1. Prologue
  2. Sarkaari appointments
    1. More important
    2. Less important
  3. Committees in News
  4. Men in Uniform
  5. Civilians in News: More important
    1. Waterman Rajendra Singh
    2. Madav Gadgil
  6. Civilians in News: Less important
  7. Dead in News (DIN)
    1. More important
    2. Less important

Prologue

  • Persons in news (PIN) for February And March 2015.
  • Utility of the article: non-UPSC exams and dozens of college addmission entrance exams like Hotel Management, CLAT etc. lined up next 1-2 months.
  • Part 1: official appointments, Committees, civilian awards and dead in news. You’re here.
  • Part 2: international places in news and states in news. coming soon
  • Part 3: books, sports, Business. coming soon.

Sarkaari appointments

More important
CABE Sanjeev Bhikchandani, founder of naukri.com, will be included as member of CABE. central advisory board on education
Censor board Chief Pahlaj Nihlani withdraws the controversial decide to ban cuss words from movies.
CSO Ashish Kumar, Director-General, Central Statistics Office (CSO), briefed Rajan bhai about new GDP calculation method. More details in my Economy Powerpoint codename L5/P1.pptx
Home ministry
  • Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami sacked for trying to influence CBI officials not to arrest a TMC leader in Saradha connection. Anil voluntarily resigned.
  • L.C. Goyal appointed as new Home secretary in his place
IAEA DG Yukiya Amano visited India to inspect our nuke power stations.
IIT eminent nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar as chairman of the Board of Governors (BoG) of IIT  Bombay resigned after Having this agreement with the government over the appointment of directors in IIT Patna etc.
Jammu & Kashmir
  • Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) chief, Mufti Mohammad Saeed became the new CM of the state after PDP-BJP coalition formed Government after nearly 3 months suspense-period.
  • Nirmal Singh of BJP became Deputy-CM of the state.
MEA
  • Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire is based on Vikas Swarup’s “Q&A”. Now this gentleman has replaced Syed Akbaruddin as the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson.
  • Arun Singh appointed as Indian ambassador to USA. Earlier served in France.
NSA Chinese Special Representative Yang Jiechi comes to meet NSA Ajit Doval to discuss border dispute (1) 2000 kms Arunanchal Pradesh border (2) 4000 kms Ladakh border.
Pankaj Pachauri Pankaj Pachauri Resigned from PM’s climate council, UNFCC and went on leave from TERI Director general post, after sexual harassment FIR.
Railway Board
  • Chairman A.K.  Mittal assured the National Green Tribunal that the railway tracks and platforms will be made clean.
  • Rail budget 2015 announced “Kayakulp” council to transform Indian railways. Ratan Tata will head this body, it’ll have representatives from rail trade unions as well.
SAI Sports Authority of India gets new DG- Injeti Srinivas, an IAS from Odisha cadre.

 

Less important
BCI Bar Council of India chief Manan Kumar Mishra said he’ll take action against the two defence lawyerswho have made derogatory remarks against Nirbhaya (dec 2012 rape victim), in the BBC documentary “India’s daughter” made by Leeslie Udwin.
CPI
  • S. Sudhakar Reddy was re-elected general secretary of communist party of India
  •  Gurudas Dasgupta was elected deputy general secretary.
CSE Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) director general Sunita Narain released green rating project which says Indian coal-thermal plants are most inefficient in the world.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal , opted for AIIMS whistle blower officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi to head the city’s Anti-Corruption Branch.
IORA Indian Ocean Regional Association (IORA) Secretary general is  K.V.  Bhagirath.
NBT National book trust. Ex-RSS editor Baldev Bhai Sharma becomes new chief, replacing A. Sethumadhavan.  Person selected by HRD ministry.
PNB Govt gave additional charge of Managing Director and CEO of Punjab National Bank to the Executive Director, Gauri Shankar.
Rajesh Kumar Local newspaper report who clicked the famous photo of Bihari spidermen nakal-mafias climbing school building to help students cheat.
RSS General Secretary Bhaiyaaji Joshi reelected.
Uttar Pradesh Arvind Kumar Jain appointed as the new Director General of Police of Uttar Pradesh.

