1. Aparna appointed as Executive Director of World Bank.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has appointed senior IAS officer from Gujarat S. Aparna as Executive Director of the World Bank.
At the World Bank, she will represent the constituency of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka for three years. She will replace Subhash Garg, who was recently appointed Economic Affairs Secretary, Union Ministry of Finance.
About S. Aparna
She is 1988-batch IAS officer, currently Principal Secretary to Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. Besides, she also has senior positions in Gujarat such as Economic Affairs, Surat Municipal Commissioner and Joint Secretary, Urban Development at centre.
World Bank is one of five institutions created at the Breton Woods Conference in 1944. It is part of the United Nations system, but its governance structure is different. Its headquarter is situated at Washington DC. World Bank provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.
World Bank comprises only two institutions viz. the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA). In contrast, World Bank Group comprises three more viz. Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
2. Economist Rajiv Kumar appointed as Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog.
The Union Government has appointed economist Rajiv Kumar as the new vice-chairman of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog.
Rajiv Kumar will succeed Arvind Panagariya. As Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog he will hold cabinet minister rank. Prime Minister is ex-officio Chairperson of the Aayog. Government also appointed Vinod Paul, head of the Pediatrics department at AIIMS as a member of the NITI Aayog.
Rajiv Kumar holds a DPhil in economics from Oxford and PhD from Lucknow University. He is a senior fellow at public policy think-tank Centre for Policy and Research (CPR). He has authored several books on the Indian economy and India’s national security.
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Kumar also has served as Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He had also held positions as Director and Chief
Executive of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and chief economist of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), as well as in positions with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Indian Ministry of Industries, and Ministry of Finance.
Moreover, he is also member of boards of several international and national institutions, including the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre in Riyadh, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and Asia (ERIAA) in Jakarta, State Bank of India (SBI), and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT). He was also member of the Indian Government’s National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) from 2006 and 2008.
NITI Aayog is the premier policy ‘Think Tank’ of the Union Government, providing both directional and policy inputs. It had replaced the 65-year old Planning Commission established in 1950.
3. Venkaiah Naidu elected 13th Vice President of India.
Former union minister Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (68) was elected as 13th Vice President of India. He will succeed Hamid Ansari, who held the position for two consecutive terms of 5 years.
With this victory, BJP has occupied top three constitutional posts of India- President, Vice-President and Prime Minister.Over 98% voting was recorded in the 2017 vice-presidential election. 98.21% polling was registered for the election with 771 out of 785 MPs casting their vote, 11 votes were found to be invalid. 381 votes was the quota set to win the polls. M. Venkaiah Naidu emerged victorious by winning 516 votes, whereas opposition nominee Gopalkrishna Gandhi has secured 244 votes.
Venkaiah Naidu was born on July 1, 1949 in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh in farmer’s family. He holds a law degree with a specialisation in international law from the Andhra University College of Law in Vishakhapatnam.
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He had first entered in the mainstream politics with 1972 ‘Jai Andhra Movement’ and later joined BJP in 1980. He won the assembly election twice in 1978 and 1983 from Udayagiri constituency and became the Rajya Sabha MP thrice in 1998, 2004 and 2010. He was elected as the national President of BJP in 2002.
He served as a cabinet minister both NDA governments under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1999-2004) and Narendra Modi (2014-present). He was Cabinet Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Minister of Urban Development and also as a Parliamentary Affairs Minister under Modi government.
The Vice-President is selected through a secret ballot by the members of the electoral college consisting of the members of both Houses of Parliament (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. The nominated Members of Rajya Sabha as well as of Lok Sabha are also eligible to be included in the Eeectoral college and, therefore, are entitled to participate in the election.
4. Akshay Kumar is Brand Ambassador for Swachh Bharat Mission in Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today announced the appointment of Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar as the brand ambassador of the Swachh Bharat Mission in the state and also made his upcoming film "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha" tax free.
The movie stresses on the importance of building toilets and ending open defecation in the country. "The message which has been given through the film is an inspiration for all... The film will give a new sensitivity to the society and help remove the ills," Adityanath said during a programme attended by the film`s lead stars Akshay and Bhumi Pednekar here.
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Besides picking up the broom, the Chief Minister and the cast of the film also administered the oath of cleanliness to the children and others present at the event.
"Everyone needs to do `shramdan` for 100 hours in a year and two hours a week," the CM said, adding that the dream of a healthy society can be realised only by adopting cleanliness and it is everyone`s social responsibility to promote it.
