PERSONS FEBRUARY 2015

PERSONS FEBRUARY 2015

• Maria Golovnina: Pakistan and Afghanistan bureau chief for Reuters, Maria Golovnina, was found dead in Islamabad on 23rd February. She is a Russian reporter. She went to office and came back in the afternoon as she was not feeling well. Initial information revealed that she was feeling heavy headed and dropped on the floor after vomiting.
  
• Rana Bhagwandas: Rana Bhagwandas, the first Hindu to serve as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan,, died in Karachi on 23rd February.
  
• Shyam Kothari: Bhadrashyam Kothari, Chairman and Managing Director of Kothari Sugars and Chemicals, died at Houston, US on 22nd February
  
  As an industrialist, he brought to bear a visionary leadership to his group and displayed a pioneering spirit in venturing into new areas opened up by the economic reforms. He was also deeply involved in philanthropy and the promotion of education.
  
  After training under his father late HC Kothari, Bhadrashyam Kothari, better known as Shyam Kothari, took over as the CMD of the Kothari group of companies. The group has facilities in sugar and petrochemical sectors and a presence in financial services.
  
  Cashing in on the wave of economic reforms in the early 1990s, the group tied up with Pioneer, US, to become one of the earliest players in the private sector to launch a mutual fund in 1993. It was promoted by the non-banking finance company, Investment Trust of India. Pioneer then acquired it and subsequently it was taken over by Templeton MF.
  
  Kothari was a former president of the Indian Sugar Mills Association, former president of the Hindustan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and a founder of the Chennai chapter of the Young Professionals Organisation. A commerce graduate from the Loyola College, Chennai, Kothari took a keen interest in the education field.
  
  He was co-founder of the Institute of Financial Management and Research, and was invited to be on the Board of Trustees of the Northwestern University, Chicago. He remained the Honorary Consul for Austria in Chennai till the end. Known also for his philanthropy, Kothari was on the Board of Directors of the Sankara Nethrelaya, and always ready to help mentor new ideas and groom entrepreneurs.
  
• Pachauri: RK Pachauri has stepped down as Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) with immediate effect, following sexual harassment allegations against him by a junior colleague in The Energy and Research Institute (TERI). Pachauri sent his resignation to the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) on 24th February.
  
  The IPCC has decided to designate Ismail El Gizouli, who was the Vice-Chair, as Acting IPCC Chair, the UN panel said in a statement.
  
  The Bureau of the IPCC is expected to elect a new Chair in October, after Pachauri’s second term as the Chair came to an end, IPCC added.
  
  Pachauri, who is also the Director General of TERI, is fighting a legal battle on counts of “outraging the modesty of a woman, sexual harassment, stalking and criminal intimidation.”
  
• Abu Salem: Extradited gangster Abu Salem was on 25th February sentenced to life imprisonment by a special TADA court in the 1995 murder case of Mumbai-based builder Pradeep Jain The court also handed out life imprisonment to Salem's driver Mehndi Hassan while another accused VirendraJhamb's sentence was set off against the period of detention undergone by him in prison during the various stages of investigation in the case. Earlier, the court rejected prosecution's demand of death sentence to Hassan.
  
  According to police, on 7th March 1995, Jain was shot dead by assailants outside his Juhu bungalow after he allegedly refused to part with his huge property to Salem. Since then, Salem, Jhamb and Hassan were facing trial in the case.
  
• Ram Naresh Yadav: A day after registration of FIR against him in the Vyapam scam, Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav resigned from the office on 25th February. Earlier, the Centre had asked Yadav to quit from the post. The Home Ministry has conveyed its decision in this regard to the Governor as he has been named in the case, official sources said, adding that his position has become untenable in view of the FIR.
  
  Yadav was named in an FIR registered on 24th February by Special Task Force (STF) probing the multi-crore Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board or Vyapam scam under various sections of IPC, including 420 for cheating.
  
  Yadav had allegedly recommended the names of five candidates for recruitment as forest guards to the top officials of MPPEB which conducted the examination.
  
  The MPPEB scam is a massive admission and recruitment scandal involving politicians and some senior and influential state government officials and the Governor's role in it had come under the scanner since the arrest of his Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Dhanraj Yadav in MPPEB's Pre-Medical Test (PMT).Yadav, a former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, was appointed by the Congress in 2011 and his term was set to end in September 2016.
  
• Amitava Roy: The President of India approved for the elevation of Chief Justice of Orissa High Court Amitava Roy as a Supreme Court judge. With this appointment of, the strength of judges in the Supreme Court climbs to 29. The sanctioned strength is 31.
  
• Kshatrapati shivaji:Kshatrapati Shivaji, a 1986 batch IAS officer, has taken over as the Chairman and Managing Director of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). Shivaji has been appointed on deputation basis for a period of three years from the date of his taking over the charge, a Finance Ministry release said. Shivaji is currently Principal Secretary (Expenditure), Finance Department in Maharashtra government.
  
• Meera Kosambi: Noted sociologist Meera Kosambi died in Pune. She was born on April 24, 1939. She had not married. Following the legacy of her historian father and her grandfather- Buddhist and Pali scholar Dharmanand Kosambi, she contributed significantly to Indian sociology, especially urban sociology and women's studies. Kosambi retired as a professor and director of the Research Centre for Women's Studies of SNDT Women's University in Mumbai and had written several research books in English as well as Marathi.
  
  Her much-acclaimed work is on India's 19th century feminist Pandita Ramabai, whose writings she compiled, edited and translated from Marathi. She had recently authored a well-researched biographical study on Pandita Ramabai in Marathi.
  
  She was the youngest daughter of prominent historian and mathematician D D Kosambi. She did her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Stockholm and authored several books and articles on urban sociology and women's studies in India.
  
  Her books include Mahatma Gandhi and Prema Kantak: Exploring a Relationship, Exploring History, Women Writing Gender: Marathi Fiction before Independence, Feminist Vision or 'Treason against Men'? Kashibai Kanitkar and the Engendering of Marathi Literature. Pandita Ramabai's American Encounter: 'The Peoples of the United States' and Pandita Ramabai through her Own Words: Selected Works. Her writing also includes Gender, Culture and Performance: Marathi Theatre and Cinema before Independence.
  
  Meera Kosambi retired as a professor and director of the Research Centre for Women's Studies of SNDT Women's University in Mumbai and had written several research books in Marathi and English
  
• Yogaraj: Indian yoga teacher Yogaraj in Hong Kong set a Guinness World Record on 15th February. He broke the record for the ‘Longest Yoga Marathon (Male)’ by performing continuously for three days, starting on 13th February
  
• Michele Ferrero: Italy’s richest man and the owner of a global chocolate and confectionery empire, Michele Ferrero has died. The billionaire, who turned a provincial factory into what is widely seen as Italy’s most valuable privately-owned company
  
• Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic: Croatia's first female president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic pledged to help kickstart the country's ailing economy as she was sworn into office on 15th February.
  
  She defeated her left-wing predecessor Ivo Josipovic in an election run-off in January. The Croatian economy, hit by a six-year recession, remains among the weakest in the 28-nation bloc.
  
  Unemployment is almost 20 per cent and the government forecasts a meagre 0.5 per cent growth this year.
  
  Kolinda was European affairs and foreign minister from 2003 to 2008 and then served as Croatia's ambassador to the US until 2011 when she was named NATO's assistant secretary general.
  
• Punit Renjen: India-born Punit Renjen (pictured), chairman of the board of the Deloitte US member firm, has been named Deloitte Global’s new chief executive officer (CEO). He will assume the new role on June 1.
  
  Renjen succeeds Barry Salzberg, who will retire from Deloitte Global and become a professor of professional practice at Columbia Business School. Salzberg also plans to serve on the boards of public companies.
  
  Renjen joins a growing list of Indians taking up top jobs at US companies. Others include Microsoft chief Satya Nadella and PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi.
  
• Abu Salem: A special court has convicted gangster Abu Salem in the murder of a Mumbai-based builder in 1995. Salem was extradited from Portugal in 2005 and has been in Arthur Road Jail ever since.
  
  A TADA court found Salem guilty of the murder of builder Pradeep Jain, who was shot dead by assailants outside his Juhu bungalow in March, 1995. The police alleged that he had refused to give up a huge property to Salem.
  
  This is the first judgement in a case involving Salem in India after he was extradited in 2005. Salem, another builder Virendra Jhamb and Mehndi Hassan faced the trial in the case.
  
  Salem, an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, was extradited from Portugal on November 11, 2005, after a prolonged legal battle.
  
  The Supreme Court of Portugal, in 2012, had dismissed an appeal of the CBI which had challenged termination of his extradition. He has also moved Supreme Court of Portugal seeking directions to the Indian government to execute its order of cancelling his extradition.
  
  In June 2012, Salem was shot at in Taloja Central jail in Navi Mumbai allegedly by gangster Devendra Jagtap alias JD, an accused in the murder of advocate Shahid Azmi who had represented a 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused.
  