Committees in News

Dr. B. Meena Kumari submitted report  for deep-sea fishing Policy and Guidelines to Agriculture ministry
Haryana
  • RSS person Dinanath Batra will head an education Committee to shortlist which Gita sloks should be incorporated in syllabus.
  • Justice TP Garg (retd): For investigating Anti-sikh riots in Haryana’s Rewari district (1984). Based on his report, Haryana state Government will give Rs.20 lakh as compensation to families.
Justice GP Mathur Committee
  • 1984, October 31- Indira Gandhi assassinated. Subsequent Anti-Sikh riots left over 3000 people dead in Delhi, UP, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra etc.
  • Modi Government had declared 5 lakh compensation and setup Justice GP Mathur Committee – which recommended setting up a new SIT to reopen the cases.
  •  So now 3-member SIT formed under IPS officer Pramod Asthana
Nachiket Mor Committee This RBI Board director will process payment bank applications.
Usha Thorat Committee This ex-Deputy Governor of RBI will process small bank applications

Men in Uniform

BSF BSF gets First lady IPS DIG Satwant Atwal Trivedi, from Himachal cadre. Earlier she worked in cybercrime, SVNPA and NIA.
Coast guard Coast guard DIG BK Loshali Brags ordering the destruction of Pakistani boat on 31/12/2014, later retracts statement after controversy. But shifted to another office, and Departmental inquiry ordered
Kirti Chakra Captain Jaidev of the Parachute Regiment for fighting terrorists in Kashmir
Lt.Kiran Shekhawat She had participated in 26th January parade. She is the first Navy lady officer to die in a Dornier aircraft crash.
Sea Hawks This Indian open water swim team led by Wing Cmdr. Paramvis Singh created new record. They swam from Goa to Mumbai (490 kms) in 156 hours- broke Israeli record.
Shaurya Chakra
  • Subedar Prakash Chand of Kumaon regiment
  • Lieutenant-Commander Manoranjan Kumar
  • Major Abhijai of Corps of Engineers

Civilians in News: More important

Persons in News February March

Waterman Rajendra Singh

  • India’s noted environmentalist Rajendra Singh (nick name “Waterman”) won Stockholm Water Prize 2015 (Sweden, King Carl XVI Gustaf).
  • He was born in UP, worked in Rajasthan for decades to solve drought issue in Indian villages. Earlier he want Magsaysay award too (2001) for community-based water  Management.
  • He’s running “Jal Jan Jodo” campaign to spread water conservation message.

Madav Gadgil

  • Madhav Gadgil wins USA’s Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement for 2015 (2 lakh dollars).
  • He played key role in drafting National biodiversity act 2002. He was  chairman of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), but Government did not like his report. Not one bit. So they setup another panel under Kasturirangan.
  • Nonetheless, American environmentalists took note of Gadgil’s report and gave him the award.
Amartya sen
  • Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has won the newly instituted Charleston EFG John Maynard Keynes Prize
  • He also resigned from Nalanda university after Government did not assured him second term. Although Subramaniyam Swami allages that Sen indulged in financial impropriety hence not eligible for re appointment.
Leeslie Udwin This British director made controversial BBC documentary on Dec 2012 gangrape, titled “India’s daughter”
Mo Ibrahim Prize
  • Namibia’s outgoing President Pohamba wins the Mo Ibrahim Prize for “good governance” ($ 5 million).
  • Award founded by Mo Ibrahim- the owner of Sudanese-British telecoms.
  • Award is given to a democratically-elected former head of state with exeptional leadership.
Sherya Singhal On her PIL, Supreme court removed section 66A from Information Technology act.
Venki Nobel Laureate Venkatraman (Venki) Ramakrishnan became first Indian President-Elect of the Royal Society of England from 1/12/2015. Dr. Ramakrishnan won Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 for ribosome molecular machine.

 

Civilians in News: Less important
Aasiya Andrabi This female Kashmiri separatist leader has been for hoisting Pakistani flag in Srinagar. She is the leader of Dukhtaran-e-Millat organization.
Abhishek Bachchan Became first Indian to ‘play at NBA Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity game on February 13 at Madison Square Gardens,
Herve Faliciani This HSBC employee leaked names of bank account holders in Switzerland.
Jihadi John “Jihadi John”, the masked ISIL terrorist responsible for beheading orange-prisoner suit journalists, has been identified. He is Kuwait-born London computer programmer Mohammed Emwazi.
Kamnan Ramesh Appointed as Judicial commissioner in Singapore SC.
Lalji Patel This Surat Diamont trader bought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dark suit with golden pinestrips, at Surat auction. He paid 4.31 crores, money to be spent on Ganga cleanup.
Ms.Birubala Rabha she’s given honorary ph.D degree by Guwahati univ. for fighting witchcraft.
Photojournalism Iranian Photojournalist Masih Alinejad got award at Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. She had created a special facebook page inviting Irani women to post pictures with hijab.
Skydiver Shital Mahajan Winner of Padma Shri, this lady will attempt sky jumping with  99 Indian woman. She aims to set world record for 100 Indian women sky diving and scuba diving.

