People in News: June 2020 PDF

Published on Wednesday, July 08, 2020

Mary Jackson

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has renamed its headquarters situated at Washington D.C after Mary Winston Jackson.
Mary Jackson was the first black female engineer at NASA.
This announcement was made by the NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine.

Beyonce

American singer and songwriter Beyonce has been awarded the prestigious BET Humanitarian Award.
She has been honoured for her charitable works.
She was presented the award by former first lady Michelle Obama.

Micheál Martin

Micheál Martin has been elected as the new Prime Minister of Ireland.
He has succeeded Leo Varadkar.

Lazarus Chakwera

Lazarus Chakwera became the new President of Malawi.
He is the 6th President of the country.
He has succeeded Peter Mutharika. Lazarus defeated Mutharika with 58.57% of votes.

Anandiben Patel

Anandiben Patel has been given an additional charge of the Governor of Madhya Pradesh.
At present, she is the governor of Uttar Pradesh.

Vini Mahajan

IAS Officer Vini Mahajan became the first Woman Chief Secretary of Punjab.
She will replace Karan Avtar Singh. She will remain on this post till October 2024.

Clare Connor

Former Women Cricketer from England, Clare Connor became the first female president of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 233 years.
Her tenure will start from October 1, 2021, and will end on September 30, 2022.
She will replace Kumar Sangakkara, the former Sri Lankan player and national team captain.
At present, Connor is the head of women’s cricket in the England and Wales Cricket Board since 2007.

Gulabbai Sangamnerkar & Madhuvanti Dandekar

The Culture Minister of Maharashtra, Amit Deshmukh has announced that Gulabbai Sangamnerkar & Madhuvanti Dandekar will be awarded the Vithabai Narayangaokar Lifetime Achievement Award.
Gulabbai Sangamnerkar is a folk artist while Madhuvanti Dandekar is a veteran theatre actress and singer.
This award carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, a citation and a memento.

Amartya Sen

Indian Economist and Philosopher and a Nobel Prize winner, Amartya Kumar Sen will be awarded 2020 Peace Prize of the board of the German book trade.
He has been awarded with the prize for "decades-long work on the question "as a question of global justice."
The prize consists of a cash prize of €25,000 euros ($28,000).
The award is given annually by the German Book Trade since 1950.

Urjit Patel

Former RBI governor, Urjit Patel has been appointed as the Chairman of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP).
NIPFP is a centre for research in public economics and policies.
His tenure will be of 4 years.
He has succeeded Vijay Laxman Kelkar.

Volkan Bozkir

Volkan Bozkir became the first person from Turkey to be elected as the President of the UN General Assembly.
He has been elected as the president of the 75th UN General Assembly.
He will replace Tijjani Muhammad-Bande of Nigeria.

Kubatbek Boronov

Kubatbek Boronov has been appointed as the new Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan.
He has replaced Mukhammedkalyi Abylgaziyev.
Before this, Boronov had also served as the First Deputy Prime Minister from April 2018.

DK Jain

The first-ever ethics officer and ombudsman of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), DK Jain has got an extension of 1 year.
Now, his tenure will end in June 2021.

Kathy Sullivan

Geologist and former NASA astronaut, Kathy Sullivan became the first woman to reach the Challenger Deep.
Challenger Deep is the deepest point in the ocean.
The Challenger Deep is located in the Southern end of the Mariana Trench, 7 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

Pankaj Tripathi

Bollywood Actor Pankaj Tripathi has been appointed as the brand ambassador of Patna’s Khadi Mall by the Government of Bihar.
He will be promoting Khadi products.
Khadi Mall in Patna is India's first Khadi mall.

Imtaiyazur Rahman

Imtaiyazur Rahman has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the UTI Asset Management Company (AMC) by the board of United Trust India (UTI).
His tenure will be of 5 years.
He will replace Leo Puri.

Dr Rattan Lal

Indian-American Soil Scientist Dr Rattan Lal has been honoured with the 2020 World Food Prize Laureate.
He has received this laureate for developing and mainstreaming a soil centric approach for increasing food production which preserves natural resources and mitigates climate change.

Shobha Sekhar

Indian Musician Shobha Sekhar has received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
Shobha is the founder of Kalakruthi a music organisation in Australia.
A lecturer at the University of Melbourne, Shobha has been figured in the Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List and will be awarded the medal later this year.

G Kishan Reddy

G Kishan Reddy MoS Home Affairs has been appointed as the Chairman for a 9-member panel constituted for the welfare of the freedom fighters.
The panel also includes Gujarat Dinakar Bhai Desai, a former Congress MLA who took part in 1942 Quit India Movement.

Renjith Kumar

Indian Entrepreneur from Kerala, Renjith Kumar has been honoured with NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal.
It is the highest form of recognition of NASA for a non-governmental individual.
Renjith is based in Virgina. He has been honoured for his service to NASA through executive leadership, engineering contribution, technical excellence and customer satisfaction.

Javed Akhtar

Writer and Poet, Javed Akhtar became the first Indian to receive the Richard Dawkins Award 2020.
He has been awarded for his critical thinking, advancing human progress & humanist values and holding religious principles up to scrutiny.
This award was created by Margaret Downey, Leader of Secular Community in the year 2003.

Nethra

A 13-year-old Madurai girl Nethra has been appointed as the ‘Goodwill Ambassador to the Poor’ by the United Nations Association for Development and Peace (UNADAP).
She has been awarded for her role in providing food to poor people during COVID-19 lockdown by her father who is a hairdresser by profession.

Rohit Sharma

Indian Cricketer Rohit Sharma has been appointed as the first brand ambassador of the IIFL Finance.
IIFL Finance is an NBFC of India headquartered at Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Krishnendu Majumdar

Indian-Origin Krishnendu Majumdar from the UK has been appointed as the chairperson of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).
He is best known as the Emmy-winning television producer of ‘Hoff The Record’.
He is also the youngest person to chair BAFTA at the age of 35 years.
He will replace Pippa Harris.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has been named as the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year 2020. She is the second woman to get this award.
Kiran is the Executive Chairperson of India-based Biocon Limited.
Kiran is the third Indian to receive this award after Uday Kotak (2014) and Narayana Murthy (2005).

Akshay Kumar

Bollywood Actor Akshay Kumar has been ranked 52nd in the Forbes 100 world’s highest-paid celebrities 2020.
He is the only Indian in the list.
His earnings have been estimated at USD 48.5 million.
The list is topped by Kylie Jenner.

Rajeev Topno

PMO officer Rajeev Topno has been appointed as the Senior Advisor to the Executive Director(ED), World Bank.
Rajeev is the private secretary to the prime minister.
Also, Brajendra Navnit who is the Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office has been appointed as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the World Trade Organisation.

Kritika Pandey

Indian Writer Kritika Pandey has won the regional award for Asia in 2020 Commonwealth short story prize.
She has been awarded for her story “The Great Indian Tee and Snakes”.

Uday Kotak

Uday Kotak, the MD and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank, has been appointed as the new president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
He succeeds Vikram Kirloskar.