• Ramanaidu: Veteran Telugu film producer Dr Daggubbati Ramanaidu has passed away following his prolonged illness. He was also the founder of the prolific Suresh Productions.
  Ramanaidu served as Member of Parliament from Telugu Desam Party from 1999 to 2004 and was conferred with the Padma Bhushan -- India's third highest civilian awards -- in 2012, in recognition of his contribution to Telugu cinema.
  
  He was also felicitated with the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Award for Lifetime Achievement in the film industry in 2009.
  
  Ramanaidu was also very active in social work, including the Ramanaidu Charitable Trust that was founded in 1991. He got Best Parliamentarian Award in 2003
  
  Born into an agricultural family of Karamchedu village in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh in 1936, Ramanaidu forayed into the filmdom with ‘Anuragam’ in 1963 under the Anuroopa banner.
  
  After his maiden movie failed commercially at the box office, he produced ‘Ramudu Bheemudu’ in 1964 under his Suresh Productions banner.
  
  After ‘Ramudu Bheemudu’ turned out to be a tremendous hit, Ramanaidu continued to produce films. He holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the most films produced by an individual, having to his credit over 155 films in 15 languages, including 17 in Hindi (Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini-starrer Prem Nagar in 1974 to Kuch Tum Kaho Kuch Hum Kahein starring Fardeen Khan and Richa Palod in 2002).
  
  Ramanaidu founded Ramanaidu Studios with a ‘walk in with script and walk out with print’ concept in Hyderabad in 1989, Ramanaidu Colour Lab in 1990, and Cine Village for outdoor shootings at Nanakramguda in Hyderabad in 1994. His banner, Suresh Productions, makes close to six movies a year, with a success rate of 80 per cent.
  
• Rashad Hussain: Rashad Hussain, an Indian-American has been appointed as Special Envoy and Coordinator for strategic Counter terrorism Communication in the US . He is currently the Special Envoy of the US to Organisation of Islamic Countries(OIC) and will hold both posts. His academic writings have focused on national security, constitutional law and civil liberties.
  
• Ernest Sternglass: He is a Physicist. He highlighted by his research that helped capture moving images of the first moon walk, he had died on 19th February. Stern-glass corresponded early in his career with Albert Einstein, who encouraged him to pursue applied physics over theoretical research.
  
  Cornell says Sternglass’ research helped lead to a sensitive television camera tube that captured low—light lunar action during the 1969 moon landing. He also performed pioneering work in digital X—rays. He worked on medical imaging for many years at the Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
  
  Sternglass fled Nazi Germany with his family in 1938. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cornell, as well as his doctorate.
  
• Joseph Clancy: President Barack Obama has named acting director Joseph Clancy as the permanent head of the US Secret Service. Clancy is a former head of the presidential protection detail, responsible for safeguarding Obama and his predecessors.
  
• Deepika Misra and Sandeep Singh: Deepika Misra, a pilot and Flight Lieutenant Sandeep Singh, an engineering officer, have become the first women to join the IAF's helicopter display team Sarang.
  
  During the passing out parade at Air Force Academy in December 2006, Deepika, who was then a flight cadet. She was among the first to volunteer for the Sarang Team and was inducted to the indigenously-built Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) unit. Other women joined the Mi-8 and Mi-17 units. In July, 2014, she joined the Sarang Team. She became the first woman pilot ever to join a formation display team.
  
  Sandeep became the second woman officer to join Sarang. The two women now share a rare camaraderie.
  
• Govind Pansare dead: Communist leader Govind Pansare, who was shot at in Kolhapur four days ago, passed away on 20th February.
  
  Pansare and his wife Uma were shot by unidentified persons near their house in Kolhapur on February 16 when they were returning from their morning walk. Pansare, a renowned lawyer and writer, was leading a campaign against the collection of toll in Maharashtra.
  
• Tapan Misra: Eminent scientist Tapan Misra has been appointed the chief of Isro's Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad. Misra, deputy director of the microwave remote sensing area in SAC, succeeds A S Kiran Kumar, who was appointed as the chairman of Isro last month. He is also heading the office of innovations management at Isro Headquarters, Bangalore.
  
  An electronics and telecommunication engineering graduate from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, Misra began his career at SAC as a digital hardware engineer responsible for the development of 'Quick Look Display System of X-Band Side Looking Airborne Radar' in 1984.
  
• Nirad Mahapatra: Eminent Odia filmmaker Nirad Mahapatra passed on 19th February. Mahapatra, an alumni of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, had shot to fame with his debut directorial venture ‘Maya Miriga’ in 1984 which bagged Rajat Kamal at the National Film Awards then. The film was also screened at Cannes Film Festival where it was accorded the special jury award.
  
