HCS Exam Yearly 2020 Topic Wise Current Affairs: Appointments-I

HCS Last One Year Topic Wise Current Affairs: Appointment Part-I

Haryana Civil Services Exam

CURRENT AFFAIRS YEARLY 2020

Last one-year Current Affairs For HCS Exam: Appointment Part-I

1. Lt Gen Harpal Singh appointed Engineer-in-Chief of Indian Army.

• Maj Gen Rajeev Chaudhary, who has earlier served as Chief Engineer Southern Command, will take over the reins of BRO.
• An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Lt Gen Harpal Singh was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers in December 1982.
• He commanded a Border Roads Task Force in Jammu and Kashmir and has also served as the Chief Engineer of BRO’s Project Dantak in Bhutan, Chief Engineer (Navy), Mumbai, and Chief Engineer Eastern Command.

2. Sheikha Bodour of UAE has become the first Arab woman to be appointed president of the International Publishers Association.

• The announcement was made at the virtual IPA General Assembly Congress (GAC).
• Sheikha Bodour becomes the second woman globally to occupy the position after Ana Maria Cabanillas of Argentina who had served as Vice President and President of the Association from 2004–2008. 
• She will be assuming the position officially in January 2021.
• For the past two years, Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi has been serving as the Vice President of IPA following her election to the position at the 2018 IPA General Assembly.

3. Former Infosys Chairman and former co-founder Senapathy (Kris) Gopalakrishnan, has been appointed as the first Chairperson of the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub.

• The Reserve Bank of India has set up an innovation hub for accelerating innovation in the financial sector through the effective use of technology.
• In August, the central bank had announced that it will set up the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) to promote innovation across the financial sector by leveraging on technology and creating an environment that would facilitate and foster innovation.
• Those appointed as members include ex-NPCI CEO A P Hota, ex-Syndicate Bank CMD Mrutyunjay Mahapatra, and ex-RBI ED T. Rabi Sankar

4. Nitish Kumar took oath as Bihar Chief Minister for the seventh time with two Deputy Chief Ministers from the BJP — four-time Katihar MLA Tara Kishore Prasad and four-time Bettiah MLA Renu Devi.

• A total of 15 ministers were administered the oath of office by Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan — seven from the BJP, including Tara Kishore Prasad and Renu Devi; six from the JD(U), including Nitish; and one each from the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular).

5. Mr. Duarte Pacheco of Portugal has been elected the new President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) for the period 2020-2023.

• The election process to elect the new IPU President took place through a remote electronic secret ballot, with a 24-hour window for casting votes.
• Earlier, the Governing Council of IPU, Geneva resumed its business during the 206th Session in a virtual format.
• The Indian Parliamentary Delegation led by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and consisting of Members of Parliament Poonamben Hematbhai Maadam and Swapan Dasgupta attended the meeting.

6. The Central Government has reportedly appointed Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha as the new Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), two months after the position at the top transparency watchdog fell vacant.

• As per a media report, 155 applications were received for the post of CIC.
• Sinha was sworn in as Information Commissioner on January 1, 2019.
• He is a former diplomat who was appointed as High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka.
• The previous CIC, Bimal Julka, demitted office on August 26.

7. Aditya Puri, who was HDFC Bank managing director and CEO for 26 years has retired and Sashidhar Jagdishan has taken over the charge.

• Puri retired in accordance with the RBI regulations which say a private bank CEO’s tenure should not exceed 70 years.
• Jagdish has been part of the bank since 1996 and played a critical role in supporting the growth trajectory of the bank. 
• With an overall experience of over 30 years, Jagdishan has extensive knowledge and experience in the fields of banking, finance, and economics. 

8. Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of India, Bimal Julka, has been appointed as the new Chairman of Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), the self-regulatory industry body for fantasy sports in India.

• Julka is an IAS officer of the 1979-batch of Madhya Pradesh cadre, who served as CIC until September 2020.
• He will take over from John Loffhagen, who served as the chairman of FIFS for over three years.
• Loffhagen will assume the role of a strategic advisor and support FIFS on collaborating with relevant international bodies in the industry.
• Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) is India’s first and only self-regulatory industry body for fantasy sports, established in 2017.

9. Major General Sonali Ghosal has taken over as the Additional Director General of Military Nursing Service.

• She was commissioned in 1981.
• She is also an alumnus of the School of Nursing, Indian Naval Hospital Ship Asvini, Mumbai.
• She had worked on the post of Principal Matron of Army Hospital, Research & Referral, and Delhi Cantt.
• She served the wounded soldiers during Operation Blue Star and Operation Sadbhavana.
• She was awarded the Chief of the Army Staff Commendation Card in 2014.

10. Union Bank of India's MD and CEO Rajkiran Rai G has been elected as the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) chairman for the term 2020-21.  

• SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara has been elected as the deputy chairman of the association.
• IBA is an association of banks and other entities in the banking ecosystem in India catering to its members

11. Senior IPS officer, M A Ganapathy has been appointed as the Director-General of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). He is a 1986 batch IPS officer of Uttarakhand cadre. 

• The post of BCAS chief fell vacant after Rakesh Asthana was appointed as the Director-General of Border Security Force in August.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Ganapathy to the post of Director-General, BCAS, for a tenure up to his superannuation on February 29, 2024. 

12. J Venkatramu has been appointed the managing director and chief executive officer of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB).

