PERSONS OCTOBER 2011

PERSONS OCTOBER 2011

• Bobby Jindal- Louisiana governor, won re-election on 22 October 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. Jindal won 66% of the vote with his nearest challenger, Tara Hollis of the Democratic party, got 18%. On 20 October, 2007, Jindal was elected governor of Louisiana for the first time.Bobby Jindal is the first Indian-American to occupy the post of a governor. His real name was Piyush Jindal. He is 37 years old. Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge.
  
• George Varghese Kakkanadan - Eminent Malayalam novelist, who was one of the pioneers of modern Malyalam literature diedon 19 October 2011 in Kollam. Known simply as Kakkanadan, he was one of the harbingers of modernism in the genres of Malayalam novel and short story. He won the Central Sahitya Akademi Award, the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award and other awards. His work, Orodha won him the 1984 Kerala Sahithya Akademi award.
  
• Muammar Gaddafi - who ruled Libya for over 40 years, was killedon 20 October 2011 while trying to flee from his hometown, Sirte. Muammar Gaddafi ruled Libya autocratically for 42 years after coming to power in a coup. Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi was born to nomadic parents in the desert region of Sirte in 1942. He remained the autocratic ruler of Libya from 1969, when he seized power in a bloodless military coup that overthrew King Idris I until 2011 when his government was overthrown in a civil war. His 42-year rule prior to the uprising made him the fourth longest-ruling non-royal leader since 1900, as well as the longest-ruling Arab leader. He has several titles to him- the Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution, in 2008 a meeting of traditional African rulers bestowed on him the title King of Kings.
  
• Fauja Singh(100) - Indian-born, was officially recognised as the oldest person to complete a full-distance marathon after crossing the finish line at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in eight hours, 25 minutes and 16 seconds. The 100-year-old runner of Indian-origin set a Guinness record of being the oldest person to complete a full-distance marathon .Later the sources said he was not entitled to enter into the Guinness record, as he was not able to produce the birth certificate.
  
• Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju was appointed as the new chairman of media regulator Press Council of India (PCI) on 5 October 2011. The appointment of Justice Katju, who retired from the apex court on 19 September 2011 was cleared by a committee headed by Vice President Hamid Ansari and included Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. In exercise of the powers conferred by the sub-section (2) of section 5 of the Press Council Act, 1978 (37 of 1978), the Central Government notified his appointment as the Chairman of the Press Council of India.
  
• Noted economist Vishnudutt Nagar passed away after suffering a heart attack on 10 October 2011 at the ager of 82.Nagar was born on December 16, 1930 at Chanchoda in Madhya Pradesh's Guna district. He played a prominent role in the establishment of an economics department at the Vikram University at Ujjain. Nagar's analytic columns on the general budget in national dailies were well received.
  
• Veteran ghazal singer Jagjit Singh passed away on 10 October 2011 in Mumbai. He was 70. The veteran singer, popularly known as the Ghazal King had gained acclaim together with his wife Chitra Singh in 1970s and 1980s. He had sung in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Sindhi and Nepali languages. Moreover, Jagjit Singh is the only singer and composer to have composed and recorded songs written by former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, in two albums, Samvedna in the year 2002 and Nayi Disha in the year 1999. His music became popular through films such as Prem Geet, Arth and Saath Saath and TV serials Kahkashan and Mirza Galib. Jagjit Singh was awarded Padmabhushan, India’s third highest civilian honour, in 2003.
  
• Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was sentenced to 7 years in prison on 11 October 2011 on charges of abuse of office in signing a gas deal with Russia in 2009. Tymoshenko currently the nation’s top opposition leader, denounced the trial as rigged by President Viktor Yanukovych in order to get rid of a popular political opponent.
  
• Steve Jobs-co-founder of Apple Inc. died at age 56 from pancreatic cancer on 6 October 2011. Steve Jobs had stepped down as Apple’s chief executive on 24 August 2011. Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 along with Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak. Steve also co-founded and was the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, which created animated films. After leaving Apple, Jobs founded NeXT Computer in 1985. Steve Jobs was from California, USA. Steve Jobs helped create the Macintosh, one of the world’s most influential computers. He also reinvented the portable music player with the iPod, launched the first successful legal method of selling music online with iTunes and reordered the cell phone market with the iPhone. Apple is leading the consumer technology world with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, its family of iPod media players and iTunes media store, and its Mac computers and iLife and iWork application suites. Apple recently introduced the iPad, a breakthrough internet and digital media device, in addition to iBookstore, alongside iTunes and the App store.
  
• Ramya Chinthapally - A teenage Indian girl crossed the English Channel in a relay swim making her among the youngest to undertake the endeavour. She teamed up with five English swimmers.
  
• U K Bansal -Government appointed secretary (internal security) in home ministry as next director general of the Border Security Force ( BSF). Bansal, a 1974 batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, will take charge after present DG Raman Srivastava retires.