July 2012 Persons

Rajkeshwur Purryag is Mauritius fifth President: Rajkeshwur Purryag became the fifth president of Mauritius on 21 July. His predecessor Anerood Jugnauth resigned in March following open conflict with Prime Minister Navin Chandra Ramgoolam. The row erupted when the leader of the opposition Paul Berenger announced the creation of an opposition alliance headed by Mr. Jugnauth.Mr. Ramgoolam asked Mr. Jugnauth to either deny the statement by the opposition, or — in the case of confirmation — to resign, arguing that his new role was incompatible with a position as head of state. Johan Atta Mills passes away: JOHN ATTA MILLS(68)-President of Ghana, died on 24 July 2012. He won international praise for a stable model democracy in Africa. He reputed for his economic policies and good governance. However, John Dramani Mahama (53) succeeded John Atta Mills Captain Lakshmi Sahgal passes away: Captain Lakshmi Sehgal, who was part of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army, died on 23rd July in Knapur, following a brief illness. Sehgal (97), breathed her last at a private hospital at 11.20am, her daughter and noted CPM leader Subhashini Ali said. Sehgal, who was ill for some time, was admitted to the hospital on July 19 after she suffered a heart attack at her residence in Civil Lines area here. She was kept on life support system. She was very active during the Independence movement and had commanded the 'Rani of Jhansi Regiment' of the INA formed by Bose. A doctor by profession, Sehgal was working as a medical practitioner and a social worker. She was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1998. Sally Ride, First US Woman to travel into Space, passed away: Sally Ride, the first US woman to travel into space died in La Jolla, California on 23 July 2012. She was 61. She was suffering from pancreatic cancer. Ride fired the imagination of millions of women across the world when she set off for space in the US space shuttle Challenger in June 1983. Sally Ride was, however, not the first woman to travel into space, as Valentina Tereshkova of erstwhile USSR had visited space in June 1963. Born on 26 May 1951 at Los Angeles, California, Ride received her Masters degree in Physics from Stanford University. Subsequently, she joined NASA in 1978. Ride went on her first space shuttle mission on board the Challenger in 1983. She was only 32 when she first travelled into space, making her the youngest person in America at the time to go into space. Her second space visit occurred in 1984, also aboard the Challenger. She spent a total of more than 343 hours in space. Rupert Murdoch Resigned as the Director of the NI Group: Rupert Murdoch an eighty one year old founder of the News Corporation, resigned. He resigned from his directorship from a string of companies, namely the director of the NI Group, the Times Newspaper Holdings, and Newscorp Investments in Britain. He is a known name in the industry of media and known as the ‘media mogul’. After more than a year of scandal in his own British news paper empire, the sustained criminality led to an influential parliamentary committee in May 2012 to describe Murdoch as unfit to run a major company, resulting finally into his resignation. Murdoch has now moved to the United States of America. Omita Paul appointed as the Secretary of the President: Appointment Committee of the Cabinet(ACC) appointed Omita Paul as the Secretary of the President on 24 July 2012. Her tenure as Secretary to the President is for contract basis. Omita is 63 years old. She replaced Christy L Fernandez. Omita Paul was appointed as the information commissioner in the central Information Commission in the year 2009 for the short duration of time at the end of the UPA-I government’s tenure. In addition, she had resigned to join as the Advisor in Finance Ministry from 2004 to 2009. Omita is a retired officer from Indian Information Service (IIS) from 1973 batch. Omita Paul is the wife of KK Paul. KK Paul was the former Delhi Police Commissioner. He is working as the member of the Union Public Service Commission. Hesham Kandil Named Egypt's New Prime Minister: Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi elected fifty-year-old Hisham Kandil as the country’s Prime Minister on 26 July. Morsi ordered the country’s former minister of water resources and irrigation, Kandil to form a new government. Kandil, holds an engineering degree from Cairo University in the year 1984 and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina in the year 1993. Kandil will be the first Egyptian prime minister to wear a beard, which is a sure sign of change in the country. A number of more experienced names were suggested for the prestigious role, but Morsi chose Kandil, a relatively lesser-known face as the Prime Minister of the country, this could be because he wanted someone unlikely to threaten or overshadow him. Mohamed Morsi who became the fifth President of the Republic of Egypt on 24 June 2012, is the first to have been freely elected in the country. The next government will be technocratic in nature, and the ruling Islamist Freedom and Justice Party is expected to head eight to ten ministries of the new cabinet Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma: African Union (AU) on 15 July 2012 elected South Africa's home affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as its new head, making her the first female head of the union. In a closely fought contest