April 2013

Justice D.K. Jain

Union Government of India on 7 January 2012 appointed Justice D.K. Jain as Chairman of the 20th Law Commission of India. Justice Jain would take on the chair of the Chairman of the Law Commission on 24 January 2012 after he retires of a Judge of Supreme Court on the same day. The Law Commission is responsible for offering advices on complex issues to the Government. He would be heading the commission as its chief for a period of three-years from the date of being in the office.

20th Law Commission of India

The 20th Law Commission of India was constituted with the Order of the Government of India with effect from 1 September 2012. The functioning of the commission would end on 31 August 2012. The commission would be responsible for identification of obsolete laws and suggest measures suitable for quick grievance handling and redressal of the citizens. It would also be examining the laws that effects poor and suggest measures which would help in harnessing the law and the legal process for the economically weaker and poor section of the society.

Roelant Oltmans

Hockey India on 17 January announced that Roelant Oltmans, the Dutch Coach would serve the Indian Hockey Team as Director - High Performance and would look forward towards the sports in India till 2016 Rio Olympics. Oltmans would be responsible for the planning the training program as well as calendar for both the junior and the senior Players in Men and Women sections.

Roelant Oltmans

• He is a Dutch field hockey coach and has coached the Dutch team for 14 years
• He is Dutch Olympic Committee as performance manager for elite sports
• He is serving Uttar Pradesh Wizards team in the ongoing Hockey India League
• He was the coach of the Dutch side that won Gold Medal in Atlanta Olympics
• He has also been a part of Dutch side in two FIH World Cups, Euro Hockey League and three FIH Champions Trophy

Sam Pitroda

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry on 29 January 2013 constituted a seven-member expert committee to review the institutional framework of Prasar Bharti. The committee will be headed by the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure, Sam Pitroda. The committee will have Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar as its convener. The committee will review the relationship of Prasar Bharti with the government, its continuing role as a public broadcaster and measures needed to ensure its technical upgradation. It will also suggest ways of using the new media to deliver digital content both in broadcast mode (DTH) and in a demand based mode like YouTube. The committee comprises members; retired IAS officer Asha Swaroop, who had earlier served as secretary in the I&B Ministry, Professor M P Gupta of IIT Delhi, B K Gairola (Mission Director e-Governance), Jitendra Shankar Mathur, additional secretary and nominated member on the Prasar Bharati Board and Shekhar Kapur (a member of the National Innovation Council).

Kamal Nath

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh elected Kamal Nath, the Union Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs, as a leader of Indian delegation for annual meetings for World Economic Forum which will be held in Davos from 23 to 27 January 2013. There will be other three members in the delegation and these involve Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Heavy Industry Minister Praful Patel and Commerce & Industry Minister Anand Sharma. Kamal Nath being chosen as the leader of the delegation surprised the government because this is the first time when someone not from the ministries of finance or commerce is leading the delegation. Choice of Kamal Nath as the leader reflected his importance in the UPA.

Back in 2006 as well, when the economy was at its boom, Kamal Nath launched India Everywhere campaign, depicting India as a lucrative destination for the investment purpose and for placing it in the top most table at the global level. However, now Indian delegation has the challenge of convincing business tycoons at the global level that India is among the most lucrative investment destinations.

Milos Zeman

Milos Zeman became Czech Republic’s first directly elected President as per the Czech Republic Presidential election results declared on 25 January 2013. He won 55 percent as compared with 45 percent of Karel Schwarzenberg. Milos Zeman is the former Prime Minister of Czech Republic and head of theParty of Civic Rights-Zemanovci (SPOZ) while Karel Schwarzenberg is foreign minister in the present centre-right coalition government. Zeman succeeds Vaclav Klaus as the President of Czech Republic. Milos Zeman is the first directly elected President in Czech history (and overall third President), with the presidential elections held prior to 2013 all being decided internally by the senate. Prior to this, he served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002. As leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party during the 1990s, he transformed it into one of the country’s major political parties. He was also the Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies- the lower house of the Czech parliament- from 1996 to 1998.

Rajnath Singh

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on 23 January 2013 elected Rajnath Singh as its new President. His appointment to the post was announced by Thawar Chand Gehlot, the Central Election Officer at the headquarters of the party, at New Delhi. Rajnath Singh replaced Nitin Gadkari, who served the party as its President for a period of three years from December 2009 to January 2013.

About Rajnath Singh

• He has served BJP as its former National President from December 2005 to November 2009

• In 1988, Rajnath Singh was elected as the Member of Legislative Assembly for UP Legislative Council in 1988

• He was elected as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on 28th October 2000

• He have been the MLA from Haidargarh constituency in Barabanki, two times

• He was appointed as the Union Minister of Agriculture and subsequently for Food Processing on 24th May 2003 during his term in the office; he initiated a few projects like Kisan Call Centre and Farm Income Insurance Scheme.

Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi on 19 January 2013 was formally elevated and was appointed at the position of party Vice-President of Congress at the Chintan Shivir organised at Jaipur in January 2013. With this appointment, Rahul Gandhi took over the second highest chair of the oldest political party of the nation, just after the party-president and her mother Sonia Gandhi. His appointment to the post came up following the decision made by the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision making body.

Jaipur

Jaipur is the capital city of western state of India Rajasthan and also known as the Pink City. The city was built in 1727 by Sawai Jai Singh-II, Jaipur and was the first planned city of its time. It’s a place with beautiful palaces, forts and havelis namely – palace of Amber, Hawa Mahal, Jal Mahal and more. The city holds a long history of battles for power within it.

Congress Vice Presidents in the Post Independent India

• Arjun Singh in 1986 was designated as the first Vice-President of the party

• Jitendra Prasada was appointed as the party Vice-President in 1997

Urjit Patel

Urjit Patel was appointed as theDeputy Governor of theReserve Bank of India on 3 January 2013. Urjit Patel succeeds Subir Gokarn, who handled Monetary Policy in RBI. The three-year term of Subir Gokarn terminated in November 2012 but he was given an extension which ended finally on 31 December 2012. Urjit Patel was chosen over current Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn and International Monetary Fund (IMF) economist Kalpana Kochhar. There are in all four Deputy Governor Posts in RBI. With the termination of term of Subir Gokarn, one post was vacant.

S. Ramakrishnan

A senior Scientist from ISRO, S. Ramakrishnan took over as the Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvanan-thapuram in the first week of January 2013. Ramakrishnan carries a four decades of experience in rocketry and headed the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at ISRO. He replaced P S Veeraraghavan.

Brij Bihari Lal Butail

Brij Bihari Lal Butail was unanimously elected as the new speaker of Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly on 9 January 2013. Brij Bihari Lal Butail is the five-time MLA as well as Senior Congress leader. Butail was elected as the speaker unananimously after the BJP decided that none of its candidate should field for this designation, leaving him as the only choice. Three nominations for Butail were filed which included, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Agriculture Minister Sujan Singh Pathania, second by Leader of the opposition P K Dhumal and state BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti as well as third by the Irrigation and Public Health Minister Vidya Stokes and Housing Minister Sudhir Sharma. Butail got elected for the fifth time to Vidhan Sabha from Palampur. He remained as the minister as well as political advisor to Chief Minister. Butail is the 12th Speaker of the state Assembly as well as second from Palampur.

Syed Asif Ibrahim

Syed Asif Ibrahim, the 1977 Madhya Pradesh cadre IPS officer took over the office of Intelligence Bureau as a director on 1 January 2013 from Nehchal Sandhu. Alok Joshi, the Haryana cadre IPS officer on the other hand took over the office of RAW as the director on 31 December 2012. The names of the head of IB and RAW were cleared in November 2012 by the cabinet committee which was headed by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Syed Asif Ibrahim was appointed as officer on special duty in the Intelligence Bureau after his name was cleared from appointments panel. With this, Ibrahim became the first Muslim to acquire such a prestigious post in the IB. Nehchal Sandhu retired as the head of IB on 31 December 2012 after which Asif Ibrahim took over. Before holding the position of head of IB, Asif Ibrahim served as a special director in IB. He became the special director after returning from London where he held the designation of Minister (Coordination) in the Indian high commission.

Srikanth Srinivasan

Indian-American Srikanth Srinivasan on 4th January 2013 re-nominated by US President Barack Obama as Federal Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit. Srikanth Srinivasan is among the 33 federal judges re-nominated by the President Barack Obama for the US Court of Appeals and the only Indian American re-nominated by Obama for the District of Columbia Circuit. The nomination is pended over the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary which is charged with conducting hearings prior to the Senate votes on confirmation of federal judges nominated by the president. Srinivasan was born in Chandigarh, and grew up in Lawrence, Kansas and had received his BA with honors and distinction in 1989 from Stanford University and his JD (Juris Doctor) with distinction in 1995 from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and served as an editor of the Stanford Law Review.

