Current Affairs January 2018 - Deaths

1 - Veteran poet Anwar Jalalpuri passed away

Famous poet Anwar Jalalpuri died at the age of 71 years due to brain stroke. He was known for his Urdu poetry and his translations of shloks of Bhagwad Geeta and Gitanjali into Urdu in Shayari format. He belonged to Jalalpur in Uttar Pradesh.

He has been recipient of Uttar Pradesh's highest civilian honour Yash Bharti. The veteran poet died due to heart attack after he returned from the funeral of one of his acquaintances.

2 - Nuclear Physicist Baldev Raj passed away

Nuclear Physicist Baldev Raj passed away at the age of 70 years. Currently he was serving as the Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru, since 2014.

Mr Raj was the former Director of the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam. For his contributions to studies of nuclear power and his administration, he was conferred the Padma Shri in 2007. He has authored around 1,000 academic papers in peer reviewed journals and more than 70 books.

3 - US Astronaut John Young passed away

Astronaut John Young, who walked on the Moon during Apollo 16 and commanded the first space shuttle mission passed away at the age of 87 years.

Young began his impressive career at NASA in 1962, when he was selected from among hundreds of young pilots to join NASA's second astronaut class, known as the "New Nine." He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1988. Young's numerous awards and special honors included the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

4 - World Champion power-lifter Saksham Yadav passed away

National-level power-lifter Saksham Yadav passed away at the age of 24 years. He had sustained grievous head injuries following an accident near the Singhu Border in outer Delhi’s Alipur area.

Saksham had won a gold medal for India at powerlifting world championship held in Moscow in December 2017. He had also won a gold medal in the junior category in 2016.

5 - Peter Sutherland, first WTO Director-General, passed away

Peter Sutherland, the first Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), has passed away at the age of 71 years.

Mr Sutherland became Ireland’s Attorney General in 1981 and served as the European Commissioner for Competition from 1985 to 1989. In 2006, then United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan named Mr Sutherland as UN Special Representative for Migration, a position which he retained for the rest of his life.

6 - Veteran Actress Charu Rohatgi passed away

Actress Charu Rohatgi passed away at the age of 48 years. She was best known for her role as Parineeti Chopra's mother in Ishaqzaade.

Charu has also featured in TV shows like Pratigya, Uttaran and Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon. Rohatgi had started her acting career with the TV show Ladies Special.

7 - Former Union Minister Raghunath Jha passed away

Former Union Minister Raghunath Jha passed away at the gae of 78 years. The senior Rashtriya Janata Dal leader was Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise in the UPA government. Mr Jha was elected Member of Parliament twice from Gopalgunj and Bettiah Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar. He was also six-time legislator from Sheohar Assembly constituency of the State.

8 - 'Father of South African Jazz', Hugh Masekela, passed away

Trumpeter and singer Hugh Masekela passed away at the age of 78 years. He was known as the “father of South African jazz”.

Masekela scored an unlikely No. 1 hit on the Billboard chart with his song "Grazing in the Grass". He opened the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup Kick-Off Concert and performed at the event’s opening ceremony in Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium. He gained international recognition with his distinctive Afro-Jazz sound.

9 - Ursula K. Le Guin passed away

Award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer, Ursula K. Le Guin, passed way at the age of 88 years. Le Guin won an honorary National Book Award in 2014.

Le Guin was a Pulitzer Prize finalist with her 1996 collection “Unlocking the Air and Other Stories”. One of her most acclaimed novels, “The Left Hand of Darkness” (1969), received the Nebula and Hugo awards. Her best-known works, the Earthsea books, have sold in the millions worldwide and have been translated into 16 languages.

10 - Veteran Bengali film actress Supriya Devi passed away

Veteran Bengali film actress Supriya Devi died at the age of 85 years. Supriya Devi made her debut in Uttam Kumar-starer 'Basu Parivar' in 1952 and never looked back after 'Sonar Harin' opposite Uttam Kumar in 1959. 'Chowringhee', 'Bagh Bandi Khela' and 'Meghe Dhaka Tara' were among her classics.

Supriya Devi received the Padma Shri and West Bengal government's highest civilian award Banga Vibhushan, besides the Filmfare East Lifetime Achievement Award.