Gina Miller The Indian origin activist whose legal action seeking parliamentary approval for triggering Brexit was upheld by Britain’s high court and supreme court was presented the ‘campaigner of the year’ award in the 11th version of the Asian Voice Political and Public Life Awards, instituted by Asian Voice newspaper
Tarak Mehta The eminent humorist and playwright, best known for his Guajarati column ‘Duniya Ne Undha Chasma’ who died recently. His columns, which first appeared in Gujarati weekly magazine “Chitralekha” in 1971 were adapted into a television serial “Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma” in 2008, making him a household name.
Abraham Lincoln He was voted the best President of US in a survey of US presidents conducted by C-SPAN recently. The list, compiled by 91 historians, was the third such survey. Presidents were rated on a scale of 1-10 on ten attributes, including crisis leadership, economic management and vision. Ba rack Obama was ranked as the 12th best President in the survey
Shurhozelie Liezietsu He took oath as the new chief minister of Nagaland heading a 12-member Democratic Alliance of Nagaland ministry. Liezietsu, who succeeded T R Zeliang, was administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor P B Acharya at a function in Raj Bhavan in Kohima recently. Liezietsu is not a member of the Nagaland Legislative assembly and he will have to get elected within six months from taking office
Frank-Walter Steinmeier He was recently elected as the new President of Germany. The 61-year old, who regularly polls as Germany's most popular politician will represent EU’s top economy abroad and act as a kind of moral arbiter for the nation
Michael Flynn He was the US National Security Advi sor who quit recently over his unauthorized contacts with Russian officials which were seen to have the potential to compromise US security. His stint for 24 days is the shortest ever for an NSA in Us history.
Sandeep Das The Indian table player who recently won a Grammy-the music industry’s most coveted award- along with YoYo Ma in the World music category.
Dev Patel The actor from India who won the best supporting actor award in the 70th British Academy Film Awards (Bafta) for his role in ‘Lion’. The Slumdog Millionaire actor plays a man who was adopted as a child and is trying to find his family in India through Google Maps in Lion
E Palaniswami He was recently sworn in as the new chief minister of Tamil Nadu. He was sworn in as the 22nd CM of Tamil Nadu by governor C Vidyasagar Rao
Ashok Chawla The former competition regulator is heading the committee formed by the government to give report on the viability of simultaneously engaging two auditors to examine company books. The Ashok Chawla headed committee recommendations to the ministry of corporate affairs would likely hasten a decision on the subject that involves many stake holders: chief financial officers of India, local audit firms.
Shawna Pandya Hhe third woman of Indian origin after Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams to fly to space. Born in Canada, the 32-year-old was one of the two candidates shortlisted from 3,200 people after topping the Citizen Science Astronauat (CSA) program. She will fly with eight other astronauts in space mission slated to take off by 2018. She is a neurosurgeon working as a general physician at Canada’s Alberta University Hospital.
Ajay Tyagi He was recently appointed as the new Chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). He will take over from U K Sinha on March 1, 2017 and has been given a five-year term. The 1984-batch IAS officer from Himachal Pradesh is currently handling matters related to the capital markets in the finance ministry
Rajiv Kumar, Ashok Gulati and Manish Sabarwal They were recently nominated as directors on the board of Reserve Bank of India for a period of four years with effect from 9th February, 2017. Ashok Gulati is an agricultural economist and former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. Manish Sabarwal is the co founder and chairman of Team Lease Services Private and also co-founder at Hewitt Outsourcing services India. Rajiv Kumar is an economist and senior fellow at Centre for Policy research and the author of several books.
Iris Mittenaere of France She was adjudged the Miss Universe pageant 2016. In the 65th edition of the Miss Universe beauty pageant held in Manila, Philippines she outperformed 85 other contestants to be crowned as the new Miss Universe 2016. Raquel Pelissier from Haiti bagged the 1st runner up spot and Andrea Tovar from Colombia won the 2nd runner up spot respectively.
Vikram Limaye He will be the new managing director and chief executive officer (MD and CEO) of National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. Limaye , the present CEO and MD of IDFC will succeed Chitra Ramkrishna, who left NSE owing to personal reasons in Dece mber 2016.
Sanjeev Sanyal The was recently appointed principal adviser in the Department of Econo mic Affairs. Sanyal, a bestselling author, has made his mark in diverse areas such as environment and sustainable development, microfinance as well as foreign investment.
Nikki Haley She was sworn-in as America’s ambassador to the United Nations. He scripted history by becoming the first from the Indian American community to serve on a Cabinet rank position in any US presidential administration.
Genabhai Patel The pomegranate farmer from Sarkari Goliya village in Lakhani taluka of the Banaskantha district of Gujarat district is the recipient of the prestigious Padma Shri award this year. A differently-abled farmer from Gujarat's arid Banaskantha district has inspired several others to make the best use of their farm land by planting pomegranate.
Sharad Pawar The along with MM Joshi, P. A. San gma and Sunder Lal Patwa has been awarded Padma Vibhushan for Public affairs. All chosen are political heavy weights-Sharad Pawar of the Nation alist Congress Party and Murli Mano har Joshi of BJP. Two more politiciansformer chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Sundar Lal Patwa and former LokSabha speaker P A Sangma have been chosen posthumously
Joe Biden The ex-Vice-President of United Sta tes who was recently awarded the Pre sidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honour
Mike Pence The took over as the new Vice President of United States of America. Rex Tillerson took over as the new Secretary of State while Jeff Sessions took over as the new Attorney General of United States.
Shashi Kant Sharma He is the Comptroller and Auditor General of India who recently took over the chairmanship of the UN’s Board of Auditor’s from January 1, 2017 for two years. The CAG of India is the lead auditor for the UN headquarters and other agencies including the UN Children’s Fund, UN Pension Fund, the UN compensation commission besides auditing six missions of UN peace keeping operations.
Chandu Babulal Chavan The Indian soldier who strayed across LoC but was recently freed by Pakistan. Posted with 37 Rashtriya Rifles he had mistakenly crossed the Line of control in J & K hours after India’s surgical strikes on terrorist ba ses across the LoC in September 2016
Dipa Karmakar The Indian Olympian who was in the news recently after The Department of Post unveiled a special cover on her at philatelic exhibition organised in Agartala. She had scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman gymnast to bag a bronze at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games
Ranvir Singh The Indian-origin broadcast journalist who was recently appointed the chancellor of the University of Central Lanchashire (UCLan) in England. He will be the third chancellor of the university.
Alok Kumar Verma The IPS officer of the 1979 batch who was recently selected as the new Director of Central Bureau of Investi gation (CBI). Presently he is working as the chief of Delhi Police.
Om Puri The famous Bollywood actor who passed away recently. Apart from winning several accolades, including two National Awards, Om Puri was honoured with PadmaShri in 1990.
Kalyan Krishnamurthy The was recently made the new Chief Executive Officer of Flipkart replacing co-founder Binny Bansal who has been named as the group executive of India’s largest online market place.
Parag Havaldar The IIT Kharagpur alumnus who recently won the prestigious Technical Achievement Award (the Scientific & Technical Awards prize), popularly called the `Technical Oscar', awarded by the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences.
N Chandrasekaran he was recently named as the new Chairman of Tata Sons. He was presently working as Tata Consul tancy Services chief executive officer and managing director.
Jagdish Singh Khehar He was sworn in as the 44th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by President Pranab Mukerjee recently. He becomes the first Sikh Chief Justice of India after taking over from former Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur who completed his 13-month tenure on January 3.
