Senior Indian diplomat Atul Khare has been appointed by the United Nation chief Ban Ki-moon as the Under Secretary-General for Field Support to head the department that provides dedicated support to peacekeeping missions all over the world. Now, Khare is one of the highest ranking Indian officials in the world body. The other high-ranking Indian diplomat in the UN is Vijay Nambiar, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Myanmar, a role he has held since 2010.
Atul Khare, 55 will succeed Bangladesh’s Ameerah Haq as the Under Secretary-General for Field Support, Department of Field Support (DFS). Khare has had a long career with the UN. He worked as the Assistant Secretary-General leading the Change Management Team (2011-2012) and Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations and Deputy Head of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York (2010-2011). Former Director of the Nehru Centre and Minister (Culture), High Commission of India in London (2005-2006), Khare joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1984 and has served in Indian Missions in Paris, Dakar, Port Louis and London as well as the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations here. He has also served in the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations here from 1997 to 2001. It was Khare who had translated from Hindi to English then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s speech at the UN General Assembly in 1998.
Over 40 Indians in Forbes annual list
Over 40 Indians and people of Indian-origin (PIO) have been named by Forbes in its annual list of “young game changers, movers and makers” under the age of 30 from all over the world.
The fourth annual compilation by Forbes includes 600 millennials in 20 fields. Nitesh Banta, 28, co-founder, Rough Draft Ventures has been listed in the venture capital category which helps student entrepreneurs with $25,000 to start a new venture. Consumer technology category has Ankur Jain, 24, co-founder, Humin, an app organises contacts, social networks and calendars. The list also includes Avinash Gandhi, 26, an agent, William Morris Endeavour; Partha Unnava, 22, CEO, Better Walk; Aman Advani, 26, co-founder, 'Ministry of Supply' (a men's fashion company that has developed shirts that use NASA-developed technology to manage heat and moisture); 29 year-old Ishveen Anand, founder, Open Sponsorship (an online platform to facilitate sponsorship agreements by connecting brands with pro-sports rights holders like leagues and teams) and many more. Others in the list are Assistant professor at MIT 28-year-old Nikhil Agarwal, Deputy Chief of Staff for the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property Vikrum Aiyer, Ohio state representative Niraj Antani, and Rahul Rekhi, who is currently working to develop a UN-level treaty on antibiotic resistance policy.
—Nishant Kr Azad with inputs from agencies
Sri Lanka’s new President Sirisena
In the recently held Presidential election in Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena has been elected as the Sri Lankan’s new president. Sirisena called for peace after ending the 10-year rule of Mahinda Rajapaksa. Sirisena obtained 51.28 per cent of the valid votes in election held on January 8 while Mahinda Rajapaksa got 47.58per cent. The outgoing president Rajapaksa conceded defeat to Sirisena. Seeking an unprecedented third term, 69-year-old Rajapaksa called the election two years early, confident that-despite his waning popularity-the fractured opposition would fail to find a credible candidate.
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