PERSONS JULY 2015

PERSONS JULY 2015

• Bijoy Krishna Handique: Former Union Minister and a six-time Lok Sabha member from Assam, Bijoy Krishna Handique died on 26th July. Handique was the Minister for Mines and Development of North Eastern Region in the UPA-II government.
  
  He also held the portfolios of Union Minister of State for Defence, Parliamentary Affairs, Mines, and Chemicals and Fertilizers during the tenure of the UPA-I government. The senior politician from Assam had been elected to Lok Sabha from Jorhat for six consecutive terms since 1991. He was also a member of Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1985 and a member of several parliamentary committees.
  
• Abdul Kalam: Former President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, the 'missile man' who became popular as 'People's President' died after he suffered a massive cardiac arrest and collapsed during a lecture at the IIM Shillong on 27th July. He suffered cardiac arrest when he was giving a e lecture on 'Livable Planet' at IIM Shillong
  
   Born on 15 October 1931 in Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam overcame all odds to study physics at the St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirapalli and aerospace engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai. His entire life is a life of simplicity and high values.
  
  Kalam spent four decades as a scientist and science administrator at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
  
  His role in development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology earned him the moniker - 'Missile Man'.
  
  Kalam played a pivotal role ian the nuclear tests that India conducted in 1998 in Rajasthan's Pokharan.
  
  Kalam was conferred with Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 1997 for his immense and valuable contribution to country's scientific research and modernisation of defence technology.
  
  Dr Kalam was elected the President of India in 2002, defeating Lakshmi Sahgal.
  
  He was currently a visiting professor at several prestigious academic and scientific institutions like the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Management Indore, Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram.
  
  Kalam advocated plans to develop India into a developed nation by 2020 in his book India 2020.
  
  Dr Kalam has received several prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour. Dr Kalam is known for his motivational speeches and interaction with the student community in India. He launched his mission for the youth of the nation in 2011.
  
• World Student day to commemorate Kalam: UNO
  United Nations Organisation(U.N.O) declared October 15th, Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam‘s Birthday as the “WORLD STUDENTS DAY“.
  
  Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (born 15 October 1931 in Rameshwaram, Madras Presidency, British India), usually referred to as Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, was the 11th President of India, serving from 2002 to 2007. During his term as President, he was popularly known as the People’s President.
  
  Honours
  On April 29, 2009, he became the first Asian to be bestowed the Hoover Medal, America’s top engineering prize, for his outstanding contribution to public service.
  
  On 13 September 2009, he was a recipient of the International von Karman Wings Award.
  
  The Government of India has honoured him with the nation’s highest civilian honours: the Padma Bhushan in 1981; Padma Vibhushan in 1990; and the Bharat Ratna in 1997 for his work with ISRO and DRDO and his role as a scientific advisor to the Indian government.
  
  Kalam is the third President of India to have been honoured with a Bharat Ratna before being elected to the highest office, the other two being Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Zakir Hussain. He is also the first scientist and first bachelor to occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan.
  
  It was in the year 2010, when the United Nations decided to honour this 'great scientist' on his 79th birth anniversary and declared his birthday on October 15 as the ‘World Students' Day’.
  
  In 2005, Switzerland also declared May 26 as 'Science Day' to commemorate Dr Kalam’s visit to the European country.
  
  'Wings of Fire', 'India 2020 - A Vision for the New Millennium', 'My journey' and 'Ignited Minds - Unleashing the power within India' are the famous books which Dr Kalam authored.
  
• Tamil Nadu government instituted youth award in name of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
  The state government of Tamil Nadu on 31 July 2015 instituted a youth award in the name of former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
  
  In a statement issued in Chennai, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said that the annual Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Award consisting 8 gram gold, 5 laks rupees in cash and a citation.
  
  The award would be given from 2015 onwards on every Independence Day (15 August) to a person from the state who works with exceptional merit in science, humanities and students welfare.
  
  She also announced that Dr Kalam’s birthday on October 15th would be celebrated as the Youth Revival Day. Former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam widely called People’s President died on 27 July 2015. He was the 11th President of India and was awarded with India’s highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna in 1997.
  
• Hariharan: Eminent physicist P. Hariharan died on 26th July in Berkeley, California. He worked at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi from 1949 to 1951 and then at the National Research Council, Ottawa from 1951- 1954. On returning to NPL, Dr. Hariharan received a PhD for his work on photographic resolving power. Subsequently, he held key posts at several scientific institutes and organisations and was also an honorary visiting professor at the University of Sydney.
  
  Dr. Hariharan's research contributions include the design of a new three-beam interferometer, the double-passed Fabry-Perot interferometer, and the first practical radial-shear interferometer.
  