Dlamini-Zuma beat incumbent Jean Ping of Gabon 37-17. Dlamini-Zuma, wife of the former South African President Jacob Zuma, was declared winner following a third round of voting. In election held in January 2012, neither of the two candidates got the two-thirds majority, which was required to be elected as the organization head. Consequently, Ping got an extension of another six months in the office. African Union, the successor to Organisation of African Unity, came into existence in 2002 at Durban summit in South Africa. The Union is headquartered at Addis Ababa Ethiopia. A pan-African organization, AU aims at promoting unity and cooperation among African nations. The association also strives to spread democracy and good governance in the continent. At present the African Union has a total of 54 members. Morocco is the only African country which is not the part of the Union. Stephen Covey, '7 Habits' author, dies at 79: Stephen R Covey,the well-know motivational speaker and author of the best selling ''The Seven Habits of Highly Effective people'', which sold more than 20 million copies in 38 languages, died on 16th July at a hospital in Idaho Falls, Idaho, due to complications from a bicycle accident in April, according to his family. Covey also was the author of several other best sellers, including ' First Things First,' ''Principle-Centered Leadership'', ''The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families,'' and ''The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness''. Covey was the co-founder of Utah-based professional services company Franklin Covey. He lived with his wife in Provo, and has nine children and 52 grandchildren. Veteran socialist Mrinal Gore passes away: Veteran socialist leader Mrinal Gore, who earned the sobriquet 'Paniwali Bai' for her efforts in bringing drinking water supply to Goregaon, a Mumbai suburb, passed away on 17 July, after a brief illness. A pioneer and visionary, Gore was one of the last of the Socialist pillars in Maharashtra. Gore was elected to Parliament on a Janata Party ticket in 1977. Gore belonged to that special set of women who took to politics in a period when it was virtually unthinkable for women to be involved in public work. Influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India exhortation as a youngster, Mrinal chucked a promising career in medicine to devote herself to organizing the poor and the disenfranchised Arun Mishra as Chief of DGCA: GOVT. has decided on 16 July 2012 to appoint Arun Mishra as the Chief of Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). He will replace E. K. Bharat Bhusan. Arun Mishra was the former IAS officer at West Bengal cadre. He was the joint Secretary of Civil Aviation in the year 2009.DGCA comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation. DGCA is the regulatory body in the field of Civil Aviation that deals with the safety issues. Deepak Parekh: Deepak parekh- HDFC chairman, the govt. has appointed him on 16 July as the new chairman of the High Level Committee on Financing Infrastructure. He would function in an honorary capacity with the rank of minister of state. The committee is authorized to re-examine existing policies and advice necessary changes to present in the investment for the infrastructure sector. It will work under 12th Five- Year project investments plan from 2012 to 2017 of 4099240 crore rupees. The committee was first set up by Rakesh Mohan, former Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in November 2012. Rajesh Khanna Passes away: RAJESH KHANNA(69)-Yesteryear Bollywood superstar Rajesh Khanna passed away at his Mumbai residence Ashirwad on 18 July 2012. He was 69. He was severely ill over the past few months. Rajesh Khanna is considered to be the first superstar of Indian cinema. Rajesh Khanna is survived by his wife Dimple Kapadia and two daughters Twinkle Khanna and Rinkie Khanna. His elder daughter Twinkle Khanna is married to Hindi film actor Akshay Kumar.Rajesh Khanna’s real name was Jatin Khanna, was born on 29 December 1942, in Amritsar, Punjab. Aradhna, Anand, Kati Patang, Dushman, Bawarchi, Amar Prem are few of his movies which earned him both the praise of critics and commercial success at the same time. He was conferred the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.Rajesh Khanna was also the member of Lok Sabha from 1992 to 1996. He was elected to the lower house on the Congress Party ticket from the New Delhi constituency. Renowned Economist P.N.Dhar passes away: P.N.DHAR(94) - Professor of Economics and the first principal secretary of Indira Gandhi passed away on 19 July 2012 in New Delhi. He was the professor of Economics in the University of Delhi. He was the first Principal Secretary of Indira Gandhi in 1970. He was the only person who had joined Prime Minister’s Office in the year 1970.He was the team member which was accompanied by Indira Gandhi when she had signed Simla Agreement with Pakistan after the War of Bangladesh in the year 1971. Dhar was one of the founders of Delhi School of Economics. He worked as the Assistant Secretary General in United Nations, Research and Policy Analysis in New York in the year 1976-78. Renowned Art Expert Sumahendra passed away: SUMAHENDRA(69) - Renowned Art Expert, passed away on 19 July 2012. He was the director of Visual Art in Jawahar Kala Kendra, Rajasthan. He was also the retired Principal of Rajasthan School of Art. He was known as the expert in Rajasthani miniature paintings and