1) Dalbir
Singh Suhag takes over as new Army chief:
Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag has taken over as the head of the 1.3 million
strong Indian Army, succeeding General Bikram Singh. Suhag, whose appointment
had kicked up a row, was designated as Army chief in May by the outgoing UPA
government ignoring protests from his predecessor Gen VK Singh and BJP.
59-year-old Lt Gen Suhag, a Gurkha officer who had participated in the 1987
Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) operation in Sri Lanka, is currently the Vice
Chief of Army Staff. He will have a tenure of 30 months as the 26th Chief of
the armed forces.
2) Deputy
NSA Nehchal Sandhu resigned: Deputy
national security advisor Nehchal Sandhu on 31 July 2014 resigned from his post
citing "personal reasons". The former Intelligence Bureau chief had
tendered his resignation on Wednesday which was accepted by the government on
Thursday. A statement from the PMO said, "The resignation has been
accepted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with regret." Sources, however,
said the deputy NSA had been nudged by the government to relinquish his post
just as several governors and other retired officials holding important
positions resigned recently after getting signal from the government.
3) John
Kerry meets Narendra Modi in prelude to Washington summit: President Barack
Obama is looking forward to a summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in
September to set an "ambitious new agenda" to chart a new course in
the bilateral ties, top US functionaries John Kerry and Penny Pritzker said on
Friday. Kerry, US secretary of state, and Pritzker, secretary of commerce,
conveyed this during a meeting here with Modi who said the two countries should
prepare for concrete outcomes during the summit to take the relationship to
"an entirely new level on the basis of vision, strategy and action
plan."
4)
India lose third test against England by 266 runs: England ended a run of
10 Tests without a win by beating India by 266 runs in the third Test at
Southampton on Thursday, a result that levelled the five-match series at 1-1.
India, resuming on their overnight 112 for four, were bowled out in under 25
overs Thursday for 178 before lunch on the final day in pursuit of what would
have been a new fourth innings record winning total of 445. Victory saw England
end a winless Test sequence stretching back nearly a year to their defeat of
Australia at Durham in August 2013. Off-spinner Moeen Ali did the bulk of the
damage with Test-best figures of six for 67, including a spell of four for 17
in 22 balls on Thursday, the all-rounder ending the match by bowling India last
man Pankaj Singh.
5) Mundra
appointed RBI deputy governor: The government has appointed S S Mundra,
chairman and managing director of Bank of Baroda (BoB), a deputy governor of
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Mundra (60), who will assume charge on
Thursday, has been given a three-year term. Mundra took charge as chairman and
managing director of BoB in January 2013. Prior to his elevation, he was the
executive director of Union Bank of India. One post of RBI deputy governor fell
vacant after K C Chakrabarty retired nearly three months before schedule, in
the last week of April. Of the four deputy governors, two are selected from
outside RBI, while the other two are from within. Of the two outsiders, one is
a commercial banker and the other an economist.
Earlier in July, RBI extended Deputy Governor H R Khan's term by two
years.
6) New
Delhi to host 3rd India-Africa Summit this year: New Delhi will host the
Third India-Africa Forum Summit, IAFS-III, on the 4th of December this year.
This follows the decision taken at its Second Summit in the Ethiopian capital
Addis Ababa in 2011. Giving this information in the Rajya Sabha, External
Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj said preparations for the IAFS-III
have begun in consultation with the African Union.