  He was also the first to apply digital phase-shifting techniques to holographic interferometry for measurements of vector displacements and strains.
  
  Dr. Hariharan has published more than 200 papers and has authored four books. Dr. Hariharan was a recipient of several awards, including the Joseph Fraunhofer Medal of the Optical Society of America, the Thomas Young Medal of the Institute of Physics, London and the Walter Boas Medal of the Australian Institute of Physics.
  
• RS Sharma: Ram Sewak Sharma, Secretary - Department of Electronics and Information & Technology, has been appointed as the new Chairman.
  
  Sharma has worked in various government departments particularly dealing with IT-enabled programmes. He has also worked as Director General and Mission Director of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) or Aadhaar.
  
  From UIDAI he went back to his parent cadre Jharkhand as the State Chief Secretary. In May 2014, he returned to the Centre in his present post — Secretary DeitY.
  
  ‘Digital India’ campaign
  During his tenure as Secretary, he has been a key official for the Prime Minister’s ‘Digital India’ campaign and various projects under it, and also local manufacturing of electronic products. He has been responsible for implementing a number of projects relating to ICT Infrastructure, process re-engineering and service delivery in public private partnership mode.
  
• Uma maheshwara Rao: G.S. Umamaheshwara Rao took charge as in-charge director of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS)
  
  With the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare yet to appoint a full-time director, Dr. Rao, a senior professor in the Department of Neuroanaesthesia, has been appointed as the interim director as his predecessor N. Pradhan, who was also an in-charge director
  
  Rajendra Srivastava: Indian School of Business (ISB) said that Rajendra Srivastava has been named as its new dean, with effect from January 1, 2016.
  
  Srivastava , currently the Provost and Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Professor of Marketing at the Singapore Management University, will succeed Ajit Rangnekar who has held the position since January 2009, ISB Board Chairman Adi Godrej stated.
  
  Professor Srivastava is an MBA and PhD (Business Administration) from the University of Pittsburgh, an MS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Rhode Island, and a B.Tech. (Mechanical Engineering) from IIT, Kanpur.
  
• Bisheshar Pradeep: Noted Urdu fiction writer Dr Bisheshar Pradeep passed away in Lucknow. Retired as director from state PWD of Uttar Pradesh, he was a native of a place near Pakistan's Faisalabad and migrated to India after partition. He was awarded with ' Urdu Hindi Sahitya Akademi Award' in 1996.
  
  He also won a national level award for his children's book 'Surkh Gulab'. He was best known for his 'Afsana Nigari', the fiction writing form in Urdu. His son Dr Akhilesh Dhawan said that his father had a heart attack yesterday morning. His last rites were performed in the presence of all the noted litterateurs of Lucknow. 
• RK Pachauri: Director General, TERI Dr. R K Pachauri has been removed. He will be replaced by Dr Ajay Mathur. Currently Mr Mathur is Director General of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency.
  
  Dr Pachauri was accused of sexual harassment by his junior colleague. Recently a Delhi court allowed Dr Pachauri access to all TERI offices in the country except the ones in Delhi and Gurgaon.
  
  Pachauri had shared Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with former US Vice President Al Gore for work on climate issues. He has led and built The Energy and Resources Institute, TERI, over the last 34 years from a concept to a major, financially autonomous, professionally dynamic organization on the global stage.
  
• Hoshiyar Singh: In Uttar Pradesh, the government has refuted the allegations of the family members of national level fencing player ?Hoshiyar Singh who was allegedly lost life due to pushing by GRP constables from a moving train on 23rd July. In a release issued from the state Home Department in Lucknow this evening that Hoshiyar Singh had alighted from the train on Sikandra Rao station to take water.
  
  After taking it, he tried to board the moving train and slipped and his body was cut in two pieces on the station itself.
  
• M S Dhoni: According to figures released by the London School of Marketing, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been named as the ninth most marketable sportsman in the world He sits ahead of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Maria Sharapova, Kobe Bryant and Usain Bolt among others.
  
  The list is headed by tennis star Roger Federer who lost in the Wimbledon this year to Novak Djokovic. He beats Tiger Woods, LeBron James and Kevin Durant on the list.
  
  Indian limited-over skipper, MS Dhoni has made it to the top 10 in the list of the most marketable sportsperson of the year, 2015. According to a study conducted in the London School of Marketing, Dhoni ranks number nine in the list of famous sports persons from around the world.
  
  The list, that is dominated by tennis great, Roger Federer, consists of only cricketer in the the top 20 list in the form of Dhoni. The calculation was done on the basis of their earnings from their endorsements.
  