• David Beckham: Football legend and male model David Beckham launched a new fund for the UN children's organization UNICEF named "7" - the number on the jersey he wore when he played for Manchester United. The fund is aimed at children living in warzones. UNICEF estimates that one in 10 children in the world - around 230 million - live in such states.
  
• Mahrukh Adajania: Infrastructure finance company IDFC has appointed Mahrukh Adajania as Director in the equity research team of IDFC Securities.
  
  Formerly, Adajania worked with Standard Chartered Securities as lead analyst tracking Indian banks, finance companies and insurance.
  
  In another development, Maya Swaminathan Sinha, former deputy chairperson of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, has been inducted on the board of the Indian Clearing Corporation (ICCL), a subsidiary of the BSE, as its first woman director.
  
  A member of the Indian Revenue Service, she has served in different capacities in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. She has also worked in the investigation directorate of the Income Tax Department, during which time she conducted searches and an in-depth investigation into large-scale tax evasion. During 2003-06, she was served as financial advisor and commissioner of Khadi and Village Industries Commission. From 2006 to 2010, she was deputy chairperson of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, the largest container port in the country. She will serve as a public interest director on ICCL’s board.
  
• Kesava Reddy:Veteran Telugu novelist Kesava Reddy passed away on 13 February 2015 in Nizamabad district of Telangana.
  
  His novels are Mugavani Pillana Grovi (1996), Chivari gudise (1996), Athadu Adavini Jayinchadu (1980), Incredible Goddess or Kshudra Devatha (1979), Swasanam dunneru (1979), City Beautiful (1982), Ramudunaadu- Raajjaymundaadi (1982), Muneamma (2008).
  
• William Schabas:The head of UN inquiry into the hostilities between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, William Schabas has pledged to resign due to Israel allegations of pro-Palestinian bias. He described the criticisms as “malicious attacks.” William Schabas, a Canadian academic living in the UK, was appointed last August to head the UN Human Rights Council’s three-member team to probe the circumstances of the Operation Protective Edge and allegations of war crimes committed during it. Some 2,200 people, most of them Palestinian civilians, were killed in the conflict. His candidacy however met fierce resistance from Israeli officials, who accused Schabas of being anti-Israel.
  
• Anil Goswami: Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami was given his marching orders late on 4th February for allegedly trying to stall the arrest of Saradha scam accused and former Minister MatangSinh. Accused in the multi-crore Saradha scam, Sinh was arrested by the CBI team on 31st January.
  
• L.C. Goyal: L.C. Goyal, a 1979 batch Kerala cadre IAS officer has taken over as the new Union Home Secretary in New Delhi on February 5th.
  
• Mrinalini Mukherjee: Noted sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee passed away in New Delhi.She was the only daughter of acclaimed artists from Santiniketan, BenodeBehari and Leela Mukherjee, was best known for her sculptures using knotted hemp fibre and cast bronzes. The artist had studied painting at M S University in Baroda between 1965 and 1970 and later undertook a post diploma in mural design under K.G. Subramanyan.
  
• M.O. Garg: The director of Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, Dr. M.O. Garg takes charge as the new Director General of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) on February 5, 2015. The post was technically vacant since more than a month as Dr. P.S. Ahuja retired on December, 31, 2014. 
  • CSIR is an autonomous body which was established in 1942
  • It is India's largest Research and Development (R&D) organization with 37 laboratories and 39 field stations, spread across the nation, with a collective staff of over 17,000
  • R&D of CSIR includes activities in various fields such as aerospace engineering, structural engineering, ocean sciences, life sciences, metallurgy, chemicals, mining, food, petroleum, leather and environment.
  
  About Garg
  • Dr. Garg has done his PhD from the University of Melbourne in the area of Solvent Extraction and has an experience of 37 years in the refining and petrochemical industry.
  • He started his career in 1979 in Research and Development Division of Engineers India Ltd.
  • In 1994, he joined Process System Services Division of KTI-Technip India Ltd and Indian Institute of Petroleum in 1998.
  • Garg has contributed in developing and commercializing various technologies and has received two CSIR Technology Awards as well as a CSIR Shield for his commercialization efforts.
  • He has contributed immensely to the growth of Indian refining industry in various ways. He has published over 213 papers and has 26 patents to his credit.
  
  
• R.K. Gupta: DRDO, project director of nuclear-capable Agni-V missile programme R.K. Gupta has been moved out.
  
• Somanathan: The Centre has received the Tamil Nadu government’s clearance to appoint TV Somanathan as Chairman of the Forward Markets Commission (FMC).