Heads of Important Offices in India 2013

Dr. Manmohan Singh: Chairman, Planning Commission.
Ms. Meira Kumar: Speaker, Lok Sabha.
Mohammad Hamid Ansari: Chairman, Rajya Sabha.
Mr. P. J. Kurien: Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha.
Mr. Karia Munda: 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. V. S. Sampath: Chief Election Commissioner
Mr. Harishankar Brahma : Election Commissioner.
Syed Nasim Zaidi : Election Commissioner.
Mr. Shashi Kant Sharma : Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.
Mr. Justice K. G. Balakrishnan : Chairperson, National Human Right Commission (NHRC)
Mr. K. M. Chandrasekhar: Cabinet Secretary.
Mr. T. K. A. Nair : Principal Secretary to Prime Minister .
Mr. Justice M. N. Rao: 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
Ms. Urmila Singh: Chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
Prof. D. P. Agrawal: Chairman, UPSC.
Dr. M. S. Swaminathan : Chairman, National Commission on Farmers (NCF).
Mr. Shiv Shankar Menon: National Security Adviser and Special Adviser to PM (Internal Security).
Mr. S. C. Sinha : Director-General, National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Mr. Vinay Mittal: Chairman, Railway Board.
Mr. Shumsher K. Sheriff : Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha
Mr. T. K. Viswanathan : Secretary-General, Lok Sabha.
Mr. Syed Asif Ibrahim : Director, IB.
Mr. Ranjit Sinha: Director, CBI.
Mr. Alok Joshi : Director, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
Mr. Arvind Ranjan : Director-General, NSG.
Mr. Dilip Trivedi : Director-General, CRPF.
Mr. Subhash Joshi : Director-General, Border Security Force (BSF).
Mr. Rajiv : Director-General, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
Mr. P. K. Mehta: Director-General, Railway Protection Force. (RPF)
Mr. Ajay Chadha: Director-General, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
Mr. Arun Chaudhary : Director-General, Sashastra Seema Bal.
Vice-Admiral Anurag G. Thapliyal : Director-General, Indian Coast Guard.
Lt. Gen. Avtar Singh: Director-General, Defence Intelligence Agency.
Prof. Ved Prakash : Chairman, UGC.
Dr. Avinash Chander : Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Defence Research and Development Organisation. (DRDO)
Dr. R. Chidambaram : Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government.
Mr. K. Radhakrishnan: Chairman, Space Commission and ISRO.
Mr. Ratan Kumar Sinha : Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary, Dept. of Atomic Energy.
Mr. Wajahat Habibullah: Chairperson, National Commission for Minorities.
Mr. Deepak Sandhu : Chief Information Commissioner.
Mr. Amitava Bhattacharya : Chairman, SSC.
Dr. Vishwa Mohan Katoch : Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research.
Mr. C. Chandramouli : Registrar-General of India and Census Commissioner.
Justice D. K. Jain : Chairman, Law Commission.
Mr. Baldev Raj : President, Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE).
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. Raghuram Rajan : Governor, RBI.
Mr. Justice G. N. Ray: Chairman, Press Council of India.
Mr. Shailesh Gupta : Chairman, Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
Dr. (Ms.) Poonam Kishore Saxena : Chairperson, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
Mr. A. K. Singh: Chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs.
Mr. Ashok Chawla : Competition Commission of India
Justice Syed Rafat Alam : Chairman, Central Administrative Tribunal
Mr. G. Sai Prasad : CMD, NHPC.
Mr. R. S. Sharma: CMD, ONGC.
Mr. U. D. Choubey : CMD, GAIL.
Mr. S. Behuria : Chairman, IOC.
Mr. Sunil Kumar Srivastava: CMD, Oil India Ltd.
Mr. Ashok Ganguly: Chairman, CBSE.
Mr. U. K. Sinha: Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Mr. Prakash Bakshi: Chairman, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
Mr. Pratip Chaudhuri : 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. Mamta Sharma : Chairperson, National Commission for Women.
Dr. Y. V. Reddy: Chairman, 14th Finance Commission.
Prof. Suresh D. Tendulkar : Chairman, National Statistical Commission.
Ms. Shafmila Tagore : Chairperson, Central Board of Film Certification.
Dr. Gautam Sengupta : Director-General, Archaeological Survey of India.
Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai  : President, FICCI.
Mr. J. S. Sarma: Chairman, TRAI 
Mr. R. N. Das : Director, Enforcement Directorate.
Mr. Yogesh Agarwal: Chairman, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority.
Mr. Pradeep Kumar: Commissioner, Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC).
Dr. Ratan Kumar Sinha : Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.
Mr. Suresh Kalmadi : President, Indian Olympic Association.
Prof. Krishan Kumar: Director, NCERT.
Mr. Mr. S. Gopalakrishnan : President, CII. 
Mr. Sam Pitroda : Chairman, National Knowledge Commission.
Mr. Rajiv Takru : CEO, Prasar Bharti Board.
Mr. Ratan Tata : Chairman, Investment Commission.
Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya : President, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Mr. Krishnakumar Natarajan : Chairman, NASSCOM.
Mr. Rajkumar Dhoot : President, ASSOCHAM.
Mr. Ramesh Sippy : Chairman, National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).
Mr. Ravindra Kumar: Chairman, United News of India.
Mr. N. Ravi : Chairman, PTI.
Mr. K. N. Tilak Kumar : President, Indian Newspaper Society (INS).
Mr. Dilip Modi : President, The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
Mr. Vinod Rai : Chairman, Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI)