  It is interesting to see Dhoni ahead of great footballers of modern time, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel messi and Neymar. Team India captain Dhoni has also pipped the likes of 'Sprint King' Usain Bolt, tennis ace Novak Djokovic and teammate Sachin Tendulkar in the latest list of world's 100 richest sportspersons, released by the Forbes magazine.
  
  According to the list, Dhoni is ranked 31st, which is way ahead of Djokovic , Bolt and Tendulkar. Interestingly, the Indian captain's earnings through endorsements are more than the world's most popular footballer Lionel Messi.
  
  Dhoni made a mark in the 50-over format with a whirlwind 148 against Pakistan, and came to the forefront with an amazing 183 not out in a chase against Sri Lanka.
  
• Chalasani Prasad: In Andhra Pradesh, Viplava Rachayitala Sangham (VIRASAM) founder Chalasani Prasad (83) passed away on 25th July. Born in a communist family at Bhatlapenumarru in Krishna district. He was detained during the Emergency and was arrested seven times due to his Marxist ideology. The VIRASAM was considered as a front organization of CPI (Maoist). He worked and retired as a lecturer of Politics at Mrs. AVN College.
  
• Lt. Gen. Rai: Lt. Gen. M.M.S. Rai, Eastern Army Commander, has been appointed next Vice Chief of Army Staff. He will take over from Lt. Gen. Philip Campose, who will demit office on July 31. Lt. Gen. Rai is from the Corps of Engineers.
  
  With several senior officers about to superannuate, the Army has cleared several other key appointments at the command and corps level. Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi, Chief of Staff, Northern Command, will replace Lt. Gen. Rai as the next General-Officer-Commanding, Eastern Command. The Army Training Command (ARTRAC) at Shimla will get Lt. Gen. PM Hariz as the next commander.
  
  At the corps level, new appointments have been cleared for the Army’s 15 and 16 Corps. While Lt. Gen. RR Nimbhorkar will take over as the Commander of Srinagar-based 15 corps, Lt. Gen. SK Dua will be the new Corps Commander of 16 corps at Nagrota.
  
• Victor Ponta: Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta has been charged with several counts of corruption in a long-running investigation. The country's anti-corruption agency said he faces charges of fraud, tax evasion and money laundering dating back to when he was a lawyer before he became Prime Minister in 2012. Some of his property has been seized pending the outcome of the case, the agency added. Mr Ponta denies any wrongdoing.
  
  Mr Ponta resigned as leader of the governing Social Democratic party yesterday, saying he needed time to prepare his defence, but will continue to fulfil his duties as Prime Minister. He is accused of receiving the equivalent of around 55,000 euros from a political ally and MP.
  
• MS Vishwanathan: M S Viswanathan, one of the most popular music composers of south Indian cinema, passed away on 14th July. Viswanathan, known in the industry as MSV, has a huge body of work in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam with over 750 films. Sivaji Ganeshan’s Panam in 1952 was his debut creation.
  
  MSV is popular for his collaboration with fellow composer T.K. Ramamoorthy. The duo composed music for 86 Tamil films during their association of over a decade. “Sonnathu Needhana” (Nenjil Oru Alayam), “Viswanathan Velai Vendum” (Kadalikka Neram Illai), “Kettavarellam Padalam” (Thangai) are among MSV’s all time favourites that are still popular in Tamil Nadu.
  
  His association with iconic lyricist “Kaviyarasu” Kannadasan is legendary and resulted in many evergreen songs. MSV’s brilliant partnership with composer Ramamurthy under the famous creditline of “Viswanathan-Ramamurthy” came to and end in the early 1960s. He was also responsible for making memorable songs for K. Balachander’s super hit movies.
  
  In Telugu, his compositions include “Tenali Ramakrishna”, “Anthuleni Katha”, “Idhi Katha Kaadu”, “Aakali Rajyam” and “Maro Charitra”.
  
  Viswanathan is a recipient of Kalaimamani and several other music awards. Born in Palakkad in Kerala, Viswanathan had scored music for over 1,000 films.
  
• Prashant Pathrabe: A Maharashtra-based senior IIS officer has been given additional charge as Director of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), which has been rocked by a students agitation over appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as chairman.
  
  Prashant Pathrabe, a 1992 batch officer of Indian Information Service (IIS), has been given temporary charge as Director of the FTII by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry as the term of the incumbent, D J Narain.
  
• C.V Narasimhan: C.V. Narasimhan ,considered the senior-most IPS officer in the country, passed away following a brief illness in a private hospital on 17th July
  
  In his career spanning 35 years in the police department, Mr. Narasimhan held different positions such as the Director, Central Bureau of Investigation, Member Secretary, National Police Commission and Directorate, Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.
  
  In 1948, he topped the first national competitive examination in the IPS category, and bagged the President's Revolver Prize for the ‘best cadet’ at the National Police Academy in Mount Abu.
  
