Eminent actor and theatre personality Sulabha Deshpande passed away 4 June 2016 in Mumbai. She was 79.
Deshpande was considered to be one of the pioneers of the experimental theatre movement that swept Mumbai in the 1970s.
•    Sulabha Deshpande was an acclaimed Indian film, theatre and television actress and theatre director.
•    She started her career as a teacher at Chhabildas Boy's High School in Dadar, Mumbai.
•    Apart from Marathi theatre as well as Hindi theatre in Mumbai, she acted in over 73 movies mainstream Bollywood.
•    She also acted in art house cinema, like Bhumika, Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan and Gaman as a character actor.
•    In 1971 she co-founded, theatre group, Awishkar with her husband Arvind Deshpande.
•    Soon, she established the Chandrashala, the children's theatre wing of Awishkar. Notable Bollywood actors Nana Patekar and Urmila Matondkar have been students of Chandrashala.
•    In recent years, she acted in serials like Jee Ley Zara, Ek Packet Umeed, Asmita and films like English Vinglish.

All-time boxing icon Muhammad Ali died on 3 June 2016 in the Phoenix, Arizona, after a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease. He was 74.
He was born as Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. on 17 January 1942.
He was considered as one of the most recognized sports figures of the past 100 years.
He was crowned Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated and Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC.
He also wrote several best-selling books about his career, including The Greatest: My Own Story and The Soul of a Butterfly.
He won the world heavyweight championship in 1964 at the age of 22.
He converted to Sunni Islam in 1975 and changed his name to Muhammad Ali and 30 years later He began adhering to Sufism.
Ali remains as the only three-time lineal world heavyweight champion; he won the title in 1964, 1974, and 1978.
He was nicknamed The Greatest and was involved in several historic boxing matches. Notable among them in which Ali was winner were the first Liston fight, three with rival Joe Frazier, and one with George Foreman.

Noted Kannada writer D Javare Gowda, popularly known as De Ja Gow, passed away on 30 May 2016 following a cardiac arrest in a private hospital at Mysore. He was 101. He is survived by a daughter, a son and grandchildren.
•    He was a disciple of Kannada doyen and poet laureate K V Puttappa.
•    Gowda served as the Vice-Chancellor of Mysore University from 1969 to 1975.
•    He dedicated much of his time and efforts towards protecting Kannada and promoting the language as the medium of instruction in schools.
•    He played an important role in getting the classical language status for Kannada by launching an indefinite fast and threatening to return the Padma Shri that was conferred on him in 2001.
•    He also awarded with the Pampa Prishathi in 1998 and the Guru Award in 2003.
•    In recognition of his contribution to literature and the cause of Kannada, the Karnataka government has honoured him with the Karnataka Ratna (2008) and the Nadoja title (2003).
•    His works include Lakshmishana Jaimini Bharata (1957), Kanakadasara Nalacharitre (1959), Andayyana Kabbigara Kavya (1965), Chikkupadyayana Rukmangada Charitre (1964) and many more.

Marathi litterateur and critique R.G. Jadhav, passed away at his residence following a prolonged illness.

•    He was best known for his 91 reflective poems on Mahatma Gandhi.
•    A prolific literary critic, Professor Jadhav, who was born at Vadodara in Gujarat, taught Marathi literature in various colleges across Maharashtra, including Elphinstone College in Mumbai and Milind College in Aurangabad, among others.
•    Prof. Jadhav presided over the 2004 Marathi Sahitya Sammelan held at Aurangabad and served as chief editor of the ‘Marathi Vishwakosha’ based in Wai between 2000 and 2002.
Conceived along the lines of the World Almanac and the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the ambitious ‘Vishwakosha’ project, launched by the State government in 1960 in an effort to inform and edify the Marathi-speaking world on modern science and arts, began as a print concept before moving online in 2011.
 

Veteran and former MLA and MP K Anirudhan passed away at his residence on 23rd May 2016 at the age of 92.
•    Anirudhan was suffering from age-related ailments for some time and died last night, the sources said.
•    Known for his significant contribution to build the Communist party movement in southern parts of the state, Anirudhan was elected to the state assembly in 1963, 1965, 1979 and 1980.
•    Anirudhan, also an active trade union leader, had represented the then Chirayinkeezhu constituency near here in Lok Sabha after defeating former chief minister R Sankar in the 1967 elections.
•    He is survived by wife Sudharma and sons, CPI-M Lok Sabha MP A Sampath and Kasthuri.
•    He was attracted to the independence movement during his school days. 
•    He was forced to join a school in nearby Kanyakumari district as he was expelled from both St Joseph School and SMV School for participating in the freedom struggle.

