V.S. Hegde, former Scientific Secretary, ISRO, will be the new Antrix Chairman and Managing Director, said ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan here on Saturday.

Following the media spotlight on the Antrix earlier this year over the preferential allocation of S-band spectrum to private firm Devas Multimedia, ISRO announced that it would restructure the company to allow greater transparency. One of the fundamental decisions was to change the tradition of the ISRO chief becoming the CMD of the Antrix head too.

Dr. Radhakrishnan told journalists that the Antrix would have a new board that would include experts from various fields, ISRO functionaries and private sector entities. Among the set of agendas before the new Antrix CMD is the setting up of a coordination management committee “to ensure the right kind of sharing and allocation of expertise.”

Globally, the space industry business turnover was $160 billion, while at the Antrix it was $200 million, Dr. Hegde said, adding that there was “tremendous opportunity for the Antrix to exploit.”

Antrix was established in 1992 to promote the commercial exploitation of space products, technical consultancy services and the transfer of technologies developed by ISRO. The company provides space products and services to international customers worldwide. Koteshwar Rao (former Director of Laboratory for Electro Optical Systems) will take over as ISRO Scientific Secretary.

Veteran banker K.V. Kamath has been appointed as the Chairman of Infosys, in place of founder N.R. Narayana Murthy. S.D. Shibulal has been elevated as the CEO and MD.

• Dr. Manmohan Singh: Chairman, Planning Commission.
• Ms. Meira Kumar: Speaker, Lok Sabha.
• Mohammad Hamid Ansari: Chairman, Rajya Sabha.
• Mr. K. Rahman Khan: Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha.
• Mr. Gopinath Munde: Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha.
• Mrs. Sushma Swaraj : Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha).
• Mr. Arun Jaitley: Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha).
• Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia: Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission.
• Mr. Navin Chawla: Chief Election Commissioner
• Mr. V. S. Sampath : Election Commissioner.
• Mr. S. Y. Qiuaishi : Election Commissioner.

