Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa passes away

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa passed away at the Apollo Hospitals, Chennai following cardiac arrest. She was 68.
Jayalalithaa was one of the country’s most articulate and determined political personalities and a top film actress of the 1960s and 1970s. She was famously known as Puratchi Thalaivi Amma (revolutionary leader) or Amma.

About J Jayalalithaa

• Born on 24 February 1948 at Melkote in Mandya district in then Mysore State (now Karnataka). At birth she was named Komalavalli and was renamed Jayalalithaa.
• She had entered into film industry when she was 16 years old. Her debut as lead actress wasi n a Kannada film Vennira Aadai in 1955.
• She was launched into Tamil films starring as the heroine in MGR’s “Ayirathil Oruvan.” Since then both have acted together in 28 films, many of them super hits.
• In her acting career, she had acted in more than 140 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and English.
• She was also known for her dancing skills and was often referred as the uncrowned queen of Tamil cinema.
• She had entered into politics in 1982 under the mentorship of co-star and then Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran (MGR), the founder of the AIADMK.
• After death of MGR in 1987, she took charge of the party and became chief minister of Tamil Nadu for first time in 1991.
• She served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for six times from 1991 to 1996 (1st time), in 2001 (2nd time), from 2002 to 2006 (3rd time), from 2011 to 2014 (4th time), 2015 to 2016 (5th time) and May 2016 to December 2016 (sixth time).
• Since 2011, Jayalalithaa had launched several public welfare schemes doling out numerous freebies under the ‘Brand Amma’.
• Some of such schemes are Amma Unavagam (canteen), Amma Water, Amma Salt. These schemes had won accolades nationally and endearing herself to the masses.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2016