Folk singer and Padma award winner Diwaliben Punjabhai Bhil passed away on 19th May in her hometown Junagadh.
•    Her final rites were performed in Junagadh in presence of local political leaders, folk artists among others.
•    A primary school dropout, Diwaliben was a self-taught folk artist who rose from humble background to gain acclaim both in India and around the world.
•    Diwaliben, began her singing career from a local Garbi, has become the voice of hundreds of Gujarati folk songs and garbas, 
•    Born in a tribal family, she worked at a primary school as part of the government's literacy programme, before her talent was recognized.
•    Besides Gujarati folk songs, Diwaliben has also sung many garba and bhajans, and even given voice to numerous Gujarati film songs.
•    Diwaliben Bhil got major recognition with her song "Aiwa Aiwa" on the album 'Mann ke Manjeere' released in April 2001

André Brahic was an expert on the solar system, in 1984. He launched a programme which led to the discovery, with US astronomer William Hubbard, of the rings around the gaseous planet Neptune.
•    Born into a modest family in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1942, Brahic was initiated into astrophysics after the war by Evry Schatzman, considered the father of the discipline in France.
•    In the 1980s, Brahic became a specialist in exploring our solar system with the help of the NASA Voyager and later US-Europe Cassini unmanned missions, which continue to this day.
•    He was an astrophysicist at the Commission for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies (CEA) and a professor at the University of Paris.
•    It was his interest in Saturn and its rings which led him to launch his Neptune research.
•    Neptune’s outermost ring is divided into three arcs to which Brahic gave the names Liberte, Fraternite and Egalite.
•    In 1990 an asteroid, number 3488, was named Brahic in his honour.

On 13 May 2016 Baba Hardev Singh, the Spiritual leader and chief of Nirankari Mission, died in a road accident in Montreal, Canada. He was 62.
•    Born on 23 February 1954, Baba Hardev Singh became a member of the Nirankari Seva Dal in 1971.
•    In 2005, he established the Nirankari Museum in Sant Nirankari Sarovar complex in New Delhi.
•    He had 10 to 15 million followers around the world.
•    The mission was established in 1929, by Baba Buta Singh who previously belonged to the Nirankari sect. He was succeeded by Baba Avtar Singh.
•    The mission began as a reform movement within Sikhism.
•    It started in form of the Sant Nirankari Movement or Universal Brotherhood Movement that believed in the importance of a living leader.
•    The mission flourished after base of the mission was shifted to Delhi from West Punjab, after partition of India in 1947.
•    As of 2016, the organization has 2000 centers and millions of followers all over the globe.

On 8 May 2016 American actor William Schallert passed away in California, U.S. 
He was 93.The actor was best known for his work as Martin Lane on the hit series The Patty Duke Show, 
This show was aired on ABC from 1963 until 1966.
•    He was Born on 6 July 1922, 
•    He began acting in University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
•    In 1946, he helped found the Circle Theatre with Sydney Chaplin and several fellow students.
•    In 1948, he was directed by Sydney's father, Charlie Chaplin, in a staging of Somerset Maugham's Rain.
•    He starred in Philbert, an innovative 1964 TV pilot for ABC
•    He appeared in many films and television series as Perry Mason, The Smurfs, Jefferson Drum among others.
•    His portrayal of Martin Lane on The Patty Duke Show was recognized  as No. 39 on its list of 50 Greatest TV Dads.

The former prime minister of Thailand, BanharnSilpa-archa was died on 23 April 2016 in Bangkok. He was 83.
His scandal-ridden tenure a Prime Minister preceded the Thailand’s economic collapse in the 1990s.
• He was born on 19 August 1932 in Suphanburi, Siam to a Chinese merchant family. His Chinese name was Ma Dexiang.
• He was elected 11 times to Parliament and gained the nickname Banharnburi for his home province with Thai Nation Party.
• He was regional power broker and a master of money politics in his home province, Suphanburi.
• His tenure as 21st Prime Minister of Thailand was lasted from 13 July 1995 to 24 November 1996 for about 16 months with Thai Nation Party.
• His government was marked by allegations of corruption and economic mismanagement which led to Economic Collapse in the country, touching off the Asian financial crisis.
• He was a familiar presence in national politics, serving as a minister in various governments over the years, and became known as Mr ATM for his methods of winning support and securing allies.
• He was also known as the eel for his ability to wriggle his party into coalitions, including the tenuous grouping of small parties that briefly kept him in power as prime minister.