Sanjeev Kumar Singla appointed as PMs private secretary

IFS officer Sanjeev Kumar Singla has been appointed as Private Secretary (PS) to
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, succeeding Vikram Misri, who is going to Spain as Ambassador. Mr
Singla, a 1997 batch
officer, is returning home to serve in the PMO, after a posting in Indian Embass
y in Israel's Tel Aviv. The
Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has approved appointment of Mr. Singla t
o the post of Private
Secretary to the Prime Minister in place of Vikram Misri, said an order issued b
y the Department of
Personnel and Training (DoPT).
Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya sworn in as Nagaland governor
Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya was sworn in as the 18th governor of Nagaland. He
was administered
the oath of office in Kohima. President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Acharya as th
e governor on July 14.
The President also acc
from July 2 following the resignation of Ashwani Kumar on June 27.
The Hindu journalist wins Prem Bhatia Award
Smita Gupta, Associate Editor with The Hindu, has been selected for the prestigi
ous Prem Bhatia Award
for political reporting. The Prem Bhatia Awards, instituted in the memory of one
of the most eminent
journalists of his era, have gone this year to two exceptional journalists for the
ir reporting on politics, and
environment and development issues, respectively. The award for excellence in en
vironmental and
development reporting has gone to Nitin Sethi, Associate Editor, Business Standa
rd, for his reporting on
key environmental and development topics. The awards will be presented at the 19
th Prem Bhatia
Memorial Lecture at the India International Centre on August 11.
International:
US jury punishes Cigarette Company with $23 billion award to smoker's family
A Florida jury awarded a staggering $23 billion in punitive damages to the widow
of a chain smoker who
died of lung cancer, socking it to RJ Reynolds, America's second largest cigaret
te maker and the tobacco
industry in general at a time of revulsion towards cigarette smokers. The latest
case centers on Cynthia
Robinson, of Pensacola, who sued RJ Reynolds in 2008 over the death of her husba
nd, Michael
Johnson, claiming the company conspired to conceal the health dangers and addict
ive nature of its
products. Johnson, a hotel shuttle-bus driver who died of lung cancer in 1996 at
36, smoked between one
and three packets a day for more than 20 years, starting at age thirteen.
Business & Economy:
FTIL sells 15 per cent stake in MCX
Financial Technologies (India) Ltd. (FTIL) has said that it entered into a share
purchase agreement (SPA)
to sell a 15 per cent stake in Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) to Kotak Mahindra
Bank Ltd. (KMBL) for
a total consideration of Rs. 459 crore. The commodity markets regulator Forward
Markets Commission
(FMC) had ordered FTIL to divest its stake in FTIL from around 26 per cent to be
low 2 per cent.