PERSONS JANUARY 2010

PERSONS JANUARY 2010

• President Pratibha Patel presented the Ashok Chakra to
  1. Major Rishima Sharma, wife of Major Mohit Sharma (Posthumous).
  2. MS Beeta, Wife of havildar Rajesh Kumar (Posthumous)
  3. Major D. Sreeram Kumar of 39 Assam Rifles.
• Six Padma Vibhushans, 43 Padma Bhushans and 81 Padma Shris are being awarded for the year 2010. The following are some of the names of the people chosen for the Padma awards:
  
  Padma Vibhushan
  Ebrahim Alkazi (Art), Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman (Art), Zohra Segal (Art), Yaga Venugopal Reddy (Public Affairs), Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (Science and Engineering), Prathap Chandra Reddy (Trade and Industry)
  
  Padma Bhushan
  Ilaiyaraaja (Art), Aamir Khan (Art), Fareed Zakaria (Journalism), Mallika Sarabhai (Art), Prof. (Dr.) Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana (Art), Prof. Bipan Chandra (Literature and Education), S.P. Oswal etc.
  
  Padma Shri
  Resul Pokutty (Art), Rekha (Art), Deep Joshi (Social Work), Saina Nehwal (Sports), Vijender Singh (Sports), Virendra Sehwag (Sports), Ram Narain Karthikeyan (Sports) etc.
• According to defence ministry announcement, lieutenant General V.K.Singh will replace the current chief of the Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor, who retires from service on March 31, 2010.
• Jyoti Basu, Veteran Marxist leader, who set a record as the nation's longest serving chief minister and one of the tallest figures in the country's political life, died of septicemia due to pneumonia that led to multi-organ failure. He was 95 and is survived by his son and three grand children.
• An Iraqi court sentensed Ali Hassan al-Majeed, the Saddam Hussain henchman widely known as "Chemical Ali" to death by hanging for a 1988 gas attack that killed about 5,000 kurds.
• Fitness trainer Dinaz Vervatwalaenters Guinness book of world records for completing 26-hour-long aerobics marathon.
• President Pratibha patil has approved the Sarvottham Jeevan Raksha Padak for Jammu gril Rukhsana Kosser, who killed one of the L.E.T terrorist and injuring another in Kalsian village about 217 km from Jammu on the night of Sep 27, 2009.
• Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has appointed Gopinath Munde as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.