Captain Abhilasha Barak is India’s first woman combat aviator

Thirty years after India began inducting women as officers in the armed forces, Captain Abhilasha Barak has become the first woman to join the Army Aviation Corps as a helicopter pilot after completing a year-long course at the Combat Army Aviation Training School at Nashik in Maharashtra.

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Thirty years after India began inducting women as officers in the armed forces, Captain Abhilasha Barak has become the first woman to join the Army Aviation Corps as a helicopter pilot after completing a year-long course at the Combat Army Aviation Training School at Nashik in Maharashtra. She was awarded ‘wings’ along with 36 army pilots by Army Aviation director general Lieutenant General Ajay Kumar Suri during a valedictory ceremony at the Nashik-based training school, the army added.

Capt Barak was commissioned in the Army Air Defence Corps in September 2018. She has done professional military courses before joining the Army Aviation Corps. She is an alumnus of the Lawrence School, Sanawar.

Dr Ghebreyesus elected WHO chief again
WHO Member States have re-elected Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to serve a second five-year term as Director-General of the world’s leading public health agency. Dr Tedros was first elected in 2017.

His re-election was confirmed during the 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva. He was the sole candidate.

Before first being appointed WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ethiopia from 2012–2016 and as Minister of Health, Ethiopia from 2005–2012. He had also served as chair of the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; as chair of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership Board; and as co-chair of the Board of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

Speaking after his re-election, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “I am humbled by the opportunity provided by the Member States to serve a second term as WHO Director-General. This honour, though, comes with great responsibility and I am committed to working with all countries, my colleagues around the world, and our valued partners, to ensure WHO delivers on its mission to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.”

Vinai Kumar Saxena sworn in as Delhi LG
Vinai Kumar Saxena, former chairperson of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) government, took oath as the national capital’s 22nd Lieutenant Governor recently, over a week after his predecessor Anil Baijal resigned citing personal reasons.

Saxena, 64, is the first from non-bureaucratic and non-defence background to be appointed Delhi LG. He was sworn in as the new LG at a simple ceremony at Raj Niwas by the chief justice of Delhi High Court Vipin Sanghi.

Saxena worked in the private sector for three decades before heading the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) of the central government for six years.

BSE appoints S.S. Mundra as chairman
BSE Limited on May 17 announced that it has approved the appointment of SS Mundra, Public Interest Director as the Chairman of the board of directors of the company. Mundra will replace Justice Vikramajit Sen who is the current chairman.

Mundra was appointed as Public Interest Director at BSE in January 2018. He retired as Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India on July 30, 2017 after completing a stint of three years. Prior to that, the last position held by him was as Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of Baroda from where he superannuated in July 2014.

Prior to joining RBI, Mundra also served on Boards of several multi-dimensional companies like the Clearing Corporation of India Ltd
(CCIL), Central Depository Services (India) Ltd. (CDSL), BOB Asset Management Company, India Infrastructure Finance Corporation (UK) Ltd. (IIFCL), IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Ltd., Star Union Dai-Ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd., National Payments Corporation of India Ltd., etc.

Manik Saha is new Tripura Chief Minister
Manik Saha took oath as the new Tripura Chief Minister on May 15. He will have to oversee the assembly elections to be held early next year. Saha was named as the CM after Biplab Kumar Deb called it quits on Saturday. Deb is now likely to take over as the BJP Tripura chief.

Saha, is a maxillofacial surgeon from Lucknow’s King George Medical College. He was a member of the opposition Congress before he joined the BJP in 2016 and was named as the BJP’s Tripura unit chief in 2020 after Deb quit that post. Saha, a former badminton player of repute, is also the President of
Tripura Cricket Association.