- Current Affairs October 2016
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Current Affairs October 2016 - Appointments
News 1 - S Sivakumar appointed as the new member of the 21st Law Commission of India
S. Sivakumar, professor at the Indian Law Institute (ILI) in New Delhi, has been appointed as the full-time Member of the 21st Law Commission of India (LCI) by the Union Government. He is a recipient of the National Law Day Award in 2008.
Former Supreme Court judge, Justice Balbir Singh Chauhan, was appointed as the new Chairman of Law Commission of India in March 2016. The 21st Law Commission was constituted for a period of three years from 1 September, 2015. This commission will have its tenure only till 31 August 2018.
News 2 - MS Sahoo assumed charge as the Chairman of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board
Mr. MS Sahoo assumed charge as the Chairperson of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India. Prior to this, Sahoo was a member at Competition Commission of India and was earlier a member at Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
He has been appointed for a period of 5 years or until further orders, whichever is the earliest. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 was enacted earlier this year, that will ensure time-bound settlement of insolvency, enable faster turnaround of businesses and create a database of serial defaulters.
News 3 - Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Ltd appoints Ashish Vohra as their new CEO
The Board of Directors of Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Company Ltd appointed Ashish Vohra as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer. RNLI is a part of Reliance Capital. The position of CEO of the company was lying vacant after Anup Rau left the company in June 2016.
Prior to joining RNLi, Vohra spent eight years with Max Life Insurance. He has also worked with Fullerton India Credit, Citibank and Eicher Motors in the past.
News 4 - Sushil Chandra appointed as the CBDT Chairman
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Indian Revenue Service Officer Sushil Chandra as the next Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes. Chandra is currently posted as Member, CBDT. He is a 1980 batch officer of Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre).
He will take over from the current CBDT Chairperson Rani Singh Nair, who will retire on October 31, 2016. Chandra's tenure will last till May 2017.
News 5 - Former Portuguese PM Antonio Guterres selected to be the UN Secretary-General
Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres was unanimously selected by the UN Security Council as the next UN SecretaryGeneral. He will succeed Ban Ki-moon on 1 January 2017. He beat nine other candidates, including EU budget commissioner Kristalina Georgieva from Bulgaria to become the next UN chief.
He was the head of the UNHCR refugee agency from 2005 to 2015. He served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002.
News 6 - BVR Mohan Reddy appointed as the Honorary Consul of Germany
The Federal Republic of Germany has appointed an Honorary Consul in Hyderabad for the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Mr. Mohan Reddy will work towards further strengthening the collaboration between the two nations; promoting culture, industry & commerce, facilitating investments, educational exchange and enhancing goodwill.
Mr. Reddy is the Founder and Chairman of Cyient Ltd as well as the Former Chairman of NASSCOM. He is a noted public figure as well as a business leader with an impeccable reputation across the country.
News 7 - Luo Zhaohui appointed as China's Ambassador to India
Chinese President Xi Jinping appointed Luo Zhaohui as China’s new ambassador to India after former ambassador to India Le Yucheng left New Delhi in April. Prior to the Indian assignment, Luo was China's ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2016.
Luo also had a four-year stint as Ambassador to Pakistan starting from 2006. He served as Director General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2014.
News 8 - Renu Pall appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Austria
Ms. Renu Pall has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Austria. She is an IFS of the 1988 batch. Presently Ms. Pall is serving as the Ambassador of India to the Czech Republic. She will succeed Rajiva Misra in Austria.
Since May 2011 she has been the Joint Secretary (ASEAN Multilateral) in the Ministry of External Affairs. She was previously the Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India, Berlin. Her other overseas assignments included Embassies of India at Washington DC, Paris and Moscow.
News 9 - Karthik Rajeshwaran named as the Director of Strategy at Freecharge
Snapdeal-owned digital payments platform Freecharge has appointed former Obi Worldphone Senior Executive Karthik Rajeshwaran as its Director of Strategy to guide-in consumer-centric innovations and expand revenue across new business opportunities.
Rajeshwaran formerly handled global marketing and growth at Obi Worldphone, where he was responsible for launching smartphones and crafting brand communication plans across Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and select West Asia countries. He began his career at FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever.
News 10 - Goverment appoints G Mahalingam as the whole-time member of SEBI
The Union Government has appointed Reserve Bank's Executive Director G Mahalingam as a Whole-Time Member of SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) for a period of five years or till he attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
Mahalingam will join in place of Prashant Saran who retired in June 2016. Mahalingam is Executive Director and former regional director of Reserve Bank of India. He has also been associated with NISM (National Institute of Securities Markets).
News 11 - Ajay Kumar Bhalla appointed as the Director General of Foreign Trade
The Department of Personnel and Training has appointed senior IAS officer Ajay Kumar Bhalla as the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). He is a 1984 batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. Currently Mr. Bhalla is the additional secretary in the Commerce Ministry.
