud. If Renu Mandhane, an Indo-Canadian international human rights law expert, is set to be the next Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, Indian-American attorney Richa Naujoks, nee Gautam, has been shortlisted for the TrustLaw Lawyer of the Year Award of the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
  
  Ms. Mandhane, currently the Executive Director of the International Human Rights Programme of the University of Toronto.
  
  Ms. Naujoks has the distinction of being the only Indian and U.S. lawyer shortlisted for the prestigious award, a statement said. She was nominated by the Mumbai-based Wello for her outstanding pro bonowork on the complex restructuring of its U.S. and Indian legal and operational structure. Wello makes water wheels that help women safely carry water from distant sources to their homes.
  
• Muralitharan & Dilshan: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed veteran cricketers Muttiah Muralitharan and Thilakaratne Dilshan as the brand ambassadors of the newly created National Kidney Fund.
  
• Niloy Neel: A Bangladeshi blogger known for his atheist views has been hacked to death by a gang armed with machetes in the capital Dhaka, police say. Niloy Neel was attacked at his home in the city's Goran area. He is the fourth secularist blogger to have been killed this year by suspected Islamist militants in Bangladesh.
  
• Ram Nath Kovind and Acharya Dev Vrat: President appoints Ram Nath Kovind as Governor of Bihar and Acharya Dev Vrat as Governor of Himachal Pradesh.
  
  Kovind, who had been a two-time Rajya Sabha member between 1994 and 2006, hails from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. His appointment comes barely a few months ahead of the Assembly elections due in Bihar.
  
  Educationist Acharya Dev Vrat was appointed as Governors of Himachal Pradesh. Vrat imparts modern and traditional education through a 'gurukul' in Haryana's Kurukshetra.