New Appointments

Britain’s King Charles has named his eldest son William and daughter-in-law Kate the Prince and Princess of Wales. In his first speech to the nation since the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth on Thursday, King Charles said he is proud to make his heir William the Prince of Wales, a title Charles had held since 1958.

UK’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was appointed as the next Prime Minister of Britain by Queen Elizabeth II at the Balmoral estate in Scotland. 

Nagesh Singh, presently Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, has been appointed as India’s next ambassador to Thailand, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. Nagesh Singh is a 1995 batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) who has served as Consul General of India in Atlanta.

Justice U U Lalit took oath as the 49th Chief Justice of India (CJI) on 27 August 2022. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Justice Lalit at the swearing-in ceremony held in the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Former Chief Economic Adviser KV Subramanian was appointed as the Executive Director for India at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has appointed distinguished scientist, Dr Samir V Kamat, as chairman.

Kamat, who is Director General, Naval Systems & Materials (NS&M), will succeed G Satheesh Reddy. G Satheesh Reddy has been named as scientific adviser to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed India’s Electronics and Information Technology Secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma to a panel of eminent experts on internet governance.

The Delhi High Court has appointed a three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) to run the day-to-day affairs of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

The management of IOA will be done by Justice (retired) Anil R Dave, former Chief Election Commissioner Dr SY Quraishi and former external affairs secretary Vikas Swarup.

Mastercard has partnered with Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and appointed them as brand ambassadors in India.

Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto has been elected as the country’s next President, the electoral commission announced Monday.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Simon Stiell, the former environment minister of Grenada, as the new executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). He will succeed Patricia Espinosa of Mexico. 

Kuwait has appointed an ambassador to Iran. It comes after more than six years after Kuwait recalled its top envoy to Tehran in solidarity with Saudi Arabia after it severed ties with the Islamic Republic in 2016.

Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant has been appointed as the brand ambassador of Uttarakhand by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

President Droupadi Murmu has appointed Justice Uday Umesh Lalit as the 49th Chief Justice of India, CJI. He will take over the charge on 27th of this month. The present CJI Justice N V Ramana will retire on 26th August.

James Marape has been elected as new prime minister of Papua New Guinea. He was sworn in as prime minister for a second time.

Gustavo Petro, a former rebel fighter, has been sworn in as Colombia’s first left-wing president. Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with an insular region in North America.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has constituted an expert group of Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) to boost overseas flows into the country. The FPI Advisory Committee (FAC) will be chaired by former Chief Economic Adviser KV Subramanian and consists of 14 other members representing foreign banks, stock exchanges depositories and RBI.

Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer Shweta Singh was appointed as a director in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). She is a 2008-batch IFS officer.

Vigilance Commissioner Suresh N Patel was appointed as the Central Vigilance Commissioner, a year after the post fell vacant. The tenure of a CVC and vigilance commissioner is of four years or till the incumbent attains the age of 65 years.

Press Information Bureau (PIB) has appointed Satyendra Prakash as principal director general of PIB. Prakash has assumed office from today. Prior to this, he held the position of principal DG, Central Bureau of Communication.

Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal, SSB Dr. Sujoy Lal Thaosen took over the additional charge of Director General of Indo-Tibetan Border Police in New Delhi.

The World Bank has appointed Auguste Tano Kouamé its country director for India. He replaced Junaid Kamal Ahmad who recently completed a five-year term.

Sanjay Arora, a Tamil Nadu-cadre IPS officer who headed the paramilitary force ITBP, has taken over as Delhi’s police commissioner. He is due for retirement in 2025. 

Sanjay Arora will succeed Rakesh Asthana, a Gujarat-cadre IPS officer who retired after nearly 38 years in service.

A seasoned diplomat and IFS officer of 1994 batch Pranay Kumar Verma has been appointed as India’s next High Commissioner to Bangladesh. Sandeep Arya, an IFS officer of 1994 batch has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Vikram Doraiswami will take over as the High Commissioner of India to UK.

Savitri Jindal of India has unseated China’s Yang Huiyan as Asia’s richest woman. Huiyan’s fortune eroded due to the real estate crisis in her country that has pulled down her Country Garden Holdings along with other developers.

The newly-elected President of the Republic of Albania, Bajram Begaj, took oath at a swearing-in ceremony in the parliament. Begaj was elected president on June 4. A total of 83 lawmakers participated in the voting that took place in the plenary session in the parliament, where Begaj received 78 votes in favour, while four lawmakers voted against and there was one abstention.

In a major development in Kuwait, Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah on July 25 was appointed as the new Prime Minister of the country. He succeeded Sheikh Sabah Al Khaled, who stepped down in April 2022.

World Bank has appointed Indian national Indermit Gill as its Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics.

Mr Gill will succeed American economist Carmen Reinhart in the role and his appointment will be effective September 1, 2022. Mr Gill is currently Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions, where he led work on macroeconomics, debt, trade, poverty, and governance.

Dinesh Gunawardena was sworn in as the prime minister of Sri Lanka by President Ranil Wickremesinghe along with 17 other cabinet ministers. Along with Prime Ministership, Gunawardena has additional charge of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Council, and Local Government.

Rajarshi Gupta has taken over as Managing Director of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

He replaces Alok Gupta who superannuated last month.

Forrmer Supreme Court judge Vineet Saran has taken over as the BCCI’s ethics officer and ombudsman, filling the dual posts lying vacant for a year.

Saran has succeeded Justice (Retd) D. K. Jain, whose term ended in June last year.