Ajay Kumar Bhalla has been appointed in place of Anup Wadhawan who has been appointed as the Additional Secretary in the Commerce Ministry. The DGFT is the nodal agency of the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, responsible for execution of the import and export Policies of India.
News 12 - Amandeep Singh appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the UN Conference on Disarmament, Geneva
Former IAS officer of the 1992 batch, Amandeep Singh Gill, has been appointed as the next Ambassador/PR of India to the UN Conference on Disarmament, Geneva. He is expected to take up the assignment shortly.
The Conference on Disarmament (CD) is an international forum established in 1979 to negotiate multilateral arms control and disarmament agreements. Currently there are 65 members. It was used to negotiate the Biological Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention.
News 13 - Navdeep Suri to be India’s new envoy to the UAE
A 1983 batch Indian Foreign Service official and senior diplomat Navdeep Singh Suri has been appointed as the Ambassador to United Arab Emirates. He is currently serving as the Indian High Commissioner in Canberra. He will succeed TP Seetharam and is expected to take up the assignment shortly.
Prior to his posting to Canberra, he was India’s Ambassador to Egypt. He had also served in India’s diplomatic missions in Cairo, Damascus, Washington, Dar es Salaam and London and as India’s Consul General in Johannesburg.
News 14 - Sanjay Singh appointed as the Member Secretary, Law Commission
President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed former legislative secretary Sanjay Singh as a Member Secretary, Law Commission of India for a period upto August 31, 2018. He is a retired officer of Indian Legal Service. Singh was appointed as legislative secretary in August 2014.
The tenure of Twenty-First Law Commission, which was constituted on September 1, 2015 is till August 31, 2018. The Law Commission of India is mandated to identify laws which are no longer needed or relevant and can be immediately repealed.
News 15 - Sunil Mishra appointed as Odisha's Chief Information Commissioner
Sunil Kumar Mishra has been appointed as the new Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of Odisha. He is former Director General of Income Tax in Karnataka and Goa. He will succeed former Chief Secretary TK Mishra.
This position was lying vacant since February 2015. The state information panel is currently run by two information commissioners — LN Pattanaik and Sashiprava Bindhani. The Central Information Commissioner is the head of the Central Information Commission which is an authorized government body set up under the Right to Information Act 2005.
News 16 - Nissan to appoint Carlos Ghosn as the Chairman of Mitsubishi Motors
Nissan Motor Co Ltd will appoint Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn as the Chairman of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation. Nissan is set to buy 34% of Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi has been hit with a mileage scandal after it improperly measured fuel economy and manipulated testing data.
Ghosn is both Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Nissan and Renault. He is inline to become the first executive to head three different automakers at the same time.
News 17 - Wrestler Geeta Phogat appointed as a DSP in Haryana Police
Haryana Cabinet has approved the appointment of wrestler Geeta Phogat as a Deputy Superintendent of Police in the state police. She was appointed after a six-yearlong wait since winning India’s first Gold Medal in women’s wrestling in the Commonwealth Games. Phogat was also the first Indian woman wrestler to have qualified for London Olympics in 2012.
The State Cabinet also appointed Mountaineer Ram Lal as Sub Inspector in Haryana Police Department from the sports quota.
News 18 - Bilal Nazki appointed as the Chairperson of JKHRC
Former Chief Justice of Orissa High Court, Bilal Nazki, has been appointed as the Chairperson of Jammu and Kashmir Human Rights Commission. He was appointed by the state Governor NN Vohra.
Nazki had retired as Chief Justice of Orissa High Court in November 2009 and was later appointed as the chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Bihar. He was also a part of the committee set up to review the functioning of the Haj Committee of India.
News 19 - Rajeev Misra appointed as the Head of Softbank Vision Fund
Japanese telecom and Internet major Softbank Corp has appointed Rajeev Misra as head of its $100 billion Softbank Vision Fund project. The Fund will make investments in the technology sector globally.
Earlier, Rajeev served as Head of Strategic Finance at SoftBank Group Corp. He also worked with at UBS as the Global Head of Credit and Head of Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
News 20 - FIH appointed Jason McCracken as their CEO
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has confirmed the appointment of New Zealand’s Jason McCracken as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He is currently working as Head of Insurance and Investment Risk at banking group ANZ. He will replace Kelly Fairweather, who will join International Tennis Federation.
McCracken is well known to the hockey family having served as an Olympic and World Cup Umpire, FIH Committee Member and Technical Official for over 20-years. His most recent appointments were Technical Delegate of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and Tournament Director of the 2014 Men’s Hockey World Cup in The Hague, Netherlands.
News 21 - Karnal Singh to take charge as the Director of the Enforcement Directorate
The appointment committee of the cabinet gave nod to the appointment of the 1984 batch IPS officer Karnal Singh as the new Director General of the Enforcement Directorate. This post was lying vacant since Aug 2015 as the government had curtailed the tenure of Rajan S. Katoch, the previous ED Director due to which Singh was allotted additional charge of this post.
Enforcement Directorate is an agency that should keep laws intact under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and curb black money and hawala trade cases.