  In 1974, he became the first IPS officer to be posted as the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, a post to which only IAS officers were considered. While in his tenure in the DVAC, Mr. Narasimhan played a key role in drafting the Vigilance Manual, the first of its kind, which is followed to this day.
  
  As Member Secretary of the National Police Commission, he was part of the team that prepared eight voluminous reports in 1979-81 formulating fundamental reforms in the police force. Though the recommendations were not implemented, some of them, including formation of State Security Commission and fixed tenure for the State Director General of Police, came into force many years later based on the direction of Supreme Court in the Prakash Singh case. A ‘Handbook on Law’ compiled by him was published by the Centre and remained a reference book for all police stations in the country.
  
  Mr. Narasimhan was recipient of the Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1964 and President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 1972.
  
  Leading the Indian delegation to an Interpol convention at Stockholm in 1977, he chaired a crucial session where a consensus was evolved among several countries on international cooperation in the investigation of economic crimes.
  
  In the erstwhile Madras Presidency, Mr. Narasimhan began his career as Assistant Superintendent of Police in Kakinada and Kurnool. Among the high profile cases he handled in his career were the cases against the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after her electoral defeat.
  
• Bashar Navaaz: Notable Urdu poet Bashar Navaaz Passed away. Bashar navaaz was known as an Indo Pak shayar. His gazals are popular in India as well as Pakistan. His books ‘Rayagan’, ‘Ajanabee samandar’ was very appreciated by gazal lovers. As lyricist he wrote number of gazals for hindi movies like ‘Bazaar’, ‘Loree’, ‘Jaane vafaa’, ‘Tere Shahar me’, etc. The Gazal “Karoge yaad to har baat yaad aayegee” from film Bazaar is all time hit song. Bashar Navaaz was honored with ‘Galib award’ of Galib Academy New Delhi, Maharashtra State Urdu Academy award, Maharashtra State Iftekhaar E Adab award.
  
• Sunita Williams: A Indian-origin Sunita Williams is among four "veteran" astronauts picked by NASA to fly the first commercial space vehicles, a part of the space agency's ambitious plan of human landing on Mars by 2030. According to NASA, Williams accompanied by Robert Behnken, Eric Boe and Douglas Hurley, will train and prepare for commercial space flights that will open up low-Earth orbit transportation to the private sector.
  
• Jayalalitha:Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha won from RK Nagar constituency with a huge margin. She won with a massive margin of over 1.5 lakh votes The by-election was necessitated by AIADMK's P Vetrivel vacating the seat in May to enable Jayalalithaa seek re-election post her acquittal by the Karnataka High Court in a graft case.
  
• Revanth Reddy: Thirty days after their arrest in cash-for-vote case, Telangana TDP legislator A. Revanth Reddy and two other accused were granted conditional bail by the High Court here on 30th June while the ACB planned to move the Supreme Court for its cancellation.
  
• K P P Nambiar: Visionary technocrat, industry mentor and institution builder K P P Nambiar, died in Bangalore on 30th June. He was a native of Kannur in Kerala, had been credited with establishing India’s first state run electronics venture Keltron and Inda’s first IT park Technopark, both in his home state.
  
  Nambiar, who had served as Secretary, Department of Electronics when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister, had been the force behind establishing C-DAC, STPI, CEDTI and VLSI laboratories under the Department of Electronics.
  
  As the secretary at the Department of Electronics, Nambiar had given a new perspective and direction for country’s research and development in the area of electronics.
  
  In a bid to take electronics revolution to villages, he formed women co-operatives to manufacture consumer durables under the brand of Keltron. As many as 50 such groups were established in Kerala.
  
  In early 80, Nambiar left Keltron after mentoring it for a decade. Then he joined as the Managing Director of the Indian Telephone Industries, Bangalore. It was while serving as ITI MD that Nambiar moved to the Department of Electronics as its secretary.
  
  He served in that post until his retirement in 1989. Post-retirement, Nambiar returned to Kerala, where then state chief Minister E K Nayanar invited him to prepare the project for Technopark, which is now the single largest IT park in the country.
  
  Nambiar had hailed from Kalliassery, the native of village of Nayanar. Nambiar was the first chairman of Techno-park in Thiruvananthapuram. Later, he became the chairman of governing body of IIM-Kozhikode.
  
• YC Modi: An order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training said, the Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved the induction of Modi, a 1984 batch IPS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, as Additional Director in the central probe agency.
  
  He has been appointed in place of Archana Ramasundaram, who was recently moved out of the CBI and appointed as Director, National Crime Records Bureau. Another IPS officer Rupak Kumar Dutta has been appointed as Special Director in the CBI.