Rajiv Takru

Rajiv Takru , the Senior IAS officer on 9 January 2013 promoted and appointed as Secretary of Financial Services in the Finance Ministry. Rajiv Takru was promoted from his present post of Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The job of Rajiv Takru is that of looking after the functioning of banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions. Rajiv Takru, is a 1979-batch officer of Gujarat cadre and was earlier CEO of Prasar Bharti and had worked in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Rajiv Takru is going to succeed Dinesh Kumar Mittal, who retires on 31 January 2013. Also, in an another appointment , the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had approved the appointment of Ravi Mathur as Secretary in the Department of Disinvestment under the Finance Ministry. Ravi Mathur, is a 1979-batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre and is currently Additional Secretary in Ministry of Labour and Employment. Prof K Vijayraghavan, was also appointed by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) as Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore as Secretary, Department of Biotechnology.

Justice Amitava Roy

Justice Amitava Roy on 2 January 2013 was sworn in as the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court. The oath was administered to him at Raj Bhavan by the Governor of Rajasthan Margaret Alva. With taking over the oath he asserted that there was scope for strengthening the trial processes related to prevention of atrocities against women. He acknowledged the need for the courts to reduce the trial time.

He also stressed that there was shortage of judges at the Rajasthan high court. At present there are 21 judges against the 40 posts of high court judges and he also highlighted accorded priority to setting up of fast track courts for cases pertaining to sexual abuse and other atrocities against women. Chief justice Amitava Roy was until now working at the Guwahati high court and was second in seniority there. He had replaced chief justice Arun Kumar Mishra who was transferred to the Calcutta high court in month of December 2012.

Rusi Framroze Surti

Rusi Framroze Surti, the former all-rounder of India from Surat died on 13 January 2013 in Mumbai. Surti was aged 76 years. Surti was often also called poor man’s Garry Sobers and played 26 Test matches for India from the time period of 1960 to 1969. He played for Rajasthan as well as Gujarat in Ranji Trophy. In Sheffield Shield, he represented Queensland 35 times.

About Rusi Framroze Surti

• In the Ranji Trophy, Surti played for Gujarat from 1956-57 to 1967-68. He also played for Rajasthan from 1959-60 and 1960-71.

• While playing 26 tests for India, he scored a total of 1263 runs which included nine 50s. He grabbed 42 wickets during the tests.

• Overall, Surti played a total of 160 first-class matches scoring 8066 runs including 6 centuries and 54 fifties. His highest was 246 not out.

• The best performance of Surti came during 1967-68 during the tour of New Zealand and Australia.

Haradhan Bandopadhyay

Haradhan Bandopadhyay, the renowned Bengali actor died on 5 January 2013 in Kolkata after struggling for his life for 15 days. Haradhan Bandopadhyay was aged 86 years and is survived by wife and two sons. Haradhan Bandopadhyay worked in a total of 66 films and he had a career span of six decades. He worked with Satyajit Ray in movies such as Mahanagar, Shonar Kella, Jai Baba Felunath and many more. He worked with some of the renowned directors such as son of Satyajit Ray, Sandip Ray and Mrinal Sen.

Aaron Swarth

Aaron Swarth, the internet activist and co-founder of Reditt committed suicide by hanging himself on 11 January 2013. The 26 years old computer genius was the developer of the early version of the RSS (Rich Site Summary) – web feed system was facing federal criminal charges in cases of a controversial fraud and hacking allegations. He was largely credited as the co-author of the specifications of the RSS 1.0 web feed format at the age of 14. RSS feed generally is a format that supports the users to find out content from the sites, where updates keeps on changing regularly like a news website or a blog.

Pandit Ram Sanehi Shukla

Pandit Ram Sanehi Shukla, the veteran freedom fighter died at the age of 98 at Sahebpur Village under Madiyahon tehsil on 3 January 2013. Shukla, who was a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, died after surviving a long illness. The last rites of the freedom fighter were performed at the Manikarnika Ghat of Varanashi with full state honour.

Koto Okubo

Koto Okubo, the lady who received the title of world’s oldest lady alive after the death of Dina Manfredini of United States, died on 12 January 2013. The 115 years old Okubo was born on 24 December 1897 in a town near Tokyo, Japan. Dina Manfredini after receiving the title died within two weeks time and she received the award after the death of Japanese Jiroemon Kimura. Jiroemon born on 19 April 1897, in the ancient capital of Kyoto also died at the age of 115 years.

Gerda Lerner

Gerda Lerner, the leader in women’s history as well as the founding member of National Organization for Woman died on 2 January 2013 at Wisconsin. She was aged 92 years.

Lerner died in peace at the assisted-living facility in the city of Madison. She founded the doctoral programme in the women’s history in Madison at the University of Wisconsin.

