#Daily #Current #Affairs

Daniel Mookhey, first Indian-origin lawmaker in Australia to take oath on the Gita

Daniel Mookhey has become first Indian-origin Member of Parliament (MP) from the Australian state of New South Wales to be sworn in to Australian parliament on the Hindu religious text, the Bhagavadgita. Recently, he was chosen by the Australian Labour Party to fill the casual vacancy in the New South Wales upper house. Thus, making him state’s first politician of Indian background. Daniel Mookhey was born in Blacktown suburb in New South Wales to Indian parents who had migrated to Australia from Punjab in 1973. He holds three university degrees and currently is working as a consultant to unions, charities and community groups.

Deepak Iyer appointed as CEO and MD of Bharti AXA General Insurance

Deepak Iyer was appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Bharti AXA General Insurance. Iyer will  take charge from Interim CEO and MD Milind Chalisgaonkar and join the board of company by end of June 2015. Presently, he is working as the MD-Indian subcontinent at Wrigley India, a subsidiary of the US-based Mars. Iyer has rich and diverse experience of 22 years across various aspects of management, sales, P&L management, marketing, research and development, operational turnaround and franchise management across different countries. Earlier, he had worked with PepsiCo for 16 years handling multiple international assignments, including in Africa, North & East India (including Nepal, Bangladesh, & Sri Lanka) and Director-Sales for Modern Trade/ Leisure/ Food service/Travel & Transport channels of the company.

UP Government launches Samajwadi water ATM scheme

Uttar Pradesh Government has launched Samajwadi water ATM scheme at bus stations. The scheme was launched by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. It seeks to provide potable water to bus passengers at reasonable price. In this regard, state government will install water ATMs at most of the bus stations which will provide potable water at the rate of 1 rupee per litre and cold water at 2 rupees per litre. Apart from this scheme, state government also lauched affordable ‘Lohia gramin bus seva’, with 25 per cent lower bus fares. This scheme will provide connectivity at affordable fare between cities and rural areas where there was no means of public transport is available. 149 self-operating inquiry services, super luxury air-conditioned bus service were also launched by the state government.

Justice Cyriac Joseph appointed as NHRC acting chief

President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed Justice Cyriac Joseph as acting Chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). His appointment comes after then Chairman of NHRC Justice K.G. Balakrishnan completed his tenure. Presently, Justice Cyriac Joseph is member of NHRC. He hails from Kaiphuza village of Kottayam district in Kerala and was a Judge of the Supreme Court from 2008 to 2012.  Justice Balakrishnan, the former Chief Justice of India, completed his tenure as the sixth and the longest serving NHRC Chairperson. During his tenure, he was instrumental in charting out several new initiatives towards promotion and protection of human rights in the country.

Canara Bank launches mega CASA

Canara Bank has launched a mega CASA (current account, savings account) campaign in Bengaluru with the CanBank men and women with their logo colour caps flooding the nook and corners of the city to sell their products. Executive directors P S Rawat and Harideesh Kumar spearheaded the campaign. The entire city was divided into 16 clusters covering 173 branches. Each cluster was led by the rank of a General Manager from head office.