Achal Kumar Joti takes over as new Chief Election Commissioner of India

Achal Kumar Joti has assumed charge as the 21^st Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, succeeding Dr. Nasim Zaidi here today. Dr. Zaidi demitted office yesterday after completing his tenure.

After the assumption of charge, Shri Joti spoke about the priorities of the Commission and said that the Commission shall pursue vigorously its commitment to hold free, fair, inclusive and credible elections throughout the country. Secondly, the Commission will also pursue its mission to ensure that “No Voter to be Left Behind”. Thirdly, the Commission shall actively promote e-Governance for holding of elections to the State Assemblies and Parliamentary Elections in the country, Shri Joti added. 

 Joti has served as Election Commissioner since 13^th May, 2015. During his tenure as Election Commissioner, State Assembly elections in the States of Bihar, Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakand, Manipur and Goa were successfully conducted. Some of the initiatives undertaken during these elections are IT initiatives including the one for service voters through Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS), along with National Voter Service Portal (NVSP) –an e-portal for easy registration of eligible voters, voter awareness and educational initiatives and stringent expenditure monitoring mechanism etc.

Before joining the Election Commission of India, Shri Joti has served the Nation as a longtime Civil Servant of Indian Administrative Service (1975 Batch). He brings with him a rich experience of Public Administration of 42 years. During his distinguished career, he served as DM and Collector of Districts Surendranagar, Godhra and Kheda. He held various significant assignments as Secretary (Water Supply), Secretary (Industries), Principal Secretary (Finance), along with serving as the Chairman of the Kandla Port Trust, on Central Government deputation with Ministry of Shipping, Government of India, between 1999 and 2004, as the Managing Director of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) and Additional Chief Secretary (General Administration Department). Shri Joti superannuated as Chief Secretary to the Government of Gujarat in January 2013 after completing a three-year tenure.

Arvind Kejriwal sworn-in as Chief Minister of Delhi

Arvind Kejriwal on 14 February 2015 was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Delhi.

The oath of office and secrecy was administered by Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung at Ramlila Ground, Delhi.

Other than Arvind Kejriwal, six other party members Manish Sisodia, Satyendra Jain, Jitendra Tomar, Gopal Rai, Sandeep Kumar and Asim Ahmed Khan were administered oath as Cabinet Ministers.

President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 13 February 2015 appointed Arvind Kejriwal as the Chief Minister of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi.

With the appointment, President of India revoked the order of President’s rule with effect from 14 February 2015. The orders of Presidents rule in National Capital Territory of Delhi were issued earlier on 16 February 2014, under Article 239AB of the Constitution.

Also, he had appointed six AAP leaders as ministers on the advice of the Chief Minister.

Portfolio of Delhi Cabinet:

•    Arvind Kejriwal – Home, Power and Finance portfolio 
•    Manish Sisodia - Education, PWD and Urban Development portfolios
•    Satyendar Jain - Health and Industry portfolios 
•    Gopal Rai - Transport and Labour portfolios
•    Sandeep Kumar - Women and Child Welfare Department and SC and ST Welfare
•    Jitender Singh Tomar - Law Department
•    Asim Ahmed Khan - Food and Civil Supplies and Minority Affairs portfolio

He became 7th Chief Minister of Delhi as a person and 10th Chief Minister as tenure wise.

List of Chief Ministers of Delhi

S.No.	Chief Ministers Name	Took Office	Tenure
1.	Chaudhary Brahm Prakash	1952	One
2.	G N Singh	1955	One
3.	Madan Lal Khurana	1993	One
4.	Sahib Singh Verma	1996	One
5.	Sushma Swaraj	1998	One
6.	Sheila Dikshit	1998	Three
7.	Arvind Kejriwal	2013	Two

Krishna Chaudhary took charge as DG of ITBP

Senior IPS officer Krishna Chaudhary on 11 February 2015 took charge as the Director General (DG) of the border guarding force Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

He succeeded Subhas Goswami.  He is a 1979-batch Bihar cadre IPS officer.