President Ram Nath Kovind has accepted the resignation of West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who has been nominated as the vice president candidate by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said.

Manipur Governor La. Ganesan has been given the additional charge of West Bengal.

Ashish kumar Chauhan is set to become the new managing director and CEO of the National Stock Exchange as capital markets regulator SEBI has given its clearance for his appointment.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as the interim President after Parliament Speaker Mahinda Abeywardena accepted the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Wickremesinghe was appointed as the acting President by former President Rajapaksa on July 13 after the latter fled to the Maldives due to the massive protest demanding his resignation.

The Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) has recommended former Union Bank of India managing director Rajkiran Rai as the head of government-owned development finance institution (DFI).

Alvaro Lario has been appointed as the 7th President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). He will take office on October 1, 2022 for a four-year term.

Former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has been picked as India’s new Sherpa for the G-20, replacing Piyush Goyal, Minister for Commerce & Industry and Consumer Affairs, who was appointed as the G-20 Sherpa in September last year.

ITC chairman and managing director Sanjiv Puri has been elected the Vice President of CII for 2022-23, while TVS Supply Chain Solutions Executive Vice Chairman R Dinesh has become the new President Designate. Sanjiv Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director, Bajaj Finserv Limited, continues to be the President of CII for the year 2022-23.

India-born Gita Gopinath became the first woman and second Indian to feature on the ‘wall of former chief economists’ of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The first Indian to achieve the honour was Raghuram Rajan who was Chief Economist and Director of Research of IMF between 2003 and 2006.

Jadavpur University Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das was appointed the president of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).

Das, an eminent historian, was appointed the vice-president of AIU a year ago. His tenure as president will be for one year from July 1.

Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani has been assigned the charge of Ministry of Minority Affairs, in addition to her existing portfolio. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has been given the additional charge of the Ministry of Steel.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Lt Gen Mohan Subramanian of India as Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). He succeeds Lt Gen Shailesh Tinaikar also from India.

Rahul Narwekar, a first-time MLA, was elected as the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Sunday defeating Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that Narwekar is the “youngest speaker” in the country.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr has been sworn in as the President of the Philippines in Manila. He succeeded the outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte. Sara Duterte, the daughter of the outgoing president, is being sworn in as vice-president.

Indian origin T Raja Kumar has taken over as President of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the world’s anti-terrorism financing agency. FATF tweeted that Raja Kumar will focus on enhancing the effectiveness of global anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures, improving asset recovery and other initiatives.

Yair Lapid officially became 14th prime minister of Israel’s. Yair Lapid is an Israeli politician and former journalist serving as the 14th prime minister of Israel since 1 July 2022.

Iraqi official Mohammed Jalood was elected president of the International Weightlifting Federation.

Jalood is the first permanent president since Tamás Aján stepped down in 2020 after controlling the IWF for 44 years. He faced allegations that failed drug tests were covered up and millions of dollars were unaccounted for under his presidency. Aján was banned for life last week by CAS.

Justice Satish Chandra Sharma took oath as the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court.

Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena administered the oath to the 60-year-old Justice Sharma at a ceremony in the Raj Niwas, the L-G’s secretariat.

IRS officer Nitin Gupta has been appointed as the new CBDT chairman. Gupta, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the 1986 batch of the Income Tax cadre, is serving as the Member (investigation) in the Board and is scheduled to retire in September next year.

Anil Khanna has been appointed the acting President of Indian Olympic Association (IOA). The Delhi High Court ordered that Narinder Dhruv Batra cannot continue as the President of the IOA and appointed Anil Khanna as acting president.

After a six-year-long stint, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant is set to leave the government policy think tank at the end of June. He will be replaced by former Secretary of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation Parameswaran Iyer, who spearheaded the government’s Swachh Bharat Mission.

The Central government has appointed senior IPS officer Tapan Kumar Deka as Director of Intelligence Bureau.

Tapan Kumar Deka, a 1988 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre IPS officer, was appointed Director of Intelligence Bureau for a tenure of two years from the date of assumption of the charge of the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Former Punjab DGP and 1987-batch IPS officer Dinkar Gupta has been appointed as the new chief of the National Investigative Agency. Gupta will hold the post till March 31, 2024, that is the date of his retirement, or till further orders by the government, whichever takes place earlier.

Former Australia cricketer Lisa Sthalekar has become the first female president of FICA, the sport’s international player’s association.

Shanghai-headquartered New Development Bank (NDB) of the BRICS countries has appointed former bureaucrat Dr D J Pandian as the Director-General of its India Regional Office in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).

Entrepreneur Ranjit Bajaj, who earlier owned an I-League club, has been named chairman of advisory committee to assist the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) which is running the day-to-day affairs of All India Football Federation (AIFF).

Ruchira Kamboj, currently Indian ambassador to Bhutan, has been appointed as the next Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations at New York. She will succeed T S Tirumurti, and is expected to take up the assignment shortly.

Dr. Arati Prabhakar has been appointed as the science advisor to the US President – Mr. Joe Biden. She will be spearheading the core science team. Born in India and raised in Texas, Dr. Prabhakar has been in public service for decades, heading key institutions in different presidential terms.

Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) named Pramod K Mittal, President of Reliance Jio Infocomm, as the new Chairperson of the association for 2022-23.

Retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai on Friday became the first women chairperson of the Press Council of India (PCI) with the government formally announcing her appointment.

Ambassador Rabab Fatima, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations has been appointed as the Under Secretary General of the United Nations.