Neil Adcock

Former South Africa fast bowler, Neil Adcock died on 6 January 2013 at the age of 81 in Howick, KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. He had pneumonia and was also suffering from cancer for a long period of time. Brief Insight into Neil Adcock’s Career

M.S. Gopalakrishnan

Padma Bhushan M.S. Gopalakrishnan, the Violin maestro died on 3 January 2012 at the age of 82. He died with the complaints of breathlessness and a brief illness. The violinist was an expert in Hindustani and Carnatic systems of classical music. He is now survived by his wife and a violinist son and daughter M Narmada and Suresh Respectively and another daughter Latha. Hailing from the Parur lineage he was a recipient of both Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri and had a career span of about 75 years. The Music Academy conferred him from the Sangita Kalanidhi title.

Arjun Munda

The Arjun Munda Ministry in Jharkhand on 8 January 2013 resigned and recommended dissolution of the two-year-old Assembly to the governor in Ranchi. The decision of his resignation came after his coalition partner, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), decided to withdraw its support from the 28-month-long BJP-led coalition government. Arjun Munda called an emergency meeting and notified Governor Syed Ahmed of the cabinet decision just an hour before JMM chief Shibu Soren met the governor with his 18 MLAs, and handed over a formal letter of withdrawal of support. Now, it is Governor Syed Ahmed who has to decide whether to invite another possible coalition to form the government, after being convinced that it will have the strength to prove its majority on the floor of the Assembly, or heed Munda’s recommendation to dissolve the assembly to pave the way for elections. The BJP and the JMM have 18 MLAs each in the 82-member Assembly. The outgoing Munda government had the support of 47 MLAs. Though the JMM has walked out of the coalition, the BJP still enjoys the support of six members of the AJSU, two of the Janata Dal (United), two independents and one nominated member who has voting right in a trial of strength.

Akbaruddin Owaisi

Akbaruddin Owaisi, the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) MLA who was indicted of making hate speech was arrested on 8 January 2013 after going through the medical tests in government hospital in Hyderabad. The MLA on 7 January 2013 sought time of four days for appearing in front of the police on certain medical grounds. The MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi is facing charges which range from sedition to waging a war against the state. He was booked on 3 January 2013 under two different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by the police in Nirmal Town, 200 km away from Hyderabad. He was booked under the charges of promoting hostility between different groups as well as performing actions which are harmful to the harmony, apart from the charge of attempting to wage war against the state. The last charge if proved, leads to life imprisonment or death sentence. Akbaruddin Owaisi, who is the member of Andhra Pradesh assembly, is at present facing five charges which include doing public mischief, threatening people for giving false evidence, criminal conspiracy, sedition and disobeying the official orders. He was booked in Nirmal Town by the police on grounds of delivering malicious speech in town on 22 December 2012 at a public meeting. He is also facing other such charges in Nizamabad town. Hyderabad police, Ranga Reddy police as well as police in other districts also booked various cases against him.

JBT Teachers’ Recruitment Scam

The Delhi Court on 22 January 2013 sentenced 10 years in prison for the former Chief Minister of Haryana and the leader of the National Lok Dal (INLD) Om Prakash Chautala and his Son Ajay Singh Chautala, who is an MLA from Dabwali constituency. The two along with 53 others have been sentenced for their alleged involvement in the Junior Basic Trained (JBT) teachers’ recruitment scam in which 3,206 JBT teachers were recruited illegally in the state in the year 2000. Vinod Kumar, the special CBI judge after found all the accused guilty of forgery, use of fake documents as genuine, cheating, conspiracy under the IPC and abuse of the official position under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Among the convicted, there exists the name of two IAS officers Sanjiv Kumar, the then Director in the Directorate of Primary Education and Vidya Dhar, Chautala’s former Officer on Special Duty and both of them have been sentenced with 10 years of imprisonment. The Political advisor to the then Haryana CM and MLA, Sher Singh Badshami was also sentenced with 10 years of imprisonment. Among the other 50 convicted, one was sentenced for five years in jail and the rest 49 have been sentenced with 4 years term in jail.

David Coleman Headley

David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani-American and the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attack 2008 was sentenced to 35 years in Prison on 24 January 2013 by a U.S. Court. The Court sentence would be followed by a five years of supervised release. The sentence was pronounced by the U.S. Federal District Court Judge Harry Leinenweber, who said that Headley was a terrorist and numerous crimes were committed by Headley but his confessions turned up to be the reason that lenient sentences were issued for him. It was admitted by the U.S. Government that the nature of role played by Headley in 26/11 attacks were deplorable and the prosecution pressed for a sentence of 30 to 35 years for him. The death penalty and extradition options were dropped because of the cooperation shown by him. Headley, under a deal with U.S. Government supplied major information about the terror suspects, which was really helpful in carrying on the investigation and bring defendants like Ilyas Kashmiri, Tahawwur Rana and other Pakistan-based operatives under criminal charges. Justice Leinenweber in third week of January 2013 sentenced 14 years in Jail to Tahawwur Rana, the Chicago based businessman and immigration consultant for his alleged involvement in supporting the terrorist group from Pakistan, which worked with the intelligence service of Pakistan and carried out the 26/11 Mumbai Attacks in 2008. He was also a convict for a Denmark strike in a Jyllands-Posten – a Danish newspaper.

