DEATH

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher, the Former Prime Minister of Britain died due to a stroke on 8 April 2013 at the age of 87. Thatcher was the Prime Minister of Britain from 1979 to 1990 from Conservative party of Britain and was the first lady to hold the post of Prime Minister. She succeeded James Callaghan from Labour Party and a Member of Parliament from Cardiff South East. She resigned from her office in 1990 after she returned from the Euro Summit in Rome, after her policies and her style of government led to the growth of rebellion inside her party. John Major succeeded her in the office of the prime Minister.

About Margaret Thatcher

• Margaret Thatcher was also known as the Iron Lady of Britain and was born on 13 October 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire

• She got married Denis Thatcher, a divorced businessman

• In 1953 she qualified as a barrister and in the same year gave birth twins named Mark and Carol

• During her reign in the Prime Minister’s Office, many of the state-owned industries of the country were privatized the initial two companies were British Gas and BT

• At Somerville College, Oxford, she graduated in chemistry and was the only third female President of the Oxford University Conservative Association

• She got involved with the Conservative Party organization in Colchester; while working for a plastic company

Political Career of Margaret Thatcher

• In 1959, she became the Member of Parliament for Finchley, North London for Conservative Party and was elected as a junior minister and soon promoted to the shadow cabinet in 1964 after the conservative party was defeated in the general elections

• She was chosen as the Conservative candidate for Dartford seat in Kent but she lost the 1950 and 1951 general elections from the same seat; at that time she was the youngest ever conservative candidate

• In 1970 she became the education secretary, when Ted Heath was the Prime Minister of Britain

• She was termed as the Milk Snatcher, after she ordered withdrawal of the free milk for children in the age group of seven to eleven

• She was given the title of the Iron Lady by a Russian newspaper after she criticized the repressive policies of Soviet Union in her speech in 1976

• She won general elections in 1979, 1983 and 1987 after making a successful challenge to the former Prime Minister Edward Heath in 1975

• She was in power, when the UK went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands in 1982

• She retired from the House Of Commons in 1992

Monetary Policies as the Prime Minister

To curb the inflation and control the finances of the country, she privatized the state owned industries. She also allowed the owners of houses in the councils to buy their houses. As a result of which, people with zero or negligible stake in the economy of the nation got a chance to own houses and invest in the shares of the business houses those were owned by the state.

She wrote two Memoirs namely

• Campaigning against the Maastricht Treaty

• Condemning the Serbian policy of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia

Margaret Thatcher

Renowned violinist and composer Lalgudi Jayaraman died in Chennai on 22 April 2013 at 82 because of illness. He is said to be equivalent to Pandit Ravi Shankar, in the violin. He is survived by his son and daughter, both of whom are the renowned violinists as well.

RP Goenka

Industrialist R.P. Goenka passed away on 14 April 2013 at his residence at the age of 83. He is survived by his wife Sushila and his sons Harsha Vardhan and Sanjiv. RP Goenka established RPG Enterprises in the year 1979. It included Phillips Carbon Black, Asian Cables, Agarpara Jute Mill and Murphy India. Other major companies in his group are CESC, CEAT, Spencer’s and Saregama. In post-independence India his contribution to industry was considered among the highest.

Robert Edwards

British Scientist and Pioneer of in Vitro Fertilization (test-tube baby) Robert Edwards died at the age of 87 on 10 April 2013. In late 1970s, he along with his colleague Dr. Patrick Steptoe became famous for development of the vitro fertilization technique that resulted in the birth of world’s first test-tube baby Louise Brown in 1978. He was awarded the awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in medicine for discovery of the first test-tube baby and providing the basis for genetic screening and stem cell research.

JS Verma

Justice JS Verma, the former Chief Justice of India died on 22 April 2013 in New Delhi after multiple organ failure. He was of 80 years.

About Justice Jagdish Sharan Verma

• He was born on 18 January 1933 and completed his early education in Satna, Madhya Pradesh

• He was the 27th Chief Justice of India on 25 March 1997 and retired on 18 January 1998

• Justice Verma chaired the committee that was constituted by the Government of India to frame a tougher law to combat crimes against women, in the wake of the 16 December 2012 Delhi gang rape incident in the moving bus

• He served as the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission

• He served as the first Chairperson of the News Broadcasters’ Standards Authority

• In 1955, he started his legal career and became judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in June 1973. In 1986 he became the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court and was the Chief Justice of Rajasthan high court from September, 1986 to 1989.

• In June 1989, he was appointed as a Judge in the Supreme Court of India.

Historical cases that he heard as a Judge and Chief Justice of India

• In 1994, he was the part of the nine-judge bench that dealt with the S R Bommai case related to proclamation of President’s Rule under Article 356 of the Constitution in Karnataka. The Judgment of the Supreme Case after hearing the case was that President’s proclamation can be imposed only after approval from Parliament.

• He heard, Jain Hawala Case as the Chief Justice of India – in his decision to the case, he held that dairy notings that contain the initials of some persons doesn’t amount to a piece of evidence

• He was the head of the bench that heard Vishakha Case – this bench laid guidelines for prevention of woman against harassment at the workplace. The Bench in its judgment enhanced the scope of Article 21 Right to life and personal liberty

• He authored the Collegium of the appointment of judges that he later said that it needed to be revisited

• He wrote to the Prime Minister of India to convert the self-assessment of Judges Code of Conduct into law to give it statutory teeth

• In the Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi he set aside the Bombay High Court verdict holding the election Manohar Joshi to Maharashtra Assembly as void in 1996 In this case, the Supreme Court held that Hindutva is the way of Life.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert, the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for the Chicago Sun-Times as well as the film critic, died at the age of 70 years on 4 April 2013 at Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Roger Ebert remained the film critic for Chicago Sun-Times for 45 long years and was also given the title of most powerful critic in America by the Forbes in 2007.

Dr Hilary Koprowski

Dr Hilary Koprowski, a Polish researcher who developed the first successful oral vaccination for polio died on 11 April 2013 in Philadelphia. He was 96 years of age.

About Dr Hilary Koprowski

• He was a Polish virologist and immunologist and was known for developing the first effective polio vaccine.

• Hilary Koprowski remained the President of Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories, Inc. as well as the Head of the Center for Neurovirology at Thomas Jefferson University.

• In 2006, he was conferred with the record 50th grant from the National Institutes of Health.

• He also served as the consultant to the World Health Organization and also Pan American Health Organization.

• He received Philadelphia Cancer Research Award and the John Scott Award in Philadelphia.

• In 1959, he was conferred with the Alvarenga Prize by the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

• In 1995, Hilary Koprowski was given the title of Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland by the

Binod Bihari Chowdhury

Binod Bihari Chowdhury, 104, the anti-British revolutionary and a close associate of great Bengal revolutionary Masterda, Surya Sen died on 11 April 2013 in a hospital, at Kolkata. He was born in Chittagong on 10 January 1911 and died while being treated. Binod Bihari Chowdhury was a part of the Masterda’s Jugantor a pre-independence revolutionary group that influenced the Chittagong Armoury raid by taking part into it. The group is known for announcing a revolutionary government after making a raid over the armoury of the Police as well as Auxiliary forces of British Government on 18 April 1930.

Professor Bratindra Nath Mukherjee

Padma Shri Awardee Professor Bratindra Nath Mukherjee, the renowned historian and an epigraphy expert died at his residence in Kolkata on 4 April 2013. The 79 year old who deciphered several ancient scripts, is now survived by his wife and son.

Shakuntala Devi

Shakuntala Devi, the Indian Mathematician also known as mental calculator and human computer died on 21 April 2013.She was of 80 years. Among her distinctions was her ability to mentally ascertain the day, when given a date in the last century. She was in the hospital from 3 April 2013 over a period of two weeks, due to respiratory problems and later she developed kidney and heart complications. She died due to heart failure and renal problem.

About Shakuntala Devi

• Her name was recorded in Guinness Book of World Records for her ability of making calculations at lightning-speed. One of her major distinction was that when given a date in the last century, she could have mentally ascertained the day for it.

• In the year 1977, she calculated the 23rd root of digit number 201 in just 50 seconds

• In 1980, she successfully multiplied the two 13-digit numbers (7,686,369,774,870 x 2,465,099,745,779) given to her by the computer department of Imperial College London. She was successful in making this calculation within 28 seconds

• Some of her books were Puzzles to Puzzle You, Mathablit, Astrology for You, Fun with Numbers and Awaken the Genius in Your Child.

• Her father was a circus performer, who did trapeze, tightrope and cannonball shows

V S Ramadevi

Former Governor of Karnataka, V.S. Ramadevi died in Bangalore on 17 April following a massive Cardiac Arrest. She was 79. Rama Devi also served as the Chief Election Commissioner of India. She is now survived by her son V S Rakesh, daughters V S Rekha, V S Radhika Choudhary.

About V.S. Ramadevi

• Born on 15 March 1934, she served the Election Commission of India as its only women Chief Election Commissioner from 26 November 1990 to 11 December 1990, she succeeded R. V. S. Peri Sastri and was succeeded by TN Sheshan

• She served as the governor of Himachal Pradesh 26 July 1997 to 1 December 1999

• She served as the governor of Karnataka from 2 December 1999 to 20 August 2002

Karnataka government declared a three-day state mourning as a mark of respect to the departed leader from 17 April to 19 April 2013. During this period, the National flag will fly at half mast atop all government buildings.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Oscar and Booker Prize winner writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala died on 3 April 2013 in Manhattan, New York after a long illness. She died at the age of 85 and is survived by her three daughters, her husband Cyrus Jhabvala and six grandchildren.

About Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

• She was a long time member of Merchant Ivory Productions and wrote 22 films for it over a period of four decades

• Her long association with Merchant Ivory Productions won her two Academy Awards (Oscars) for her work on the films A Room with a View and Howards End, an adaptation of the E.M. Forster novels.

• She won her booker in 1975 for her fiction Heat and Dust

• She wrote 19 novels and short stories during her carrier span of more than five decades

• She lived in India for a period of about two-decades

Her last story was published in the New Yorker Magazine in its March 2013 issue with the title The Judge’s Will.

Mike Denness

Michael Henry Denness, popularly known as Mike Denness, the former England captain died on 19 April 2013 in London because of cancer. He was 72 years of age.

About Mike Denness

• Mike Denness was an only Scotsman who was the captain of England cricket team. He led the England team in 19 tests out of 28 between 1969 and 1975.

• He played 12 one-day internationals (ODIs) and later became the ICC match referee.

• As the ICC match referee, he sanctioned six Indian players during 2001-2002 in Port Elizabeth. This caused Indian and South African boards putting Mike Denness on ban from officiating next match. ICC withdrew the Test status from the game.

• Mike Denness played county cricket for Essex and Kent. He scored over 25000 runs in the first-class career.