Earlier, he was serving as the Director General (DG) of the Railway Protection Force under the Union Railway Ministry.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had issued orders for appointment of the officer in January 2015.

He will retire in June 2017. This is one of the rare occasions in paramilitary forces' history that a DG can be expected to hold the top post for over two years time as usually these posts are held by senior officials for a maximum of about 1.5 years as their superannuation comes by.

The officer is a recipient of service medals given by the President to meritorious and distinguished policemen.

Hari Shankar Brahma appointed as the New Chief Election Commissioner

Hari Shankar Bramha was appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) by President Pranab Mukherjee on 15 January 2016.

Brahma, the senior-most Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India succeeds V.S. Sampath.

Sampath demitted the office on 15 January 2015 after attaining the age of 65, the upper age limit under the Constitution for holding the post.

Brahma (64) will assume the charge of the office of Chief Election Commissioner with effect from 16 January 2015. He will have a small tenure of three months till 19 April 2015, when he turns 65, the upper age limit for the post.

About Harishankar Brahma
• He is a 1975 IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre 
• He hails from Assam and has served as the former Union power secretary 
• He was appointed as an Election Commissioner on 25 August 2010

After J.M. Lyngdoh, Brahma is the second officer from northeast to be appointed to this post.

About Election Commission 
Election Commission of India is a permanent Constitutional Body. It was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25 January 1950.

Originally the commission had only a Chief Election Commissioner, but now it is a three-member body, including the CEC and two election commissioners.

For the first time two additional Commissioners were appointed on 16 October 1989 but they had a very short tenure till 1 January 1990. Later, on 1 October 1993 two additional Election Commissioners were appointed. The concept of multi-member Commission has been in operation since then, with decision making power by majority vote.

Baba Ramdev appointed as state brand ambassador of Haryana Government

Baba Ramdev was appointed as state brand ambassador of Haryana Government. Minister of Sports and Health of Haryana, Anil Vij announced the decision on 15 January 2015.

The appointment was a part of government of Haryana’s ambitious plans to promote yoga and ayurveda in Haryana state.

Haryana government‘s plan to promote Yoga and Ayurveda

• Krishna Ayurvedic college of Haryana will be developed into an Ayurvedic University whereas a yogic centre of international standards will be built in Panchkula.
• An herbal forest will be developed over thousands of acres of land in Haryana state where plants of 25 thousand species of ayurvedic herbs will be grown under the supervision of Ramdev.
• Yoga will be made a compulsory subject in schools of Haryana. Vyayamshalas and yogshalas will be constructed in all the towns and about 6500 villages of Haryana for this purpose under the guidance of Ramdev. 
• Zero period in all schools of Haryana will be yoga period and the PT teachers will have to undergo a training in yoga under the guidance of Ramdev.
• An ayush wing was being established in all the hospitals of Haryana where 550 doctors will have to do a refresher course under the supervision of Ramdev. And also Anaganvadi teachers will be imparted training in yoga.

Deep Kumar Upadhyay appointed as Nepal's ambassador to India

Nepali Congress leader Deep Kumar Upadhyay was on 16 January 2015 appointed as Nepal's ambassador to India. The post was lying vacant since 2011.

The decision to appoint Deep Kumar Upadhyay was taken at the cabinet meeting headed by Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Kumar Koirala. He is a Central Working Committee member of the Nepali Congress party. 

Earlier, Upadhyay has served as an assistant finance minister of Nepal. However, he does not have experience in foreign affairs as he had never served any diplomatic position earlier. 

The post was lying vacant for more than 3 years when the Maoist-led government called back its ambassador to India Rukma Shukshere Rana in August 2011. She was called back after she was found serving as the Managing Director of Indian joint venture Dabur Nepal.

Sindhushree Khullar appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog

Senior bureaucrat Sindhushree Khullar was on 10 January 2015 appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog with effect from 1 January 2015. She will serve the position for one year. Her appointment was approved the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet.

Sindhushree Khullar
• Sindhushree Khullar is 1975-batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service’s (IAS) Union Territories cadre. 
• She became the Member-Secretary of Planning Commission in April 2012 by replacing Sudha Pillai. 
• In March 2013, she was appointed as Secretary of the Planning Commission on contract basis for two years. 

Background
Union Government on 1 January 2015 replaced the decades old Planning Commission with a new institution named National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog). The institution will be chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Noted Economist Arvind Panagariya was appointed as the Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog. Economist Bibek Debroy and former DRDO chief V K Saraswat were appointed as full-time members of NITI Aayog.

A.K. Mittal appointed as Chairman of Railway Board

A.K. Mittal was appointed as the Chairman of Railway Board on 31 December 2014. He succeeded Arunendra Kumar who superannuated from Railway Services on 31 December 2014.
At the time of this appointment, Mittal was Member Staff, Railway Board and ex-officio Secretary to the Government of India. He had also served as General Manager of South Western Railway-SWR (Headquarters Hubli) and was also looking after the additional charge of General Manager, South Central Railway- SCR (Headquarters Secunderabad).

Apart from this, other 11 appointments including eight General Managers were done. The eight general managers were appointed by Railways Minsiter Suresh Prabhu to head different zonal railways and departmental organizations. 

Kiran Bhai Vadodaria elected as INS president

Kiran Bhai Vadodaria on 2 January 2015 was elected as President of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) for 2014-15. He is the Chairman and Managing Director of Gujarati newspaper Sambhaav Metro.

He succeeded Ravindra Kumar of The Statesman. The appointment was announced at the 75th annual general meeting of the organization in New Delhi.

PV Chandran of Grihalakshmi was elected Deputy President of the INS while Somesh Sharma of Rastradoot was made Vice President.

Mohit Jain of Economic Times and V Shankaran were appointed as Treasurer and Secretary General of INS.

Among the 41-member Executive Committee, the notable members include Mahendra Mohan Gupta (Dainik Jagran), Sanjay Gupta (Dainik Jagran), Shailesh Gupta (Mid-Day), Vijay Kumar Chopra (Punjab Kesri), Viveck Goenka (The Indian Express, Mumbai), R Lakshmipathy (Dinamalar) and Jayant Mammen Mathew (Malayala Manorama).

About INS
The society was founded in 1939. Its headquarter is located in New Delhi.

The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) acts as the central organization of the Press of India. It is an independent body authenticating circulation figures of newspapers and periodicals in India. It is an organization which plays a major role in protecting and promoting the freedom of press in India.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed appointed as the new head of the UNMEER

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania was on 11 December 2014 appointed as the new head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER). His appointment was confirmed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Ahmed will succeed American Anthony Banbury in January 2015.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed
• Ahmed is currently deputy special representative of the UN chief and deputy head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).
• He served as United Nations resident coordinator, humanitarian coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative in Syria (2008-2012) and Yemen (2012- 2014). 
• Ahmed has also held several positions with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). 

Background
UNMEER was established in September 2015 to coordinate efforts to combat the world's worst outbreak of the Ebola virus.

Ebola outbreak has till now killed 6533 people in the three West African countries- Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. It has infected around 18118 people.

Anurag Jain appointed as the Joint Secretary in Prime Minister's Office

Senior IAS officer Anurag Jain was on 10 December 2014 appointed as the Joint Secretary in Prime Minister's Office (PMO) of India.

Jain will serve the PMO till 28 June 2016, the balance period of his central deputation. He is presently working as Joint Secretary in Department of Financial Services under the Union Finance Ministry.

Anurag Jain
• Anurag Jain is a 1989 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre.
• He was appointed as a Director at National Housing Bank in October 2011.
• He became the Interim Chief Executive Officer and Interim Managing Director of IFCI Limited from May 2013 to July 2013.
• He has also served as an Acting Chairman and Acting Managing Director of Export-Import Bank of India from December 2013 to February 2014.

Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar resigned as Goa Chief Minister

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar on 8 November 2014 resigned from his position. With the resignation of Parrikar, entire state cabinet comprising of 12 ministers was dissolved.
Manohar Parrikar had resigned to take up the post of Defence minister in the Union Cabinet on 9 November 2014.

Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar
• Born on 13 December 1955, Parrikar did his graduation in metallurgical engineering from IIT Bombay in 1978.
• Manohar Parrikar is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India.
• He has been Chief Minister of Goa first from 2000 to 2005 and later from March 2012 to November 2014 and represented the Panaji constituency in the Legislative Assembly of Goa.

Hockey India President Narinder Batra became a member of FIH Executive Board

Hockey India President Narinder Batra on 2 November 2014 became a member of International Hockey Federation (FIH) Executive Board. 
The decision was taken during the 2014 Ordinary Congress of FIH. The event was held in Marrakesh, Morocco.
Voting for Ordinary Members of the FIH Executive Board also took place for the positions of two female members, one male member and two open positions.
The voting for the new Executive Board members began with the female vote. Maureen Craig-Rousseau from Trinidad and Tobago was elected and Pamela Stuper from the USA was re-elected to the Board.

The male place went to Dr. Narinder Batra from India. The two open positions saw the re-election of Marc Coudron from Belgium and Qasim Zia from Pakistan.
Hockey Revolution Congress
During the event, a new ten-year strategy for hockey was launched and well-received by delegates.
The well-attended two-day event was titled the Hockey Revolution Congress and delegates learnt about the Hockey Revolution. 
The FIH laid out ambitious goals for the next ten years for hockey around entertainment, professionalism, image and following. A clear strategy was outlined for hockey focusing on five key initiatives; fan-focused entertainment portfolio; world-class content creation and distribution; joined-up global marketing.
The 44th Congress welcomed five new national associations from three continents. From Africa — Burundi, Cameroon and Sierra Leone all became Sole Governing Member National Associations.
Vietnam join from Asia and Ha join from Pan-America, meaning FIH now has 132 National Associations.
The FIH Executive Board is the legislative body of the FIH. It meets three times a year and is made up of the President, the Chief Executive Officer and 14 members, five of which represent the Continental Federations and one that serves as the athletes' representative.

Actor Aamir Khan appointed as the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia

Bollywood actor, director and producer Aamir Khan on 9 October 2014 was appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF in South Asia. 

Aamir Khan will focus on supporting child nutrition to end stunting across the region. He became UNICEF Ambassador on the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Child Nutrition in South Asia
After sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia has the highest number of under-five deaths in the world with 2.3 million in 2011. Across the region, nearly 40 percent of children under the age of five are stunted because of chronic undernutrition.

Around 28 percent of children are born with low birth weight due to women’s poor nutrition before and during pregnancy.  

The most crucial time to meet a child’s nutritional needs is during the first 1000 days from conception to the child’s second birthday. Proven and effective interventions during this time can prevent malnutrition and drastically reduce the prevalence of stunting. 

Moreover, pervasive poverty and disparities prevent millions of children in South Asia from living in dignity, reaching their potential and making choices about their own future.

About UNICEF
UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child. The organization works in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable children and benefit them.

The organisation has roped in various international celebrities to support its campaigns around the globe. Some famous faces include Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Mia Farrow, Shakira Mebarak, Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon and football star David Beckham. 

In 2005, Amitabh Bachchan was appointed a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and has since fronted their polio eradication programme successfully.

Ketan Desai President of World Medical Association

Former Medical Council of India chief Ketan Desaiwas appointed as President of World Medical Association for 2016.

Richard Verma nominated as U.S. ambassador to India

President Barack Obama nominated former State Department official Richard Verma as U.S. ambassador to India on 19th September. Verma, an Indian-American, served as assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs at the State Department in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011.
He is currently a senior counselor at Steptoe & Johnson law firm and the Albright Stonebridge Group, a business advisory company, led by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Lalitha Kumarmangalam appointed as new Chairperson of NCW

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has appointed BJP national executive member Lalitha Kumarmangalam as the new chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW). Ms. Kumarmangalam an alumnus of St. Stephens College and has done an MBA from Madras University. She runs an NGO, known by the name of Prakriti and contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and 2009. Lalitha is the daughter of Mohan Kumarmangalam, a communist ideologues, politician and trade union leader. It is to be noted here that the National Commission for Women was set up as statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990  to review the Constitutional and legal safeguards for women; recommend remedial legislative measures, facilitate redressal of grievances and advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women. Recently Ministry of Women and Child development proposed to bring NCW on par with National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to effectively deal with cases of violence and harassment against women. The ministry of women and child development has proposed to elevate NCW to the status of a civil court with jurisdiction over Jammu and Kashmir and more powers including powers to investigate, search, seize, issue warrant and arrest in matters of domestic violence, police apathy and sexual harassment at work place. Every proceeding before the commission will have the status of a judicial proceeding and it will have the power to issue arrest warrants if the summons are not heeded to.

IEA appoints World Bank's Kaushik Basu as President-Elect

The International Economic Association (IEA) has appointed Kaushik Basu, who is Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of World Bank, as president-elect of the association.
A WB Chief Economist is appointed for a 4 year term. In Kaushik Basu's case, to take up the WB job, he took leave from Cornell University where he is Professor of Economics and the C. Marks Professor of International Studies. 

The IEA is one of the most important associations of professional economists, and has been influential in shaping global economic policy and research. Among IEA past presidents are Nobel laureates Robert Solow, Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz. 

With Basu, this will be the second time an Indian will be heading this association that produces a large number of research papers and books and organizes round tables on topics of contemporary interest. Its focal activities include International Congress organized every three years. The event serves as one of the largest gatherings of economists from around the world. The 2014 Congress was held at Dead Sea, Jordan. Previous to that the Congress was hosted by China in Beijing in 2011.

The IEA is the international federation of national economic associations, formed by a core group of academics, scholars and distinguished economists, from developed and developing countries. The IEA was founded in 1950 as a non-governmental organization, with the aim to promote personal contacts and mutual understanding among economists in different parts of the world through the organization of scientific meetings, common research programs and by means of publications of an international character on economic policies and problems of current importance

Narendra Ambwani elected as chairman of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI)

Narendra Ambwani on 12 September 2014 elected as Chairman of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).  He succeeded Partha Rakshit. Narendra Ambwani is the Director of Agro Tech Foods Ltd.  He has been a member of the board of governors for seven years and provided active support to self-regulation in the advertising market.  Moreover, Benoy Roy Chawdhuri was elected as Vice-Chairman and Shashidhar Sinha was appointed Honorary Treasurer. 

About Advertising Standards Council of India 
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) was established in 1985. ASCI has been committed to the cause of Self-Regulation in Advertising, ensuring the protection of the interests of consumers. 
ASCI was formed with the support of all four sectors connected with Advertising -- Advertisers, Advertising Agencies, Media (including Broadcasters and the Press) and others like PR Agencies and Market Research Companies. The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) is the agency of ASCI.

Achievements of ASCI
In a noteworthy achievement, ASCI issued guidelines on skin lightening & fairness products which ensured that these advertisements do not depict people with dark skin as somehow inferior to those who are fairer. 
Also recently, the Government took notice of ASCI’s efforts to curb teleshopping ads that violate ASCI Code and ensured a strict compliance of the advertising code in the Cable Television Networks Act (CTN).

Justice HL Dattu to be Next Chief Justice of India

Justice HL Dattu is all set to be the next Chief Justice of India. The government moved with great speed earlier this week to clear his appointment. CJI RM Lodha retires on the 27th of this month after which Justice Dattu will have a tenure of more than a year till December 2015. Justice Dattu joined the apex court as a judge in 2008. Born on December 13, 1950, he enrolled as an advocate in 1975 and began practising in Bangalore.

 He dealt in all types of matters, be it civil, criminal, tax or even Constitutional cases. From 1983 onwards he appeared in various capacities before the Karnataka High Court including as government pleader for sales tax department, standing counsel for Income Tax department and later as government advocate. After two CJIs retiring in one year, Justice Dattu's will be a relatively extended tenure. While Justice Sathasivam - now tipped to be appointed as a Governor - retired in April this year, CJI Lodha will be the second top judge hanging his boots.