Current Affairs - Persons

Rahul Bhatia, the Founder and Managing Director of IndiGo, assumed the role of interim CEO after Pieter Elbers resigned on March 10, 2026. The resignation followed a major operational crisis in December 2025 that resulted in over 5,000 flight cancellations and widespread passenger distress. The disruption was mainly due to severe crew shortages linked to the implementation of new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules. The situation also drew strong regulatory scrutiny from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). To address the crisis, Rahul Bhatia stepped in as interim CEO with the aim of restoring operational stability, strengthening company culture, and ensuring better operational performance and reliability for the airline.

Safeena Husain, the founder of the non-profit organisation Educate Girls, was included in TIME magazine’s Women of the Year 2026 list for her impactful efforts in promoting girls’ education in rural India. Her initiative has helped bring more than 2 million out-of-school girls back into the education system. What began in 2007 with work in about 50 villages in Rajasthan has expanded significantly to over 25,000 villages across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. In 2025, Educate Girls also received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership. Her work highlights the importance of grassroots initiatives in improving educational access for marginalised girls.

Ranvir Sachdeva, an eight-year-old tech enthusiast, emerged as the youngest keynote speaker at the India AI Impact Summit 2026. He impressed global CEOs, policymakers, and AI experts by confidently explaining complex artificial intelligence concepts in simple terms. Having started coding at the age of three, he has studied machine learning models and spoken at international forums. During the summit, he also interacted with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. His emphasis on inclusive and ethical AI, guided by Indian values, highlighted India’s growing role in shaping responsible global AI development.

Harsharan Kaur Trehan was appointed as Director (Commercial) of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), becoming the first woman technocrat to reach board level in the organisation. Her appointment marks a significant milestone in gender representation within India’s public sector utilities. With a career spanning over three decades since joining the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board in 1987, she has handled key roles in transmission, substation, hydel, and thermal operations. She also previously served as the first woman Engineer-in-Chief in PSPCL, contributing extensively to regulatory reforms and large-scale procurement management.

JP Nadda will launch SAHI and BODH at the India AI Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam. SAHI (Strategy for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare for India) provides a governance framework for ethical and responsible AI adoption in healthcare. BODH (Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI), developed in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and the National Health Authority, enables privacy-preserving evaluation of AI models using real-world health data under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, strengthening India’s digital health ecosystem.