Who was Gitanjali Aiyar? 10 things to know about one of India's first English news anchors on Doordarshan
Gitanjali Aiyar
India’s renowned news presenterGitanjali Aiyar passed away on Wednesday. She was one of India’s first English female news presenters on national broadcaster Doordarshan. Aiyar, 71, was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and collapsed after returning home from a walk, sources close to the family said.
Aiyar joined Doordarshan in 1971 and received the best anchor award four times. Several political leaders and noted media personalities took to Twitter to pay their respects to the eminent anchor.
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Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur also took to Twitter to condole her demise, he wrote, "Deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Gitanjali Aiyar, one of the first and finest English news anchors on Doordarshan and All India Radio".
He added that Aiyar was a “trailblazer and pioneer”, who brought “credibility, professionalism, and a distinct voice” to every news presentation.
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Who was Gitanjali Aiyar? 10 things you should know about her
1. The prime-time English news anchor Gitanjali Aiyar graduated from Kolkata’s Loreto College and pursued a diploma degree from the prestigious National School of Drama (NSD) in Delhi.
2. After completing her graduation, she joined All India Radio (AIR) and presented a show called ‘A Date With You’, in which she used to take English song requests on Friday nights.
3. She rose to fame when in 1971 she joined the national broadcaster Doordarshan and started presenting prime-time news.
4. In 1989, she was awarded the Best Anchor Award four times, along with the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award for Outstanding Women.
5. An Indian Express report reveals that Aiyar grew up by observing people like Surojit Sen and Pamela Singh reading news on the radio, and was greatly influenced by them.
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6. Aiyar, in a report by Scroll, recalls how influential people thought her to be when she was working with Doordarshan: “Once a man came and rang the doorbell to ask me to do something about bringing electricity to the chawl he was living in. Another time, an auto driver in Dehradun would not take any money after dropping me to the school where my son was studying. Many felt we were doing a lot for the nation. It was all very touching.”
7. After her illustrious career at Doordarshan, she left the organisation in August 2002.
8. Besides presenting news programmes, she has also acted in Sridhar Kshrisagar’s TV drama ‘Khandaan’ and was seen in several print advertisements.
9. Aiyar was also the head of Major Donors at the World Wide Fund in India.
10. Aiyar is survived by her two children, daughter Pallavi and son Shekhar.
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