Dead in News

Dead in News March 2015

More important
Aviji Roy
  • Bangladeshi writer blogger, Killed by radical psalmists.
  • His books “Biswaser Virus” (Virus of Faith) and “Sunyo theke Mahabiswa” (From Vacuum to the Universe).
  • Through his blog Mukto-Mona (Free Mind) that advocated liberal and secular writings.
  • Another Bangla blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider also murdered.
Boris Nemtsov Critique of Putin, Shot dead in Moscow.
Carl Djerassi The inventor of contraceptive pills, died in USA
CPI leader, Govind Punsare Veteran Communist Party of India leader Govind Pansare, was shot dead along with his wife, by unidentifed assailants near his Kolhapur home.
Daggubati Ramanaidu
  • Won Dadasaheb Phalke award and Padma Bhushan
  • Produced 139 films in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi; among others, setting a record for the most films made by an individual.
  • AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa’s 100th flm, Thirumaangalyam, was produced by him in 1974, and he was given the Padma Bhushan in 2013.
  • His son Venkatesh and grandson Rana are popular actors.
Lee Kuan Yew the founding father and first Prime Minister of Singapore (From 1959 to 1990). Nicknamed “Minister Mentor”. Died of Pneumonia related complications at 91 age. Called India a “nation of unfulfilled greatness. “Modi attended his funeral. More details in current affairs excel file.
Leonard Nimoy Hollywood actor famous for his role as “Spock” in star trek movies. Dead.
Meera Kosambi This sociologist was youngest daughter of eminent historian and mathematician D.D. Kosambi, and grant daughter of renowned Buddhist scholar and Pali language expert, Acharya Dharmananda Damodar Kosambi.
Narayan Desai Known for his Gandhi Katha – stories on the Mahatma’s life. Died in Surat.
RR Patil former home minister of Maharashtra state died in oral cancer. He was an NCP leader, nicknamed Aaba, very strict against dance bars in Mumbai.
VINOD MEHTA
  • Founder and Editor of Outlook, where he exposed Radiatapes in connection with 2G scam.
  • Also worked with Pioneer, Debonair, Independent.
  • Last book: Editor Unplugged.

Dead in News: Less important

A.  Vincent Noted Tamil Cinematographer, died.
Andreas Lubitz This german co-pilot was mentally unstable and responsible for crashing a Lufthansa  aircraft in French Alps
Atmaram Bhende Marathi experimental theatre artist, Died.
Bhadrashyam Kothari CMD of Kothari Sugars, Chennai, died.
Deepak Khaitan Noted businessman from Kolkata died. He was associated with Eveready batteries, Mcnally Bharat and Kilburn Industries
DK Ravi Honest IAS officer D.  K. Ravi mysteriously died in Karnataka. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah ordered CBI inquiry.
Hukum Singh Ex-CM of Haryana passed away. He was CM during 1990-91.
Italy’s richest man Michele Ferrero -Italy’s richest man with his popular Nutella spread and confectionary empire.
JK Group JK group Chairman Gaur Hari Singhania passed away following a heart attack.
King Richard-III
  • His skeleton was found in a car park outside LEICESTER (UNITED KINGDOM), 530 years after his death.
  • He died in Battle of Bosworth. Now he’s officially exhumed with state honors.
Malcolm Fraser former Australian Prime Minister, died in Canberra
Mrinalini Mukherjee Noted  sculptor, known for the use of knotted hemp fibre, ceramics and cast bronze.
Natalia Revuelta Clews Mistress of Fidel Castro, died in February 2015.
Sarala Birla wife of industrialist Basant Kumar Birla. Died in Delhi
Shailesh Yadav Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav’s son. Accused in Vyapam recruitment scam. Died in mysterious circumstances.
Terry Pratchett British science fiction author. Dead. Famous novel series “discworld” about a parallel universe.
Thenphunga Sailo Ex CM of Mizoram,  helped fighting against the insurgency in the 1970s

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