• Mr. Vinod Rai : Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.
• Mr. K. M. Chandrasekhar: Cabinet Secretary.
• Mr. T. K. A. Nair : Principal Secretary to Prime Minister.
• Mr. Justice S. Ratnavel Pandian: Chairman, National Commission for Backward Classes.
• Ms. Shanta Sinha: Chairperson, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights
• Dr. Buta Singh: Chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Castes
• Mr. Kunwar Singh: Chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
• Prof. D. P. Agrawal: Chairman, UPSC.
• Dr. M. S. Swaminathan : Chairman, National Commission on Farmers.
• Mr. Shiv Shankar Menon: National Security Adviser and Special Adviser to PM (Internal Security).
• Mr. R.V. Raju : Director-General, National Investigation Agency (NIA).
• Mr. S. S. Khurana: Chairman, Railway Board.
• Mr. Vivek Kumar Agnihotri: Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha
• Mr. P. D. T. Achary : Secretary-General, Lok Sabha.
• Mr. Rajiv Mathur: Director, IB.
• Mr. Ashwani Kumar: Director, CBI.
• Mr. K. C. Verma: Director, Research and Analysis Wing.
• Mr. N .P. S. Aulakh: Director-General, NSG.
• Mr. A. S. Gill : Director-General, CRPF.
• Mr. M. L. Kumawat : Director-General, Border Security Force (BSF).
• Mr. Niraj Ranjan Das : Director-General, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
• Mr. Ranjit Sinha: Director-General, Railway Protection Force.
• Mr. Vikram Srivastava: Director-General, Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
• Mr. Gopal Sharma: Director-General, Sashastra Seema Bal.
• Vice-Admiral Anil Chopra: Director-General, Coast Guard.
• Lt. Gen. Avtar Singh: Director-General, Defence Intelligence Agency.
• Mr. Sukhadeo Thorat : Chairman, UGC.
• Mr. M. Natarajan : Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Defence Research & Development Organisation.
• Dr. R. Chidambaram : Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government.
• Mr. K. Radhakrishnan: Chairman, Space Commission and ISRO.
• Mr. Srikumar Banerjee : Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary, Dept. of Atomic Energy.
• Mr. N. K. Raghupathy : Chairman, SSC.
• Mr. Justice (Retd.) B. N. Kirpal: Chairman, National Forest Commission.
• Dr. Amrita Patel: Chairperson, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
• Lt. Gen. M. C. Badhani : Director-General, Border Roads Organisation.
• Dr. Vishwa Mohan Katoch : Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research.
• Mr. D. K. Sikri : Registrar-General of India and Census Commissioner.
• Mr. A. R. Lakshmanan: Chairman, Law Commission.
• Mr. Duvvuri Subbarao : Governor, RBI.
• Mr. Justice G. N. Ray: Chairman, Press Council of India.
• Mr. Subroto Chattopadhyay : Chairman, Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
• Mr. N. B. Singh: Chairperson, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
• Mr. A. K. Singh: Chairman, Central Board of Excise & Customs.
• Justice Arijit Pasayat : Chairperson, Competition Appellate Tribunal
• Mr. S. K. Garg : CMD, NHPC.
• Mr. R. S. Sharma: CMD, ONGC.
• Mr. U. D. Choubey : CMD, GAIL.
• Mr. S. Behuria : Chairman, IOC.
• Mr. N. M. Borah: CMD, Oil India Ltd.
• Mr. Ashok Ganguly: Chairman, CBSE.
• Mr. C. B. Bhave: Chairman, Securities & Exchange Board of India.
• Mr. U. C. Sarangi: Chairman, NABARD.
• Mr. O. P. Bhat : Chairman, SBI.
• Mr. V. P. Shetty : Chairman, IDBI.
• Mr. S. Balasubramanian : Chairman, Company Law Board.
• Mr. Hardeep Singh Puri : India’s Permanent Representative to UN.
• Mr. T. S. Vijayan : Chairman, LIC
• Mr. A. K. Bajaj : Chairman, Central Water Commission.
• Ms. Girija Vyas : Chairperson, National Commission for Women.
• Dr. Vijay L. Kelkar: Chairman, 13th Finance Commission.
• Prof. Suresh D. Tendulkar : Chairman, National Statistical Commission.
• Ms. Shafmila Tagore : Chairperson, Central Board of Film Certification.
• Ms. Anshu Vaish : Director-General, Archaeological Survey of India.
• Mr. Harsh Pati Singhania : President, FICCI.
• Mr. J. S. Sarma: Chairman, TRAI
• Mr. R. N. Das : Director, Enforcement Directorate.
• Mr. D. Swarup : Chairman, Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority.
• Mr. Pratyush Sinha: Central Vigilance Commissioner.
• Mr. S. Banerjee: Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.
• Mr. Wajahat Habibullah : Information Commissioner.
• Mr. Suresh Kalmadi : President, Indian Olympic Association.
• Prof. Krishan Kumar: Director, NCERT.
• Mr. Venu Srinivasan: President, CII.
• Mr. Sam Pitroda : Chairman, National Knowledge Commission.
• Ms. Mrinal Pande : Chairman, Prasar Bharti Board.
• Mr. Ratan Tata : Chairman, Investment Commission.
• Mr. Ganesh Natarajan : Chairman, NASSCOM.
• Mr. Swati Piramal: President, ASSOCHAM.
• Mr. Om Puri : Chairman, National Film Development Corporation.
• Mr. Ravindra Kumar: Chairman, United News of India.
• Mr. N. Ravi : Chairman, PTI.
• Mr. Hormusji N. Cama: President, Indian Newspaper Society

World -Latest Appointments

Dilma Rousseff: She has been elected as the first woman Presient of Brazil.
Marouf Bakhit: He has been appointed as the Prime Minister of Jordan by King Abdullah.