frescos. His work included the World Famous frescos in Bundi fort in the National Museum which is located at Delhi. In addition, He was the author of numerous books which are based on painting. Varnamala is one of his famous book. . RSS Ideologue Bal Apte passes away: BAL APTE(73)- Top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Ideologue and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Bal Apte died in Mumbai on 17 July 2012. He was 73. Bal Apte was twice elected to the Rajya Sabha (in 2000 and 2006), where he represented the state of Maharashtra. He was the vice president of BJP during 2002-2010 . Rajkeshwur Purryag is Mauritius fifth President: Rajkeshwur Purryag became the fifth president of Mauritius on 21st July. His predecessor Anerood Jugnauth resigned in March following open conflict with Prime Minister Navin Chandra Ramgoolam. The row erupted when the leader of the opposition Paul Berenger announced the creation of an opposition alliance headed by Mr. Jugnauth.Mr. Ramgoolam asked Mr. Jugnauth to either deny the statement by the opposition, or — in the case of confirmation — to resign, arguing that his new role was incompatible with a position as head of state. Captain Lakshmi Sahgal passes away: Captain Lakshmi Sehgal, who was part of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army, died on 23rd July in Knapur, following a brief illness. Sehgal (97), breathed her last at a private hospital at 11.20am, her daughter and noted CPM leader Subhashini Ali said. Sehgal, who was ill for some time, was admitted to the hospital on July 19 after she suffered a heart attack at her residence in Civil Lines area here. She was kept on life support system. She was very active during the Independence movement and had commanded the 'Rani of Jhansi Regiment' of the INA formed by Bose. A doctor by profession, Sehgal was working as a medical practitioner and a social worker. She was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1998. Derek o’ Brian: Derek o’ Brian, the Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal became the first Anglo Indian to vote in Presidential Elections in India. Brian, a Trinamool Congress MP, cast his vote in Kolkata on 19 July 2012. O'Brien voted , as he is not a nominated member and has been elected to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal . As per the constitution of India an MP who has been nominated by the President to either of the house of the Indian Parliament is not eligible for casting vote in Presidential election. In Rajya Sabha, there are twelve members, who are nominated by the President and can not vote in Presidential election. Dawoud Rajiha Syrian Defence Minister Dawoud Rajiha, was killed in a bomb blast in Damascus, capital of Syria ,on 18 july,2012.The bomb strike was carried out by a suicide bomber, who was apparently a part of the security team that was posted to guard Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s inner group. This incident took place after four days of violence in Damascus, which started soon after the opposition launched a new offensive codenamed Operation Damascus Volcano, which focused on high visibility targets. As of now, a Syrian rebel Islamist group is claiming up for the strike. E.K. Bharath Bhushan- In a sudden move, the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) head was on 10 july stripped off from his post by the governmet, with immediate effect.There has been speculation that his recent warnings to Air India and Kingfisher Airlines to pay dues to their employees may have gone against him. Dara Singh(84)- renouned wresler from India, passed away on 12 July 2012 in Mumbai. Born on 19 November 1928 in Dharmoochak village of Amritsar in Punjab, Dara Singh earned fame around the globe as a Professional Wrestler. He announced his retirement from active wrestling in 1983. In 1996 he was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.Dara Singh, got the popular recognition as an actor when he portrayed the character of Lord Hanuman in the Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan television series. Dara Singh was also the member of Rajya Sabha from August 2003 to August 2009. He was conferred the title Rustam-E-Punjab in 1966 and Rustam-E-Hind in 1978. Ernest Borgnine(95)-Oscar award winner,passed away in Los Angels. He was best known for Academy award-winning role of a butcher in the movie 'Marty'(1955). He was presented Lifetime achievement Award at the 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Award 2011. Nasir Ali as the new Joint Managing Director of Air India: Civil aviation Ministry on 11 July, appointed Nasir Ali as the new joint managing director. Prior to his promotion, he was dealing with human resource issue related to the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines. He is the second managerial executive posted in airline by civil aviation ministry after Rohit Nandan who was appointed as the chairperson and managing director of the airline in 2011. Previously, Nasir Ali worked as the director with the civil aviation ministry. He was appointed as an officer on special duty (OSD) in the Air India Airline. He was the head of four-member committee to apply Dharmadhikari Committee proposal on amalgamation of Air India and Indian Airlines in the year 2008. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma : African Union (AU) on 15 July 2012 elected South Africa's home affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as its new head, making her the first female head of the union. In a closely fought contest Dlamini-Zuma beat incumbent Jean Ping of Gabon 37-17. Dlamini-Zuma, wife of the former South African President Jacob Zuma, was declared winner following a third round of voting. In election held in January 2012, neither of the two candidates got the two-thirds majority, which was required to be elected as the organization head. Consequently, Ping got an extension of another six months in the office. African Union, the successor to Organisation of African Unity, came into existence in 2002 at Durban summit in South Africa. The Union is headquartered at Addis Ababa Ethiopia. A pan-African organization, AU aims at promoting unity and cooperation among African nations. The association also strives to spread democracy and good governance in the continent. At present the African Union has a total of 54 members. Morocco is the only African country which is not the part of the Union. Mohamed Morsy was sworn in as Egypt's first elected President on 30th June, a day after he announced at Cairo's Tahrir square that he drew his legitimacy not from the country's military junta but from the people who had already demonstrated their power by toppling former strongman Hosni Mubarak. In his first address on Saturday after his inauguration at Cairo University, Mr. Morsy said the Egyptian revolution was irreversible. ''Egypt will not go backwards,'' he told an elite audience, which included Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces (SCAF), a powerful body made up of Egypt's top generals. Mr. Morsy praised the ''free and fair'' elections to Parliament - remarks that could be interpreted as a veiled criticism of SCAF, which had dissolved the Peopless Assembly following a Supreme Court ruling that elections to one-third of the seats were unconstitutional. Enrique Pena Nieto- The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) leader, was elected as the new President of Mexico on 2 July 2012. The Institutional Revolutionary Party had ruled Mexico for nearly 71 years, before being voted out of power in 2000 presidential elections.Under the Mexican Constitution, the president is the head of both the state and the government. He is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces. Jawahar Thakur, a 1979 batch officer of Indian Civil Accounts Service, takes charge as the Controller-General of Accounts (CGA) in the Union Finance Ministry with effect from July 1.Before taking over as the CGA from C.R. Sundaramurti, Mr. Thakur was the Principal Chief Controller of Accounts in the Central Board of Direct Taxes under the Department of Revenue in the Finance Ministry. B. Surender Mohan was appointed as the new Chairman and Managing Director of Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) on 1 July 2012. A R Ansari was the former Managing Director of Neyveli Lignite Corporation. Neyveli Lignite Corporation is the government organization and the leading company in mining, thermal power plants and innovative researches. B. Surender Mohan is 56 years old. He served as the Mines Director in his earlier stage of life. He started his career from Rourkela Steel Plant and he was the Deputy General Manager at Rashtriya Ispat Nigam in the year 1998. Assamese poet Hiren Bhattacharyya is dead: Popular and celebrated Assamese poet and winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award and several honours Hiren Bhattacharyya passed away at a private hospital om Guwahati on 4th July.. He was 80. He leaves behind his wife and a daughter. Popularly known as Hiru-da, Bhattacharyya was widely known for using simple words in his poems, through which he could establish direct communication with his readers. He possessed a large vocabulary of simple Assamese words, which is very rare in contemporary Assamese literature. He had to his name 10 anthologies of poems apart from two collection of rhymes for children. The Union Law Ministry on 5th July, re-appointed six Additional Solicitors General to the Supreme Court for a period of two years with effect from July 5. They are: Mohan Parasaran; P.P. Malhotra, Indira Jaising, Mohan Jain, Gourab Banerjee and Harin P. Raval. The tenure of M. Ravindran, Additional Solicitor General for south, based in Madras High Court has come to an end and few names are considered for appointment. The post of Assistant Solicitor General in the Madras High Court is also vacant for over a year. Anup Sankar Bhattacharya was appointed as the Director of the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) on 2 July 2012. M Balachandran was the former director of Institute of Banking Personnel Selection. After the abolition of Banking Services Recruitment Board, IBPS plays a vital role for candidates who are interested in Bank Jobs. Approximately, 15 million applications applied in the year 2011-12. In 2011, all the nationalized banks authorized Institute of Banking Personnel Selection to conduct a common written test to get admission in the government banks. IBPS conducts separate test for SBI (State Bank of India) and its associate banks. Anup Sankar Bhattacharya was the part of Advisory Board of Central Vigilance Commission for three months. He was responsible for security issues at IBPS. Anup Sankar Bhattacharya spent thirty seven years in United Bank of India, Kolkata. He was the executive director of Indian Bank in the year 2004. In addition, he was the part of Bank of Maharashtra in 2010 for 16 month time.