Tahawwur Rana

Tahawwur Rana, the Chicago based businessman and immigration consultant was sentenced for 14 years in Jail by the Federal Judge of US. He was sentenced by the court for his alleged involvement in supporting the terrorist group from Pakistan, which worked with the intelligence service of Pakistan and carried out the 26/11 Mumbai Attacks in 2008. He was also a convict for a Denmark strike in a Jyllands-Posten – a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. The court described Rana as a partner in crime of Mumbai Attacks, when 166 people were killed and among them six were Americans. The trails undertaken in the year 2011 identified string evidences against the Spy Agency of Pakistan the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) of playing a direct role in the operations that was planned and designed to kill people from west and the US. The sentence was pronounced by U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber and he chose a punishment that was higher than the minimum 11 years in prison under the guidelines of federal sentencing. The Judge claimed that the crime in the newspaper building at Copenhagen and the act of beheading the hostages and throwing the heads out of the windows to create a situation of panic was very serious. Rana being aware about Headley’s involvement in the Mumbai Attack was the proof of the murderous potential of him. The Federal Court Judge also added post-prison supervision for five years of Rana in his sentence.

Darul Uloom Deoband

Darul Uloom Deoband, the leading Islamic seminary on 23 January 2013 demanded that the controversial writers should be banned from the sixth edition of Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) which began on 24 January 2013. The demand of the Deoband is in line with the warnings of certain Muslim groups to the organisers of JLF against the invitation of the authors who have remained in controversy for hurting the religious sentiments of communities. Certain Muslim groups had also warned the organisers of JLF on 21 January 2013 against inviting the controversial authors. It is important to note that the Darul Uloom Deoband also pleaded to the Government of India to ban authors like these from visiting India. In the similar context, the youth wing of the Bhartiya Janata Party warned JLF against the presence of Pakistani litterateur in the event, citing beheading of Indian soldiers at the LoC. In the meanwhile, the Producer of the Jaipur Literature Festival announced that even though everyone had an equal right to express the feelings, but JLF would not be hijacked. JLF was first held back in 2005 and since then, it is one among the most notable annual gatherings of book lovers as well as literati.

Nitin Gadkari

Nitin Gadkari resigned from his post as the BJP President on 22 January 2013. After his resignation, Rajnath Singh was appointed as the party chief. A lot of senior BJP leaders had earlier sought removal of Gadkari as BJP chief after his name came up in the Purti scam in 2012. Nitin Gadkari’s name surfaced in the corruption charges in his company purti Group.

China’s Travel Attractions

Zhao Jiang the Director of the Government-run China Radio International’s (CRI) Tamil station has written a book in Tamil titled China’s Travel Attractions. The book will carry her Tamil name Kalaimakal. This is her first book in Tamil and would make a debut in the Chennai Book fair that is going on in YMCA College Ground in Nandanam and will continue till 23 January 2013. The book by Zhao Jiang would be available on the stall of the publication house named Gowtham Pathippagam. The book named China’s Travel Attraction is a compilation of the history and culture of the Beijing, Sanghai and Tibet and can be considered as an introduction these. The book also carries the story of changes seen by the Chinese Capital in recent past to its turning up as a city of subways. The author has tried to capture the Indian mindset and introduced the historical sites of China, architectural brilliance of Shanghais and would act as a travel guide to Tibet.

Er Ist Wieder Da

New novel about Adolf Hitler, called Er Ist Wieder Da (He’s Back) authored by Timur Vermes became the bestseller in Germany, replacing Winter Of The World by Ken Follet. Er Ist Wieder Da is the novel that makes use of the proactive approach with a tinge of comedy and satire. The book was released in September 2012. The book has a different plot in which Hitler, instead of dying by the end of Second World War, goes to sleep in 1945 and wakes up in modern Berlin in 2011. The novel with a different approach climbed up to the Germany’s bestseller list with over 250000 copies sold. 75000 audio books have also been sold. The German press plans to publish the book in English as well. There have been mix reviews about the book, where some literary critics applauded the book, while some called it a marketing machine in the name of Hitler to earn money.

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