India -Union Cabinet Reshuffle/Appointments

Praful Patel: Union Minister, Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
Salman Khurshid: Union Minister, Water Resources and additional charge of Minority Affairs
S. Jaiswal: Union Minister, Coal.
Sharad Pawar: Union Minister, Agriculture & Food Processing Industry.
Vilasrao Deshmukh: Union Minister, Rural Development & additional charge of Panchayati Raj.
Jaipal Reddy: Union Minister, Petroleum & Natural Gas.
Kamal Nath: Union Minister, Urban Development.
Vayalar Ravi: Union Minister, Overseas Indian Affairs and additional charge of Civil Aviation.
Murli Deora: Union Minister, Corporate Affairs.
Virbhadra Singh: Union Minister, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises.
C.P. Joshi: Union Minister, Highways & Transport.
M.S. Gill: Union Minister, Statistics, Programme Implementation.
Kumari Selja: Union Minister, Culture, Housing, Urban Poverty alleviation.
Subhod Kant Shay: Union Minister, Tourism.
Ashwani Kumar: Minister of State (Independent Charge), Parliamentary Affairs, Planning, Science & Technology, Earth Sciences.
Ajay Maken: Minister of State (Independent Charge), Youth Affairs & Sports.
Beni Prasad Verma: Minister of State (Independent Charge), Steel.
Prof K.G. Thomas: Minister of State (Independent Charge), Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
K.C. Venugopal: Minister of State, Power.
E. Ahamed: Minister of State, External Affairs.
V. Narayanasamy: Minister of State, PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Parliamentary Affairs.
Gurudas Kamath: Minister of State, Telecom.
A. Sai Prathap: Minister of State, Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.
Bharatsinh Solanki: Minister of State, Railways.
Jitin Prasad: Minister of State, Road Transport & Highways.
Madhav S. Khandela: Minister of State, Tribal Affairs.
R.P.N. Singh: Minister of State, Petroleum & Natural Gas and Corporate Affairs.
Tusharbhai Chaudhary: Minister of State, Raod Transport & Highways.
Arun Yadav: Minister of State, Agriculture & Food Preocessing Industries.
P.P. Patil: Minister of State, Coal.
Vincet Pala: Minister of State, Water Resources and Minority Affairs.

Major Events -January 2011

India joins the UN Security Council (UNSC) as its non-permanent member for a two-year term after a gap on 19 years.

China’s first radar evading stealth fighter makes its maiden test flight, making the country only the second nation after USA to test such cutting-edge technology.
All-India mobile number portability services are launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Miscellaneous

M.D. Mallaya: Chief of Bank of Baroda, he has been chosen as the Business Standard Banker of the Year.
Bappi Lahiri: He has become the first Indian composer to be in the Grammy jury for the awards in 2012.

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji has done away with the dual helmsman-ship model and appointed T.K. Kurien as Wipro’s new CEO.

Murli Deora Takes Charge as Corporate Affairs Minister

Senior Congress leader and former Petroleum Minister Murli Deora took charge of the Corporate Affairs Ministry .

Deora replaced Salman Khurshid, who now holds charge of the Water Resources Ministry and retains the additional charge of the Minority Affairs Ministry.

Indian Ambassador to the United Nations Hardeep Singh Puri has been elected Chairman of the all important Security Council Committee on Counter-terrorism and two other key committees of this 15-member body.

A formal announcement in this regard will be made today, sources told PTI after the conclusion of silent procedure during which there was no challenge to India being elected as Chairman of these three important UNSC committees.

Elected for a two-year term, Puri would chair the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee.He replaces Ertugrul Apakan, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Turkey, whose term expired on December 31, 2010.

Bank Ki-Moon     –     Secretary General,UN

Asha-Rose Migiro    -  First Deputy Secretary General,UN

Robert Zoellick     –    President,World Bank

Koichiro Matsuura (Japan)  -  Director-General,UNESCO

Margaret Chan(China)  -Director-General,World Health Organisation(WHO)

Hosni Mubarak(Egypt)    –      Chairman,NAM

Jacques Diouf   – Director    General,FAO

Haruhiko Kuroda(Japan)    – President ,ADB

Dominique Strauss-Khan(France) – President,IMF

Jaap de Hoop Schoffer  –      Seretary General,NATO

Smadja Claude      -Director General,World Economic Forum(WEF)

Mohamed El Baradei    – Director-General,IAEA

Khagendra Thapa will be officially declared as the world’s shortest man on October 14.He is the smallest known person on earth at 22 inches (56 cm). The Nepal Tourism Board has nominated Thapa as a goodwill ambassador to promote tourism in Nepal. Thapa will carry the message: “Shortest man in the world from the highest mountain in the world invites you to visit Nepal.