M. Balamuralikrishna, an Indian Carnatic vocalist, died on 22 November 2016 in Chennai. He was 86. 
●    Balamuralikrishna, a recipient of Padma Vibhusan, was suffering from age-related geriatric problems.
●    Hailing from the Sankaraguptham village in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, Balamuralikrishna began his musical journey at the age of 8. Since then, he has performed in over 25 thousand concerts.
●    During his long musical career, he excelled as a prominent Carnatic vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, playback singer and composer as well as an actor.
●    Many Universities decorated him with honorary doctorates.
●    He is the person, who is credited for creation of ragas like Ganapathi, Sarvashri, Mahati, Lavangi and others
●    He was a recipient of by the French award Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Mahatma Gandhi Silver Medal from UNESCO.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Lt Gen Srinivas Kumar Sinha died on 17 November 2016 at the Army Research and Referral (R&R) hospital, New Delhi. He was 92.
●    Earlier on 1 November 2016, he was admitted to the hospital with a fracture in his femur bone and ribs. Later, he was shifted to R&R hospital after some complications.
●    He is survived by his wife, son YK Sinha who is an IFS officer and three daughters. At present, YK Sinha is Indian Ambassador to Sri Lanka and is moving for his new posting to the UK.
●    Lieutenant General (Retd.) Sinha was an Indian soldier, who led the first batch of Indian troops in J&K when Pakistan raiders invaded in 1947.
●    He joined Indian Army in 1943 and saw combat service during Second World War in Indonesia and Burma.
●    After Independence, he also served two tenures in Nagaland and Manipur by participating in counter insurgency operations.
●    He resigned from service after the government superseded him and appointed General A S Vaidya as the new army chief.
●    After retirement from Indian Army, he served as Governor of the states of Jammu and Kashmir and Assam.
●    He also served as India’s Ambassador to Nepal.

Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away on 13 October 2016 at Bangkok, Thailand. He was 88.
●    King Adulyadej was the world’s longest reigning monarch.
●    After the demise of the Thai King, 63-year old Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is expected to become the new king.
●    Bhumibol Adulyadej was the ninth monarch of Thailand from the Chakri Dynasty as Rama IX.
●    He was also known as King Bhumibol the Great.
●    He was crowned King of Thailand on 5 May 1950 at the Royal Palace in Bangkok.
●    He was the world's longest-serving head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history, serving for 70 years, 127 days.
●    During his reign, he was served by a total of 30 prime ministers beginning with Pridi Banomyong and ending with Prayut Chan-o-cha. They are otherwise known as Bhumibol's Thirty.
●    Forbes estimated his fortune to be $30 billion US dollar in May 2014.

Syed Shamsul Haq, one of Bangladesh’s best known writers passed away 27 September 2016 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 
●    He was known for equal mastery over novels, poetry, essays and plays. 
●    He was also vocal against religious fundamentalism. About Syed Shamsul Haq He was Born on 27 December 1935 in Kurigram in Bengal. 
●    His notable works include Boishakhey Rochito Ponktimala, Ekoda Ek Rajjey, Birotihin Utsab, Protidhwonigon and Opor Purush. 
●    He has been awarded with Bangla Academy Literary Award (1966), Ekushey Padak (1984) and Swadhinata Padak (2000), the highest civilian award of Bangladesh for his outstanding contributions to Bengali literature.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres passed away on 28 September 2016 at Ramat Gan, Israel. He was 93.
●    Peres served twice as Israel's Prime Minister and once as President.
●    Shimon Peres was born on 2 August 1923 at Wiszniew, Poland.
●    He served as the ninth President of Israel from 2007 to 2014.
●    He served twice as the Prime Minister of Israel and twice as Interim Prime Minister.
●    His first high-level government position was as Deputy Director-General of Defence in 1952, and Director-General from 1953 until 1959.
●    He was the first former Prime Minister to be elected President of Israel.
●    At the time of his retirement in 2014, he was the world's oldest head of state.
●    In 1994, he won Nobel Peace Prize together with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat for the peace talks that he participated in as Israeli Foreign Minister, producing the Oslo Accords.

Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov passed away on 2 September 2016 at Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He was 78.
Karimov had dominated Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous nation, for more than 25 years.
•    Islam Karimov was the first President of Uzbekistan, in office from 1990 to 2016.
•    He was born in Samarkand and was in and out of an orphanage from 1941 to 1945.
•    He became an official in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He became the party's First Secretary in Uzbekistan in 1989.
•    On 24 March 1990, he became President of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic.
•    His election to the Uzbek Communist Party resulted after his predecessor Rafiq Nishonov failed to quell inter-ethnic clashes and instability in the Fergana Region.
•    He declared Uzbekistan an independent nation on 31 August 1991.
•    He subsequently won its first presidential election on 29 December 1991.
 

John Ellenby, a British-born computer engineer who played a critical role in paving the way for the laptop computer, died on Aug. 17 in San Francisco. 
•    He was 75.
•    Mr. Ellenby’s pioneering work came to fruition in the early 1980s, after he founded Grid Systems, a company in Mountain View, Calif. 
•    As chief executive, he assembled an engineering and design team that included the noted British-born industrial designer William Moggridge.
•    The team produced a clamshell computer with an orange electroluminescent flat-panel display that was introduced as the Compass. 
•    It went to market in 1982. The Compass is now widely acknowledged to have been far ahead of its time.
•    John Ellenby was a British businessman. He was the founder of Grid Systems Corporation, maker of the Grid Compass, the first commercially successful laptop computer.
•    He also co-founded GeoVector, an early augmented reality company.
 

Joao Havelange, former President of Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), passed away on 16 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was 100.
•    Havelange’s tenure as President was the second longest in FIFA's history, behind only that of Jules Rimet.
•    Born on 8 May 1916, Joao Havelange was a Brazilian lawyer, businessman and athlete.
•    He served as the 7th President of the FIFA from 1974 to 1998.
•    He received the title of Honorary President when leaving office; however, he resigned in April 2013.
•    He succeeded Stanley Rous and was succeeded by Sepp Blatter.
•    He served as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1963 to 2011.

Charti Lal Goel, the first speaker of the Delhi Assembly and father of Union Minister Vijay Goel, passed away today after prolonged illness.
•    Charti Lal, 89, breathed his last at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences earlier today. 
•    He was cremated at Nigambodh Ghat. 
•    Charti Lal Goel was an Indian politician. 
•    He was a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party from Delhi. 
•    He was Speaker of the Delhi Legislative Assembly from 1993 to 1998. 
•    He was associated with Bharatiya Jan Sangh and was jailed in 1975 in the emergency.
•    He died at the age of 89 at All India Institute of Medical Sciences. 
•    He is survived by his wife, two sons, including Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel, and two daughters.
 

Pramukh Swami Maharaj, head of Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) of Swaminarayan sect, passed away on 13 August 2016 at Sarangpur, Gujarat. He was 95.
•    Pramukh Swami Maharaj was an Indian spiritual guru.
•    BAPS regards him as the fifth spiritual successor of Swaminarayan, following Gunatitanand Swami, Bhagatji Maharaj, Shastriji Maharaj and Yogiji Maharaj.
•    He was believed by his followers to be in constant communion with Swaminarayan.
•    Pramukh Swami Maharaj received initiation as a Hindu Swami in 1940 from Shastriji Maharaj, the founder of BAPS.
•    He built more than 1100 Hindu temples, including the Swaminarayan Akshardham temples in New Delhi and Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
•    He had also spearheaded the efforts of BAPS Charities, which is the charitable service organization affiliated with BAPS.
•    Pramukh Swami Maharaj was an Indian guru and Pramukh, or president, of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, an international Hindu socio-spiritual organization.