AQ Khan had faced criticism in 2004 after he was blamed for nuclear technology proliferation. The evidence showed that he had been selling parts of centrifuges and material to North Korea, Libya and Iran.
Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, a scientist known as the father of Pakistan’s Nuclear Programme, passed away at the age of 85 on October 10, 2021, after a brief illness. The nuclear physicist had faced criticism in 2004 when he was forced to accept the responsibility for nuclear technology proliferation and was forced to live a life of official house arrest.
Reportedly, AQ Khan was brought to the hospital early in the morning as he was facing difficulty in breathing.
As per the doctors, Khan’s health deteriorated after bleeding in his lungs and he could not survive after his lungs collapsed. The Interior Minister of Pakistan, Sheikh Rasheed informed that all the efforts were made to save his life.
Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan was revered as a National Hero in Pakistan for making the country a nuclear power.
In 1998, Islamabad had detonated its first nuclear weapon when AQ Khan was leading the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL). It was a uranium enrichment facility that has been expanded to many other fields of science over the period of time, in Kahuta, near Islamabad.
After India’s nuclear test in 1974, Khan joined Pakistan’s efforts for developing nuclear technology. For this purpose, Khan founded the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in 1976. He was its Chief Scientist and director for many years until he was removed by Musharraf in 2004 over the accusation of running a rogue proliferation network for the nuclear material.
AQ Khan: Stealer of nuclear secretsMonths after the United States confronted Parvez Musharraf, then military ruler of Pakistan, with evidence that AQ Khan had been selling parts of centrifuges and material to North Korea, Libya and Iran, Musharraf in 2004 was forced to take action. In an address to the nation, he denounced Khan for his actions publicly in a strong language. Following this, AQ Khan made a confession on national television and called it an ‘error of judgement’. After he admitted to his role in a massive nuclear proliferation scam, Khan, amid tight security, had been living a secluded life at his residence in the upscale neighbourhood of Islamabad since 2004. Musharraf sacked him from his position, however, using his discretionary powers, he also granted Khan clemency. AQ Khan was under house arrest till 2009. |
The State Department of the United States said in 2009 that AQ Khan had run an extensive International network for the proliferation of nuclear equipment and know-how that provided ‘one-stop’ shopping’ for the nations seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
As per the US State Department, this network’s actions had irrevocably changed the proliferation landscape and also had a lasting impact on international security.
Western diplomats had always doubted whether Khan was acting alone. While talking to foreign media in the past, he had claimed that confession ‘was handed into my hand’.
Abdul Qadeer Khan was born in Bhopal, India in 1936 and had migrated along with his family to Pakistan after the partition.
Khan had studied metallurgical engineering in Berlin after he completed a degree in Science from Karachi University in 1960. Later, he went for advanced studies in Belgium and Netherlands.
After years of being under house arrest, Khan successfully filed a lawsuit against the government of Pakistan at Islamabad High Court, whose verdict declared his debriefing unconstitutional and freed him in 2009. He was put under house arrest in 2004 over the charges of running a proliferation network for nuclear material.
On August 26, 2021, he was tested positive for COVID-19 and was shifted to a military hospital. He was discharged a few weeks ago, however, his health took turn for worse when he started feeling discomfort in breathing.
Khan was given a state funeral at the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad before his burial at the city’s H-8 graveyard.
RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani joined the world’s most exclusive wealth club. Know the net worth of Mukesh Ambani and the list of world’s richest people in the $100 billion club.
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani joined the world’s most exclusive wealth club with a fortune of at least $100 billion. Asia’s richest person Mukesh Ambani has now entered the rarefied group of 11 men including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, and Larry Page after the stock of his conglomerate reached a record high on October 8, 2021. As per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Mukesh Ambani is now worth $100.6 billion, after his wealth increased by $23.8 billion in 2021.
In 2005, Mukesh Ambani, 64-years-old, inherited the oil-refining and petrochemicals businesses of his late father Dhirubhai Ambani. Since then, Mukesh Ambani has been working on transforming the energy business into retail, technology, and e-commerce titan.
In 2016, he began the telecommunications unit which is now a dominant carrier in the Indian market. The retail and technology ventures have also raised about $27 billion in 2020 after selling stakes to investors ranging from Google and Facebook to Silver Lake and KKR.
“Mukesh Ambani is at the forefront of creating new businesses with new emerging technologies. Creating businesses of scale at speed brings execution challenges but he has demonstrated his capabilities,” said Chakri Lokapriya, Chief Investment Officer at TCG Asset Management Co. in Mumbai.
In June 2021, with an investment of about $10 billion over three years, Mukesh Ambani announced an ambitious plan to push towards green energy. On September 3, 2021, he announced that his company is committing Rs 75,000 crore over the next 3 years to aggressively work towards producing cheaper green hydrogen. All these plans to push towards green energy by Mukesh Ambani are in alignment with PM Modi’s vision of turning India into a global manufacturing hub for cleaner fuel to cut energy imports by the world’s 3rd biggest oil consumer and fight climate change.
While many see that the Ambani Group should be looking beyond oil to strengthen its future, fossil fuel still plays a central role at Reliance accounting for approximately 60 per cent of its $73 billion in annual revenue. The oil-to-chemicals business is now a separate unit, and talks are underway to get Saudi Arabian Oil Co. as an investor.
Back in the 1960s, Dhirubhai Ambani who began as a gas station attendant in Yemen started building his polyester business into a titan. However, in 2002, he died of a stroke. In the absence of a will, late Dhirubhai’s wife Kokilaben settled the feud with a truce agreement in 2005 wherein Mukesh Ambani got oil refining and petrochemicals businesses while his brother Anil Ambani got telecommunications, financial services, and power generation.
| Rank | Name | Total net worth |
| 1 | Elon Musk | $222.1 billion |
| 2 | Jeff Bezos | $190.8 billion |
| 3 | Bernard Arnault | $155.6 billion |
| 4 | Bill Gates | $127.9 billion |
| 5 | Larry Page | $124.5 billion |
| 6 | Mark Zuckerberg | $123 billion |
| 7 | Sergey Brin | $120.1 billion |
| 8 | Larry Ellison | $108.3 billion |
| 9 | Steve Ballmer | $105.7 billion |
| 10 | Warren Buffett | $103.4 billion |
| 11 | Mukesh Ambani | $100.6 billion |
KV Subramanian in a statement said, “I have decided to return back to academia following the completion of my 3-year fulfilling tenure as the Chief Economic Adviser, Government of India.”
The Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) KV Subramanian announced on October 8, 2021, that he has decided to return to academia after the completion of his three-year term in the Finance Ministry of India.
Subramanian in a statement said, “I have decided to return back to academia following the completion of my 3-year fulfilling tenure as the Chief Economic Adviser, Government of India.”
The Indian Government is yet to announce KV Subramanian’s successor. In a statement confirming his resignation, Subramanian also thanked Prime Minister Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the opportunity provided to him.
Prime Minister Modi also took to Twitter to wish KV Subramanian the very best in future endeavours.
While speaking about his tenor as the Chief Economic Adviser, Subramanian said, “I Have received tremendous encouragement and support from within the Government and have been fortunate to enjoy a warm relationship with senior functionaries. In close to three decades of my professional life, I am yet to encounter a more inspiring leader than Prime Minister Modi. His intuitive understanding of the economic policy combines with an unmistakable determination to use the same to elevate the lives of common citizens.”
I have decided to return back to academia following the completion of my 3-year fulfilling tenure. Serving The Nation has been an absolute privilege 🙏and I have wonderful support and encouragement🙏.
Subramanian further added that the momentous change in India’s economic thinking post the pandemic-inter alia embracing wealth creation by empowering the private sector and economic recovery driven by government capital expenditure- bears testimony to PM Modi’s leadership.
• KV Subramanian had taken over the charge of Chief Economic Adviser on December 7, 2018. The appointment was made nearly five months after his predecessor Arvind Subramanian had stepped down.
• KV Subramanian, earlier in his career, had been part of the expert committees for the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• Subramanian has also been well-versed with the private sector, with brief stints in top corporates including ICICI Bank, JPMorgan Chase, and Tata Consultancy Services.
• Academically, the 50-years old has also been a part of the finance faculty at Goizueta Business School at Emory University in the US.
• Subramanian is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur who holds a Master of Business Administration and PhD in financial economics. He completed his PhD under the supervision of Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales.
CEA (Chief Economic Adviser) is a post in the Government of India. It is equivalent to the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.
The Chief Economic Adviser is head of the Economic Division of the Economic Affairs Department, Ministry of Finance. The extent to which the Indian Government takes into account the advice of CEA has generally been considered to be open-ended.
David Julius, Ardem Patapoutian have been awarded Nobel in Medicine 2021, for their discoveries on receptors for temperature and touch. Both the scientists are from the United States.
The Nobel Prize in Medicine 2021 has been awarded to David Julius, Ardem Patapoutian on October 4, 2021, for the discoveries on receptors for temperature and touch. Both the scientists are from the United States.
The Nobel jury while announcing the winners said, “The groundbreaking discoveries…by this year’s Nobel Prize laureates have allowed us to understand how heat, cold and mechanical force can initiate the nerve impulses that allow us to perceive and adapt to the world.”
The Nobel prize panel noted that the intensive ongoing research originating from this year’s Nobel Prize awarded discoveries focuses on elucidating their functions in a variety of physiological processes. This knowledge is being used to develop treatments for a range of disease conditions, including chronic pain.
Nobel laureate in medicine or physiology Ardem Patapoutian has used pressure-sensitive cells to discover a novel class of sensors that respond to mechanical stimuli in the skin and internal organs.
David Julius- awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology-utilised capsaicin, a pungent compound for chili peppers that induces a burning sensation, to identify a sensor in the nerve endings of the skin that responds to the heat.
The Nobel Prize 2021 for other disciplines will also be announced soon. The various other disciplines for which the deserving researchers or scientists will win awards for their outstanding contribution include chemistry, Physics, Peace, Economics, and Literature.
Nobel Prize is a prestigious award that comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish Kronor (over $1.14 million). The prize money comes from a bequest left by the creator of the Prize, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who passed away in 1895.
RV Suchiang is a 1989 batch officer of the Indian Administrative Services. She has become the first Khasi woman of Meghalaya to be appointed as Chief Secretary.
RV Suchiang has become the first-ever native woman Chief Secretary of Meghalaya. Rebecca Vanessa Suchiang is a 1989 batch officer of the Indian Administrative Services and has been appointed by the State Government.
The outgoing Chief Secretary of Meghalaya M.S. Rao handed over the charge to RV Suchiang in the presence of the top officials of various departments. M.S. Rao had taken charge of the position on December 31, 2021, and retired on September 30.
Before Suchaing, PP Trivedi had become the first female Chief Secretary of Meghalaya in the late 80s, however, Suchiang has become the first native woman of Meghalaya to hold the post.
While talking about her appointment, RV Suchiang said that it is an honour to get the opportunity and that she hopes that she will be able to push the agenda of good governance.
RV Suchiang who served in the departments such as finance, home, personnel, said that she feels honoured to have become the first Khasi woman of the state to get the coveted post.
Suchiang said that she hopes that her service and life can inspire young brilliant boys and girls and girls particularly to believe that no mountain is insurmountable. She further added that her message to her colleagues is to remain committed and to ensure that you are fair to the people and impartial.
While refusing to talk about her immediate plans, Suchiang said that she does not want to hide behind excuses and wants to work towards a solution. This will further help her in carrying the good work of her predecessors and mentors.
• The newly appointed Chief Secretary of Meghalaya said that the state needs to improve and work on the education sector and that sanctions have been made for an up-gradation of infrastructure for 200 government schools across the state.
• She also talked about improving the debt-ridden Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited and said that the reforms must be brought both in the integration and distribution of the company.
• Suchaing also mentioned improving the budget in the health sector of Meghalaya and so as to improve human capital.
RV Suchiang has succeeded MS Rao who superannuated on the last day of September 2021. After his retirement, he will serve as the Chief Commissioner of the State Public Service Delivery Commission.
According to the official notification by Meghalaya Government, the Chief Secretary of Meghalaya will also function as the State Vigilance Commissioner, as per the Meghalaya Right to Public Service Act, 2020.
* AQ Khan
* Mukesh Ambani
* KV Subramanian
* David Julius, Ardem Patapoutian
* RV Suchiang