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» As part of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry’s 100-day agenda, Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry Announced on Jul 02, 2009 that doctors, specialists and para-medical staff serving in the rural, particularly far-flung and inaccessible areas, will get double the salary their counterparts in other areas earn as part of monetary incentive to encourage medical personnel to take up rural postings. The Ministry, through the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), will make funds available for contractual appointments and provide significantly higher monetary incentives based on the location of the posting. The salaries could be almost double those drawn by medical professionals in urban areas. In the next three months, the Ministry, in consultation with State governments, will identify difficult, most difficult and inaccessible areas, particularly in the hilly States and tribal regions. This will be done to fill up deficiencies in the strength of medical personnel. A web-based Health Management Information System (HMIS) will be fully operational by July 31, 2009, to enable district-wise reporting of the progress of the NRHM on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis. This will enable timely monitoring of physical and financial progress more effectively, he said. The Ministry has also made a commitment to revive the three public sector vaccine manufacturing units at Kasauli, Guindy and Coonoor whose manufacturing licenses were suspended last year for failure to comply with the good manufacturing practices (GMP) prescribed by the World Health Organisation. An oversight committee has prepared a road map for revamping the vaccine manufacturing facility at the Central Research Institute, Kasauli. The retrofitted facility will start functioning within a year, while the process for the revival of the B.C.G Vaccine Laboratory at Guindy and the Pasteur Institute of India at Coonoor will be initiated. The Ministry will also initiate a proposal to introduce a Bill to comprehensively amend the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994 to make the process of organ transplantation less cumbersome for genuine cases and also network all transplantation centres for better coordination and utilisation of harvested organs.

» In a landmark judgment, the Delhi High Court on Jul 02, 2009 struck down the provision of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalised consensual sexual acts of adults in private, holding that it violated the fundamental right of life and liberty and the right to equality as guaranteed in the Constitution. A Division Bench of Justice A.P. Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar said that Section 377 of the IPC, insofar as it criminalises consensual sexual acts of adults in private, is violative of Articles 21 [Right to Protection of Life and Personal Liberty], 14 [Right to Equality before Law] and 15 [Prohibition of Discrimination on Grounds of Religion, Race, Caste, Sex or Place of Birth] of the Constitution.

» The chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, known as a front organisation of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hafiz Saeed was released by a full bench headed by Justice Ejaz Chaudhary of the Lahore High Court on June 2,2009. Saeed was placed under house arrest in December 2008 during a government crackdown on the JuD following the Mumbai attacks and shortly after the U.N. Security Council 1267 Committee (on Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities) designated him and the group as “terrorist.”

» Farah Pandit of Kashmiri-origin was appointed special representative of the Obama administration to reach out to the Muslim world. She was appointed by Secretary of State to interact with Muslims across the globe. She was a senior adviser to the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. She also served on the National Security Council and with USAID on assistance projects for Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. Born in 1968, Farah belongs to a business family of Kashmir. Her father, Muhammad Anwar Pandit, is originally from Sopore. Her mother, a doctor is from Srinagar city. In early 70s Farah's parents shifted to United States and stayed in Boston, where her father continued his business.

» Darrell Dexter took charge of Nova Scotia's 27th premier and the first New Democrat to lead a government in Atlantic Canada in downtown Halifax on June 19,2009. He succeeded Rodney Joseph MacDonald of Progressive Conservative Party.
Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik took charge as the 19th chief of the India Air Force from Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, who demitted office on May 31. An alumnus of Sainik School, Satara, and the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla, Air Chief Marshal Naik saw action in the 1971 India-Pakistan war. He was decorated with the Param Vishist Seva Medal and the Vishist Seva Medal.
» Amal Allana was appointed as chairperson of the National School of Drama (NSD) for a second term on June 15,2009. Allana, an alumnus of the NSD, is the daughter of Ibrahim Alkazi, the founder of the NSD. She joined NSD in 2005 as the chairperson. She has directed several plays, including “Aadhe Adhure”, “The Exception and the Rule”, “Khamosh, Adalat Jari Hai”, “Ashadh Ka Ek Din”, “Mahabhoj”, “King Lear”, “Himmat Mai” and “Begum Barve”. She was awarded many honours, including awards from the Delhi Natya Sangh (1994), Sahitya Kala Parishad (1996), Czech TV for the tele-play “Wapsi” (1983) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for direction (1998).


» He was elected Chairman of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) for 2009-10 at the association’s managing committee meeting held in Mumbai on June 1. Punjab National Bank Chairman and Managing Director K. C. Chakrabarty succeeded T. S. Narayanasami who was superannuated Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of India on May 31,2009.

» Distinguished journalist and political commentator Harish Khare was appointed as the media adviser to the Prime Minister on June 20,2009. He replaced Deepak Sandhu, who was shifted to the Central Information Commission as its member. Harish Khare will hold the rank of a secretary to the government of India. Prior to this appointment, Khare, was the Chief of Bureau and senior associate editor at The Hindu. He also worked as the resident editor of the Times of India, Ahmedabad. Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank took oath as the fifth chief minister of Uttarakhand along with three ministers on June 28. Replacing B C Khanduri as the chief minister, Nishank was Health Minister in his cabinet. A sitting legislator from Thalisen constituency, Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank is a strong leader from Garhwal and is known to be close to the RSS.

» Senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam was appointed solicitor general on June 15, the second most important law officer of the country after the attorney general. From the petrol pump scam case to the inquiry commission into Graham Staines murder, he had ample opportunity to render valuable assistance to the Supreme Court as amicus curiae. At the same time, he represented the Centre in high-voltage cases like Bihar assembly dissolution, defreezing of London bank accounts of Bofors case accused Ottavio Quattrocchi and the cash-for-query scam. 51-year-old Subramaniam was additional solicitor general during 2004-09.

» Uttarakhand chief minister Maj Gen BC Khanduri finally succumbed to mounting pressures and tendered his resignation on June 25,2009. Rebels were active against him after the Bharatiya Janata Party's rout in the Lok Sabha elections from the state. The BJP lost all the five Lok Sabha seats in the state in the May 2009 polls, including the three it had won in 2004.

» The chairman of Prasar Bharati Board, Arun Bhatnagar relinquished his job citing differences with Prasar Bharati CEO B S Lalli. A retired IAS officer, Bhatnagar was appointed as the chairman of Prasar Bharati on 2008. Some members of the Broad have levelled various allegations of impropriety and financial irregularities against B S Lalli and the matter has reached the Delhi High Court through a PIL.

» Vice-Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma was appointed country’s next Chief of Naval Staff. He will take charge from Admiral Sureesh Mehta, who retires from service on August 31. Born on November 14, 1950, Vice-Admiral Verma, currently Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C), Eastern Naval Command, has, during his long and distinguished 39 years of service, commanded aircraft carrier INS Viraat.

» Senior advocate and former Solicitor General Goolam E Vahanvati was appointed the new Attorney General of India for a period of three years. He became the first Muslim to hold the post of Attorney General of India. G E Vahanvati succeeded Milon Banerjee, who had held the Attorney General’s post in the last government. He and all other law officers had put in their papers on May 29,2009 to make way for a fresh team.

» Timothy J Roemer was nominated as the next US Ambassador to India. A former US lawmaker and a member of the 9/11 Commission, Roemer is currently head of a Washington-based think tank. He is considered close to President Barack Obama and was among the first few Democrat leaders to support Obama in his run for US Presidency.

» Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), C B Bhave was elected chairman of the Asia- Pacific Regional Committee of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) at the 34th Annual Conference of IOSCO being held at Tel Aviv, Israel. IOSCO is recognised as the international standard setter for securities markets. The Organisation’s wide membership regulates more than 90% of the world’s securities markets and IOSCO is the world`s most important international cooperative forum for securities regulatory agencies.

» Seven-time member of Lok Sabha Karia Munda was unanimously elected Deputy Speaker of the 15th Lok Sabha on June 8. The tradition of having the Deputy Speaker from the Opposition was began in 1977, the very year Karia Munda entered the Lok Sabha. Munda was elected to the 15th Lok Sabha from Khunti in Jharkhand on BJP ticket.

» Former Law Minister 72-year-old, Hans Raj Bhardwaj, who failed to make it to the Union Cabinet after the elections, was on June 24 appointed as the new Governor of Karnataka. He replaced Rameshwar Thakur who was transferred to Madhya Pradesh.

» Karnataka Governor Rameshwar Thakur was appointed new Governor of Madhya Pradesh for his remaining tenure. He will hold the post till November 2009. He replaced Balram Jakhar, whose term ended on June 30. Thakur was first appointed Governor on November 17, 2004. In 2006, he was shifted to Andhra Pradesh and later to Karnataka in 2007.

» The former Finance Minister of Assam, Devanand Konwar, was appointed Governor of Bihar in place of R. L. Bhatia, whose term ended on June 23. Konwar was the founder general secretary of Congress I, when the Party split in 1978.

» One of the most influential figures in modern pop culture, Michael Jackson, died of a sudden cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles on June 25,2009. Jackson, known as 'King of Pop' by fans and often derided as 'Whacko-Jacko' by the media, was 50. Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana, US. I Want You Back, Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, Billie Jean, Bad, Black or White, Earth Song were his biggest hits album. His 1982 album Thriller remains the world's best-selling record of all time. Jackson began his career as a child in family group The Jackson 5. He then went on to achieve global fame as a solo artist with smash hits such as Billie Jean and Bad. Thriller, released in 1982, is the biggest-selling album of all time, shifting 65m copies, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. He scored seven UK number ones as a solo artist and won a total of 13 Grammy awards. Michael Jackson popularised a dance technique called the moonwalk or backslide. Moonwalk presents the illusion that the dancer is stepping forward while actually moving backward. The dance move gained widespread popularity after being performed by Michael Jackson during his song ‘Billie Jean’ on the March 25, 1983. He published autobiography ‘Moon Walk’ in 1988. The book was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and reached number one on the New York Times Best Seller list.

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