5. Firoz Merchant, Indian businessman, receives UAE’s community service medal.
Firoz Merchant, a Dubai-based Indian businessman and philanthropist, became the first expatriate to receive prestigious community service medal in UAE.
Firoz Merchant, a Dubai-based Indian businessman and philanthropist, became the first expatriate to receive prestigious community service medal in UAE. The 59-year-old businessman is the founder and chairman of Pure Gold Jewellers. Merchant, who has donated 15 million dirhams ($4 million) to pay off the debts of more than 10,000 prisoners in the country, was honoured by UAE government, as per a report by Arab News. Merchant received his award from the UAE’s deputy prime minister and interior minister, Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. Sheikh Saif appreciated Merchant’s philanthropic work and also urged him to continue it. He promised all necessary cooperation from government to Merchant.
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Merchant dedicated the award to his countrymen living in and outside UAE. He was quoted as saying that whatever he had done, which he will continue to do, is for the love of the UAE and India. “I represent my country and the UAE is my second home. I will do whatever I can for this beautiful country and its people,” he said.
As per the report by Arab News, since 2008 Merchant has settled financial obligations of 10,940 people held in UAE jails, often after they had completed their
sentences, because they could not clear their debts. In the month of May, Merchant signed a memorandum of understanding with the UAE’s Faraj Fund, a charity initiative that seeks to promote the welfare of inmates in the country, PTI reported. His another initiative to provide financial aid to Ajman Police for the medical treatment of a policeman suffering from the neurological disorder is also underway. PTI reported an amount of Dh60,000 shall be allocated for his Chinese acupuncture treatment in Jordan.
6. Justice Dipak Misra appointed as 45th Chief Justice of India.
President Ram Nath Kovind has appointed Justice Dipak Misra (63), senior-most judge of the Supreme Court as the next Chief Justice of India. He will be 45th CJI and succeeds Justice JS Khehar.
He will have tenure of over 13 months till October 2018. He will be the third person from Odisha to be appointed the CJI, after Justices Ranganath Misra and G B Pattanaik.
About Justice Dipak Misra.
Justice Dipak Misra was born on 3 October 1953. He is the nephew of Justice Ranganath Misra who was CJI from September 1990 – November 1991.
He had enrolled as an advocate in 1977 and had practised in constitutional, civil, criminal, revenue, service and sales tax matters in the Orissa High Court and Tribunals before was elevated to the High Court bench.
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He was appointed Additional Judge of the Orissa High Court in January 1996 and later as the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court in May, 2010. He was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court in October 2011. In Supreme Court he has already presided over several key cases and verdicts.
He had led the SC bench which rejected the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon’s appeal to stop his execution. He also had led a three judge SC bench which had upheld the death sentence awarded to the four convicts of the Nirbhaya rape case in May, 2017.
He also has given significant judgment directing states and Union Territories to upload First Information Reports (FIRs) on websites within 24 hours of their registration for enabling accused and others to file appropriate pleas in the courts for redress.
7. Hrithik Roshan inks Rs 100 crore deal with startup Cure.Fit.
Health and wellness startup Cure.fit has signed on actor Hrithik Roshan as brand ambassador in what is touted as one of the largest endorsement deal signed by an Indian startup.
The five-year association, valued at Rs 100 crore, includes the actor’s equity stake in the company in lieu of cash investment, promotions and royalty from his personal brand HRX’s specialised workout plan. This plan will be introduced across Cult fitness centres operated by Cure.fit.
HRX Workout offering, available at Cult fitness centres run by Cure.fit and soon to be launched on the mobile app, is expected to rake in Rs 250-crore annual business in the coming years. “The idea behind this workout is to help people move better, faster and feel athletic by progressing gradually. Since its introduction the response to the HRX Workout (at Cult fitness centers) has been welcoming with an ever increasing roster of participants.
We are delighted with this initial response and it also gives us great confidence to look at reaching out to newer markets and further the HRX vision through this partnership,” said Hrithik Roshan, founder HRX in an emailed response to ET’s queries.
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Roshan’s deal with Cure.fit is the latest among startups signing on celebrities for brand recall and positioning. Online grocery platform BigBasket signed on Shah Rukh Khan in 2015 while Aamir Khan was signed on in 2015 by Snapdeal for a yearlong contract. Recently, online jewellery brand BlueStone on-boarded Alia Bhatt.
“His involvement with Cure.fit will be multi-fold and we will soon launch do-it- yourself format for the HRX workout. He will also be promoting Cure.fit’s philosophy of a healthy lifestyle,” said Mukesh Bansal, co-founder of Cure.fit. Flipkart senior executive Ankit Nagori started the fitness platform in 2016.