•  He will succeed Suresh Sethi, who served the post till March 2020. 
• Venkataramu is presently working as the chief digital officer in Equitas Small Finance Bank. 
• He has been appointed to the post of MD and CEO of IPPB for a period of three years.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched IPPB in 2018.
• India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) Headquarters: New Delhi.

13. New trade chief of the European Union

• The European Union's executive commission is proposing its experienced Latvian vice president, Valdis Dombrovskis, to take over the post as trade chief of the bloc following the resignation of Ireland's Phil Hogan.
• EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the announcement as she named European Parliament heavyweight Mairead McGuinness as the new financial services commissioner to fill Ireland's seat at the table.
• Dombrovskis had already been holding the post temporarily since Hogan's resignation on August 26
• Dombrovskis now fills a vital post in dealing with the United States, China, and post-Brexit Britain, with all three demanding near-daily attention.

14. New President of All India Tennis 

• The All India Tennis Association (AITA) has elected BJP Rajya Sabha member Anil Jain as its new president.
• Anil Dhupar was chosen as its secretary-general during the national federation's Annual General Meeting.
• India's Davis Cup captain Rohit Rajpal was elected as the treasurer for a four-year term till 2024.

15. The Asian Development Bank has appointed Takeo Konishi as its new Country Director for India. 

• Konishi succeeds Kenichi Yokoyama who has taken over as Director-General of ADB’s South Asia Department 
• Konishi will lead ADB’s operations and policy dialogue with the government and other development partners in India.
• He will oversee the implementation of ADB’s India Country Partnership Strategy, 2018-2022 that focuses on building industrial competitiveness to create more jobs, providing inclusive infrastructure networks and services, and addressing environmental and climate change concerns.

16. Paresh Rawal has been appointed as the new chief of the National School of Drama

• Former Lok Sabha MP and Bollywood actor, Paresh Rawal has been appointed as the new chief of the National School of Drama by President Ram Nath Kovind.
• In a career span of over three decades, Rawal has been acknowledged with numerous awards, including the prestigious National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1994.
• He was conferred with the Padma Shri in 2014 for his contribution to the entertainment industry.
• National School of Drama is a theatre training institute situated at New Delhi, India. It is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. 
• It was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and became an independent school in 1975.

17. Former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief Anil Dhasmana has been appointed as the chief of the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO),

• India’s technical body is responsible for geospatial intelligence and satellite imagery.
• Dhasmana succeeds former Intelligence Bureau officer Satish Jha, who demitted office recently.

18. City-based retired Colonel Dr. Girija Shankr Mungali has been appointed as one of the seven members of the Asian Football Confederation's task force for regulating football clubs in Asia and Australia.

• Mungali, who is also currently serving as the Chairman of the Club Licensing Committee of the All India Football Federation is the only Indian to be appointed on this committee.
• He has decided to use this platform to promote and create opportunities for young and upcoming footballers especially from the rural areas of the country.
• His appointment to AFC was made on September 15 by Dato' Windsor John, the General Secretary of the Asian Football Confederation and he will be on the panel till 2023.

19. Senior bureaucrat P D Vaghela has been appointed as chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

• Vaghela, a 1986-batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, is currently Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals.
• He has been appointed as the TRAI chief for three years or till he attains the age of 65. 
• He will succeed R S Sharma.
• Sharma was in 2015 appointed as the TRAI chairman for three years. In August 2018, his term was extended till September 30, 2020.

20. The government has approved the proposal to appoint Simanchala Dash as an advisor to Executive Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF), in Washington.

• He has been appointed for a period of three years.
• Dash, a 1988-batch IRS-IT officer, served as private secretary to the then finance minister (late) Arun Jaitley from July 2014 to July 2017.
• In July this year, he got a year extension as Principal Special Director, Enforcement Directorate.

21. Rajesh Khullar has been appointed as Executive Director at the World Bank in Washington DC. 

• The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Rajesh Khulla for a tenure of three years from the date of assumption of charge or till the date of his superannuation (August 23, 2023).
• Khullar is currently posted as principal secretary to chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. 
• He will join the World Bank in the first week of November.
• As executive director, Khullar will represent India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka in the World Bank.

22. Sameer Kumar Khare as the new Executive Director of Asian Development Bank.

• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Sameer Kumar Khare as the new Executive Director of Asian Development Bank Manila.
•  Khare is a 1989-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Assam cadre. He is currently serving as Additional Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance.
• President of Asian Development Bank: Masatsugu Asakawa.

23. Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd has appointed former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel as an additional and independent director for a term of 5 years, effective from August 01, 2020.

• He was appointed as the Chairman of the Governing Body of the  National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) for a 4-year term on June 22, 2020.
• The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited is India's largest private sector shipping company which mainly transports liquid, gas, and solid bulk products.

24. Sashidhar Jagdishan has been appointed as the chief executive and managing director of HDFC Bank. 

• He has been working with the HDFC bank since 1996
• Aditya Puri has been associated with the bank for the last 25 years and has immensely contributed in building the bank from the scratch and making it the second-largest private sector bank in terms of assets. 
• Mr. Puri will officially retire on 20th October this year. 

25. President Ram Nath Kovind has appointed former Union minister Manoj Sinha as the next Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.

•  He will replace Girish Chandra Murmu who resigned. 
• Murmu’s resignation has been accepted by the President.
• Sinha has represented the parliamentary constituency of Ghazipur in eastern Uttar Pradesh thrice in the Lok Sabha. 
• Sinha has also served as junior Railway minister.