APPOINTED

Roberto Azevedo

Roberto Azevedo from Brazil on 8 May 2013 was named as the head of the World Trade Organisation. His appointment to the office came up at the time when the organization is struggling to identify ways to revive the talks on freeing global commerce and to help poorer nations in development. He will take charge of his office from Pascal Lamy of France in the Geneva-based Body in September 2013. Azevedo is the first Latin American to be appointed as the head of the WTO since it was created in 1995. The process of electing the WTO Head took a period of about six months. A total of nine people were competing for the post. After being into the office, his journey will start with the 9th ministerial in Bali, Indonesia from 3 to 6 December 2013.

Shashi Kant Sharma

The President of Indian Union, Pranab Mukherjee on 21 May 2013 appointed Shashi Kant Sharma as the new Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India. Shashi Kant Sharma will succeed Vinod Rai who superannuates on 21 May 2013 after completing tenure of five and a half years as the Head of the Constitutional Financial body. His appointment to the post of CAG by the President was made on basis of Article 148 (1) of the Constitution of India. He will assume the charge to the office of CAG on 23 May 2013 after administering the oath of the office by the President of India.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India is appointed for a maximum term of six years or till he attends the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. Earlier, during the tenure of Vinod Rai, CAG came under sharp attacks from the Union Government of India for its assessment reports of 1.76 lakh crore rupees loss in Allocation of 2G Spectrum and Public Exchequer’s Loss at 1.86 Lakh Crore in Coal Blocks Allocation. Tenure of Vinod Rai to the office of CAG was accused for going beyond its ambit of auditing and analyzing the policy decisions.

Abdul Hamid

Parliamentary Speaker Abdul Hamid was on 24 April 2013 sworn in as Bangladesh President to replace Zillur Rahman, who died in March 2013. Abdul Hamid is the 20th President of Bangladesh. He will hold the ceremonial position for a five-year term.

Hamid was the acting President since 14 March 2013 when Rahman went for medical treatment to Singapore. He is a former lawyer. He was elected to Parliament seven times from the Kishoreganj Constituency. He is a member of the Awami League.

Siddaramaiah

Siddaramaiah, the leader of the Indian National Congress on 11 May 2013 was sworn in as the 22nd chief minister of the state of Karnataka. 64 years old Siddaramaiah was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor HR Bhardwaj at Sree Kanteerva stadium.

It is important here to note that Siddaramaiah led the Congress in Karnataka which won 121 seats in the 225-member assembly for which election was held on 5 May 2013 and voted counted on 8 May. The Congress last ruled the state on its own in 1999-2004. For nearly two years in 2004-2006, it headed a coalition with Janata Dal-Secular.

Dr. Christopher Briggs

Dr. Christopher Briggs was announced the Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention in third week of April 2013. His appointment to the post was declared by the Standing Committee of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands during 46th meeting held in Gland, Switzerland from 8-12 April 2013. He is the successor of Tiéga Anada, who served the convention for six years.

Ramsar Convention

The Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) — called the Ramsar Convention — is an intergovernmental treaty that embodies the commitments of its member countries to maintain the ecological character of their Wetlands of International Importance and to plan for the wise use, or sustainable use, of all of the wetlands in their territories.

Takehiko Nakao

Takehiko Nakao on 27 April 2013 was appointed as the President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) by the Board of Governors at New Delhi. His appointment to the post was unanimously accepted ahead of the annual meet of the bank. He succeeded Haruhiko Kuroda, who resigned from his office in March 2013 to take up an assignment as the Governor of the Bank of Japan. The 57 years old Nakao is the former Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs of Japan. He will be the ninth President and will assume the charge of his office on 28 April 2013. He is appointed to complete the unexpired term of his predecessor that is supposed to end in November 2016.

Laxman Singh Rathore

Laxman Singh Rathore, the Director General of Meteorology & Permanent Representative of India with World Meteorological Organization (WMO) was elected as the Member of Executive Council of WMO during the 65th Executive Council of WMO meeting which is ongoing at Geneva. He had served a term as the Vice President of Commission of Agriculture Meteorology of WMO and was also elected to serve the Executive Council in an individual capacity. The council includes 37 Heads/directors/Director Generals of National Meteorological Services and also the President and three Vice-Presidents who are elected by Congress. Apart from this, the presidents of the six regional associations are also a part of this council.

Executive Council of WMO?

The Executive Council of WMO is an executive body of this organisation. The council meets yearly to implement the decisions of Congress, coordinate the programmes, examine the utilization of budgetary resources, consider and take action on recommendations of Regional Associations and Technical Commissions and guide their work programme, provide technical information, counsel and assistance in the fields of activity of the Organization and study and take actions on matters affecting international meteorology and related activities.

Narasimhan Ravi

Narasimhan Ravi, the director of Kasturi and Sons Limited as well as the former Editor of The Hindu was unanimously elected as the president of Editors Guild of India on 23 April 2013 at the annual general meeting of the Guild in New Delhi. He succeeded T.N. Ninan, the chairman and editorial director of Business Standard. He will be serving two-year term as the President of the Guild.

Editors Guild of India is the organisation of the editors of various magazines and newspapers of India. Apart from the election of the President of the Guild, the annual general meeting took certain issues such as consultation paper on the cross-media ownership which was issued by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Another issue that was discussed at the general meeting was media regulation.

Nirbhay Sharma

Nirbhay Sharma on 16 May 2013 appointed as governor of Arunachal Pradesh as the term of present incumbent Gen (retd) J J Singh ended in January 2013.

The tenure of 65 year old Nirbha Shrama will come into effect from the day he assumes charge of his office, a Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Anil Goswami

Union Ministry of Home Affairs on 26 April 2013 appointed Anil Goswami, a Jammu and Kashmir cadre IAS officer as Union Home Secretary. Government on 26 April 20134 appointed him as the officer on special duty in the ministry with immediate effect till 30 June 2013. He will take charge from incumbent R.K Singh. His appointment to the office was made by Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. His tenure is fixed for a period of two years, till June 2015. This is the first time in the history that announcement of the name of the next Home Secretary was made two months earlier from the actual date of assuming the office. Generally, the successor of the post is appointed a month in advance.