Personalities

Cyrus P. Mistry was on 23 November 2011 chosen to succeed Tata group chairman Ratan Tata as the group’s new chairman in 2012. He has currently been appointed as the Deputy Chairman and will take over when Ratan N Tata formally retires in December 2012 on reaching the age of 75.

Eminent Assamese litterateur, Jnanpith award winner & India’s first Princi-pal Prince Claus Laureate Indira Goswami died on in November 2011.

Anthony Prabhu Gonsalves, India’s first music arranger died on 18th January 2012

India’s first woman photo-journalist, Homai Vyarawala popularly known as Dalda died on 15 January 2012 in Vadodara, Gujarat.

Actor Aamir Khan was appointed the national ambassador of UNICEF on 30 November 2011.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on 16 January 2012 issued a contempt of court notice to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for failing to re-open graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Pak Government conferred Nishan-i-Imtiaz upon General Hou Shusen of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army.

Yemen’s embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh finally agreed to step down amidst massive public protests. Saleh signed a Gulf co-operation council (GCC) brokered peace Initiative in Riyadh on 22 November 2011 to transfer his power within 30 days to his Vice President, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

Renowned sarangi maestro and singer Ustad Sultan Khan of the Indore Gharana died on 27 November 2011.

United Russia party convention nominated Vladimir Putin, as the presidential candidate for the 2012 Presidential elections.

President of Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed resigned on 7 February 2012 after weeks of protest. The protest was against his decision to sack a judge he had accused of favouring the opposition. Vice President Mohammed Waheed Hassan was sworn in as President, following Nasheed’s resignation.

Dr. Fahmida Mirza is a medical doctor, agriculturist and businesswoman from Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan who was elected as the first female Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan on March 19, 2008. She is also the first female parliamentary speaker in the Muslim world.

Hina Rabbani Khar is a Pakistani politician and the Foreign Minister of Pakistan. Appointed in July 2011, she is the first female and the youngest person to ever head Pakistani’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

India’s top nuclear scientist and nuclear physicist PK Iyengar who designed India’s first atomic bomb died on 21 December 2011.

Books Expression of Thoughts &Izhar-e-Khayal authored by K.Rahman Khan, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha was released in New Delhi.

Singer and actress Whitney Houston died on 11 February 2012 in a Beverly Hills hotel room in California. Former wife of New Edition singer Bobby Brown, Houston is a winner of six Grammy Awards including record of the year for “I Will Always Love You” and album of the year for “The Bodyguard”. Houston was the only artist to have seven consecutive No. 1 singles on Billboard magazine’s pop chart. She is also known for her debut album of 1985 “Saving All My Love for You” .

Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.

Samajwadi Party MLA from Itwa in Sidhhartnagar district, Mata Prasad Pandey was unanimously elected Speaker of the 16th Uttar Pradesh Assembly on 13 April 2012. Pandey was elected to serve as Speaker for the second time. He first held the post when Mulayam Singh headed the SP government from 2003 to 2007. Pandey has been elected six times to the Assembly. He succeeded BSP’s Sukhdeo Rajbhar, who was the Speaker in the 15th Assembly.