Obituary - Current Affairs for December, 2017

Eminent scientist and father of DNA fingerprinting in India Lalji Singh passed away following heart attack. He was 70. He was one of the leaders instrumental in making DNA fingerprinting mainstream in India, both at level of research as well as for forensic applications. Lalji Singh: Know More

• He also set up a slew of dedicated labs that worked on several aspects of genetics such as population biology, structural biology and transgenic research.
• His work in field of DNA fingerprinting technology also contributed for sex determination, Wildlife conservation forensics and evolution and migration of humans.
• Based on his work he was tasked by government to establish Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) in late 1990s with mandate of making it a nodal centre for DNA fingerprinting and diagnostics for all species and several diseases. He also had founded Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES).
• Dr. Singh served as a director at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad from 1998 to 2009. He also had served as Vice Chancellor of the Banaras Hindu University (2001 - 2014), his alma mater.
• Until recently, he was active in the Genome Foundation, a non-profit organisation that aims to diagnose and treat genetic disorders affecting the underprivileged, especially from rural India. He was awarded prestigious Padma Shri award.

Music director Adithyan, who has composed songs for Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films, died in Hyderabad on 5th Dec 2017 following kidney failure. He was 63. The music composer became popular after his score for the movie Amaran, starring Karthik, was released in 1992. Since then, he had gone on to compose music for films such as Lucky Man, Nalaya Seidhi and Kovilpatti Veeralakshmi. The musician had also worked on Tamil pop songs and albums. He was also a popular face on television and hosted a long-running culinary show, 'Aadhithyan's Kitchen.'

Veteran actor Shashi Kapoor passed away at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai, on Dec 4, at 5:20 pm. He was 79. Mr. Kapoor had been in and out of the hospital for the past few years for treatment of a chronic kidney disease and was on dialysis. He had also undergone a bypass surgery. Actor Randhir Kapoor, son of veteran actor Raj Kapoor, too confirmed the news. About Shashi Kapoor

• Born on March 18, 1938, to the illustrious and formidable theatre and film actor Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor hit the spotlight at the age of four, acting in plays directed and produced by his father.
• He started acting in films as a child artiste in the late '40s.
• His best known performances as a child actor were in Aag (1948) and Awaara (1951), where he played the younger version of the character played by Raj Kapoor.
• Shashi Kapoor also worked as assistant director in the '50s.
• He made his debut as a leading man in the 1961 film Dharmputra and went on to appear in more than 116 films during '70s and until the mid '80s.
• Some of his memorable films include Deewar, Kabhie Kabhie, Namak Halal, Kaala Pathar and others.
• He was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 2011 and received the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award in 2015.