Current Affairs Practice Questions - August 2013

• The first Britisher to perform a space walk, who retired from NASA in the second week of August 2013- Colin Michael Foale

• Name of the largest blast furnace of India which was operationalised by SAIL on 10 August 2013- Durga

• Female tennis player to win The Rogers Cup 2013 and capture her 54th WTA singles title- Serena Williams

• Technology used by the researchers to find that autism affected the brains of males and females in a different way- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
• Name the captain of the 18-member hockey squad of India in the Asia Cup hockey tournament 2013- Sardar Singh
• Date on which International Lefthanders Day is celebrated across the world- 13 August

• Name of the First Twitter Hotel opened in Spain by the Melia brand of hotels- Social Wave House
• Name of the oldest Penguin who on 12 August 2013 turned 36 years old- King Penguin Missy

• Body which proposed first season of the Indian Badminton League (IBL)- Badminton Association of India (BAI)

• Name of the host country of 7th Asian Junior Wushu Championships- Philippines

• Name the fossil of the oldest known ancestor of modern rats recently unearthed in China- Rugosodon eurasiaticus

• Name of one of the most endangered bird species of the world that made a comeback in the US- Puerto Rican parrot

• Place at which The Travel & Tourism Fair (TTF) 2013, the biggest travel trade show of India started- Ahmadabad, Gujarat 
• The former Prime Minister of Nepal who died on 15 August 2013 after battling with lung cancer- Marich Man Singh Shrestha

• Name the person who was termed as the Beast of Ukraine. He was the serial killer who recently died in prison- Anatoly Onoprienko

• Name of the US actress who passed away on 25 August 2013 at the age of 87 years and holds the record of most Tony awards win- Julie Harris

• India’s under-23 cricket team won the Asian Cricket Council Emerging Teams Cup in Singapore on 25 August 2013, after defeating- Pakistan

• Indian tennis player who lifted the women’s doubles trophy at the WTA New Haven Open along with her partner Jie Zheng of China- Sania Mirza

• Gujar Mal Modi Award for Science and Technology 2013 awarded to- Vinod Prakash Sharma

• Name the tribal community of Sri Lanka that was felicitated on 9 August 2013 by Mahinda Rajapaksa on the occasion of the World Indigenous Peoples Day- Veddas

• The eminent Indian classical singer and music director known as the vocalist of Jayadeva’s Gita Govind, who passed away in Bhubaneswar- Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi
• Nelson Mandela on 27 August 2013 was honoured with the first Lifetime Campaigner for Peace and Freedom of- the Mahathir award for Global Peace
• Prem Bhatia Award for Best Political Reporting of the Year (2013) was won by- Shalini Singh, a Deputy Editor of The Hindu  
• Indian women's Recurve team defeated this team  to win gold medal in the World Cup Archery Stage- 4 at Wroclaw, Poland- South Korean Team

• Person who coined the term BRIC in 2001. He is the Chief Economist of Goldman Sachs: Jim O’ Neil 
• The soccer team to win UEFA Super Cup 2013 on 30 August 2013:Bayern Munich
• The person to be recommended as next ONGC chief by the Public Enterprises Selection Board: Dinesh K Sarraf

• The Joint Air force exercise to be held by China and Pakistan: Shaheen-2
• The 21st round of Boundary talks between Bhutan and China held in the city: Thimphu

• 5th India-China Strategic Dialogue held in the City: New Delhi

• The person to be sworn in as the new President of Iran: Hassan Rouhani 

List of Recently Appointed Person in 2013

List of Recently Appointed Person in 2013

Xi Jinping - President of China

Li Keqiang – Prime Minister China

Shinzo Abe – prime minister Japan

NicosAnastasiades – President Cyprus

Park Guen_ hye – president South Korea

Uhuru Kenyatta – president Kenya

John Kerry - 68th Secretary of State of the US

Mohan Pieris -  44th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka

VedPrakash -  UGC chairman

Obama  -  US President (Second Term)

Suchitra Ella - Founding Chairwoman of CII’s women wing

Mo Yan (writer) and Jackie Chan (Actor) - New Members of Chinese Parliament

Subra Suresh - President of Carnegie Mellon University

Ratan Tata – Member of  “National Academy of Engineering“

Rajiv Shah – Head of  United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Anil Dev Singh - New chief of IOA election panel

Scott Flemming - India’s basketball coach

Tony Hall - Director general of BBC

Ranjit Sinha - CBI Director

Barbosa - First non-white President of Brazil’s Supreme Court

Alok Joshi - New RAW chief

Rajeev Shahare - New High Commissioner to Maldives

Ajit Saran -  Member Secretary of National Commission for Women

Virbhadra Singh -  Himachal Pradesh’s Chief Minister

Narendra Modi-  Gujarat CM (4th time)

Cyrus Mistry - Tata Group Chairman

Asif  Ibrahim - Chief of the Intelligence Bureau

Urjit Patel - RBI deputy governor

YV Reddy - Head of 14th Finance Commission

Ami Bera and TulsiGabbard - new members of the US House of Representatives

Srinivasan - Federal Judge (Re elected)

Justice D K - Law Commission chief

Vivek Rae – MSME (Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) Secretary

Anil Kumble - Chairman of ICC Cricket Committee

Jaspal Rana - Junior pistol chief coach

Neiphiu Rio -  Chief Minister of Nagaland (3rd Term)

Mukul Manda Sangma - Chief Minister of Meghalaya (2nd Term)

Ashwani Kumar - Governor of Nagaland

Bobby Ghosh - Editor of Time International (first non American)

Khil Raj Regmi - New Prime Minister of Nepal

D K Jain - Chairman of 20th Law Commission of India

Ashok Tomar-  India’s ambassador to Brazil

Rakesh Mohan - Executive director of IMF board

VK Malhotra - Archery Association President (re-elected)

S. Ramakrishnan - Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC)

Luiz Felipe Scolari -  Brazil Football team coach

Mohan - Vice president of IBSF (re-elected)

SachinDevPavithran (Visually Challenged) - Architectural and Transportation Barriers ComplianceBoardmember

Ajit Pawar-  Maharashtra Deputy CM

Chautala-  IOA President

Parthasarathy Shome - Adviser to Finance Minister

ZiauddinYousufzai (Malala’s Father) - UN Education Adviser, Education attache at the Pakistan consulate in Birmingham, England

Vijay Kumar -  Senior Security Adviser in Home Ministry

VinodRai -  Chair of UN Auditors Panel (Re-elected)

NainaLalKidwai -  First Woman President of FICCI

Rita Singh -  Federation of Indian Associations President

John Brennan -  CIA director

HalimahYacob - First woman Speaker of Singapore

Kulwant Singh Gill - New Commandant of  NDA

R.K. Dubey - Canara Bank’s new CMD

Rajkumar Goyal-  Central Bank of  India new Executive Director Resources Department

Jack Lew - New Treasury Secretary of US

Lord DolarPopat - Minister in the UK cabinet (First Gujarati in UK cabinet)

Subhash Joshi - BSF Chief

John Kerry -  America’s Foreign Minister

Smita Singh - Member of Global Development Council