People in News: January - April 2018

January:

1. Indu Malhotra became the second sitting woman judge in the top court and the first woman lawyer to be directly elevated from the Bar as a Supreme Court judge 
2. Rajinder Khanna, a former chief of the country's external intelligence agency RAW, was on appointed as the Deputy National Security Adviser (NSA) 
3. The Union Law Ministry appointed senior-most Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat as the next Chief Election Commissioner of India 
4. Renowned scientist K Sivan was appointed as new chairman of ISRO. The brain behind PSLV project, for which he has been working since 1982, Sivan is popularly known as the 'Rocket Man' for his significant contribution in the development of cryogenic engines. 
5. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has appointed senior bureaucrat Neelam Kapoor as Director General (DG) of the Sports Authority of India. 

February:

1.  S Somanath was appointed as Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. 
2. Dinesh Srivastava appointed as Chief Executive of Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC). 
3. Cyril Ramaphosa was elected as new president of South Africa 
4. Kunwar Bai, a 106-year-old woman from Chhattisgarh who was chosen as the mascot for `Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, passed away. 
5. Abhilasha Kumari was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court 
6. Former Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel'sappointed as Madhya Pradesh governor. 
7. Sudeep Lakhtakia was appointed as new Director General of National Security Guard (NSG). 
8. KP Sharma Oli was sworn in as Nepal’s prime minister for the second time. 
9. Vijay Keshav Gokhale, who played a key role in resolving the Doklam standoff with China, took over as the foreign secretary of India today, succeeding S Jaishankar. 
10. Senior Indian-origin Scotland Yard officer Neil Basu became first person of Asian heritage to be appointed as Counterterrorism Chief 
11. Krishna Kumari Kohli has become the first-ever Hindu Dalit woman to be elected to Pakistan's Senate, 

March:

1. Sri Jayendra Saraswathi passed away. He was 69th pontiff of Kanchi Sankara Mutt. Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswathi will now become the 70th head of the mutt. 
2. Navjot Kaur became the first Indian woman to claim a gold medal in the Asian wrestling championships when she defeated Imai Miyu of Japan in the final to win the 65kg title 
3. 2018 OSCAR awards 
• Best movie-The shape of water 
• Best actor-Gary old man 
• Best actress- Frances Mc Dormand 
• Best director-Guillermo del Toro 
4. Subash Chandra Garg committee was appointed for Regulation of fintech sector 
5. The President of National People’s Party (NPP) Conrad Sangma, has been sworn-in as the 12th Chief Minister of Meghalaya. Currently, he is Lok Sabha member from Tura parliamentary constituency. 
6. Neiphiu Rio was sworn-in as the new Chief Minister of Nagaland. He belongs to Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) 
7. Balkrishna Doshi, the legendary Indian architect who designs not just buildings but institutions, is being honoured with the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the Nobel equivalent for the field. 
8. Justice Gita Mittal the Acting Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, conferred with the ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar 2017’ by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. She is the first woman from the field of law and justice to be conferred the prestigious award. The award, known as India’s highest civilian honour for women 
9. Biplab Deb Kumar elected as CM of Tripura 
10. Syed Mahmud Hossain was appointed in as chief justice of Bangladesh in the place of Abdul Wahab Mian 
11. The Union Water Resources Ministry today issued a notification, constituting three-member Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal to adjudicate the dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh over sharing the river's water. 
• Supreme Court judge A M Khanwilkarhas been named as the chairman of the tribunal 
12. Bidya Devi Bhandari: She is the first woman president of Nepal. Recently she re-elected for a second term to the office of president. Bhandari defeated Nepali Congress leader Kumari Laxmi Rai with an overwhelming majority in the presidential election 
13. Ram NathKovind became the first Indian President to visit Madagascar 
14. Sach-Gaurav is the name of India’s first cloned Assamese buffalo. It is developed by Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) 
15. Haspel has been nominated by President Trump for CIA Director. If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first female CIA Director 
16. General Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff released a book on Paramveer Chakra Awardees - ‘Paramveer Parwane’ on 20 March 2018 
17. Canadian mathematician Robert Langlands has been named as the winner of the Abel Prize for 2018 "for his visionary programme connecting representation theory to number theory 
18. Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chooses PV Sindhu as the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent for the opening ceremony of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 
19. The Government of India has decided to nominate Professor J S Rajput, former Director of NCERT, as India’s representative to the Executive Board (EXB) of UNESCO. 
20. Major David Manlun of the Naga Regiment with Kirti Chakra posthumously. Major Manlun was martyred during an encounter with militants in Mon district of Nagaland. 
21. The President awarded Shaurya Chakra to Naik Chandra Singh of Kumaon Scouts and Shaurya Chakra to Major Satish Dahiya of 13 Rashtriya Rifles both posthumously 
22. Indu Bhushan appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Centre's ambitious Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission (ABNHPM). 

April:

1. The Supreme Court appointed former Karnataka High Court Judge, Justice Jawad Rahim as the acting Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). 
2. Myanmar's Parliament has elected Win Myint as the country's next President 
3. Long-serving American diplomat Rosemary DiCarlo was appointed to become the first woman to head UN political affairs, one of the most high-profile positions at the world body. 
4. The HRD ministry has set up a "high-powered committee" to examine the process by which the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) conducts examinations, following the alleged leak of the Class X mathematics and the Class XII economics papers. 
• The panel, headed by former HRD secretary VS Oberoi, will also suggest measures to make the process "secure and foolproof through the use of technology" 
5. The government has appointed senior bureaucrat Chandra Bhushan Kumar as Deputy Election Commissioner. 
6. Champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, who won India's first gold medal in the ongoing Commonwealth Games, hails from Manipur
7. Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was elected chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia, which is currently underway in China's Hainan province. Ban replaced Japan's Yasuo Fukuda at the annual conference, known as the "Asian Davo 
8. Manmohan Juneja was the head of a 12-member panel set up by the Corporate Affairs Ministry to review the enforcement of CSR provisions under the companies law 
9. The government has set up a 12-member panel to review the enforcement of CSR provisions under the companies law as well as look at having a centralised scrutiny and prosecution mechanism to deal with violations. 
10. Jayant Sinha was the head of 13 member panel constituted to prepare the roadmap and fast-track implementation of UAV technology or drones 
11. Vinod Rai was appointed as Chairman of Banks Board Bureau 
12. Shooter Anish Bhanwala became the youngest Indian athlete to win a medal in the history of Commonwealth Games at the age of 15. 
13. Pavan Varma was the author of Adi Shankaracharya: Hinduism’s Greatest Thinker. The book was released by President of India. 
14. Justice Rajesh Bindal Committee recommends setting up of ‘Inter-Country Parental Child Removal Disputes Resolution Authority’ 
15. Eminent Gujarati poet Sitanshu Yashaschandra's poetry collection "Vakhar" has been chosen for the Saraswati Samman for 2017 
16. Pawan Chamling, Chief Minister of Sikkim created history by surpassing the record of a former communist ruler of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu, as the longest-serving chief minister in the country. He is also the president of Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF).