RK Malhotra is Chairman, IOC

1.    RK Malhotra is Chairman, IOC

i. R K Malhotra, Director (R&D) at Indian Oil Corp (IOC), has been given additional charge as Chairman of the nation's largest company as appointment of a regular head has been delayed.

ii. R S Butola retired as Chairman of IOC on Saturday but the appointment of his successor B Ashok, who was selected by government head-hunters Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) in October 2013, is yet to be formalised. 

iii. Malhotra has been entrusted additional charge as Chairman, IOC. He continues to head IOC's Research and Development Division as Director," the company said in a statement New Delhi.

iv. Ashok, who currently is Executive Director (Retail Sales) at IOC, was cleared by anti corruption watchdogs CVC and CBI and the then Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily had last month moved the file for his appointment to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). 
v. After being cleared by the then Home Minister Sushilkumar Sahinde, the file was put to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who decided not to sign it and leave the appointment to the next government. 
vi. The new government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is yet to take a view on appointment of Ashok. 
vii. IOC statement said Malhotra has more than 37 years of research experience in the downstream petroleum sector. 

2.    Oman foreign minister to visit India today

i. Oman Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah will on Tuesday visit India to congratulate the new Indian government on behalf of his country.

ii. According to a report, India is expected to utilise Abdullah's visit to discuss bilateral trade.

iii. Oman is an important trading partner of India in the Gulf region with bilateral trade exceeding USD 5.70 billion in 2013-14.

3.    Kohli, Ashwin bag top Ceat awards

i. Virat Kohli won the ‘Cricketer of the Year’ honours at the Ceat awards function on Monday, while R. Ashwin received the ‘Indian Player of the Year’ award from batting maestro V.V.S. Laxman.

ii. Former India wicketkeeper and a member of the 1983 World Cup-winning team, Syed Kirmani, was given the‘Lifetime Achievement’ award.

iii. The India off-spinner has come a long way since then to bag 104 Test wickets in 19 appearances apart from 106 scalps in 79 ODIs. Ashwin, who has scored a Test century too, said he was a fan of Shane Warne.

iv. Karnataka batting mainstay Robin Uthappa received the ‘Domestic Cricketer of the Year’ prize for his exploits in the State’s Ranji Trophy triumph and the form he carried over into other formats like the IPL.

The award winners: Cricketer of the Year: Virat Kohli (India); ODI Player of the Year:Shikhar Dhawan (India); T20 Player of the Year: Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh); Test Player of the Year: Mitchell Johnson (Australia); Popular Choice award: Glenn Maxwell (Australia);

Young Player award: Vijay Zol (Maharashtra); Domestic Cricketer of the Year: Robin Uthappa (India); Special award for Indian Player of the Year: R Ashwin (India);Lifetime Achievement award: Syed Kirmani (India).