Gitanjali Aiyar, one of India’s first English news presenters, passed away on June 7. She joined the national broadcaster, Doordarshan, in 1971 and presented the news for over three decades. During her career, she received the best anchor award four times and was also a recipient of the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award for Outstanding Women. Besides anchoring news programmes, Aiyar presented a show on All India Radio, acted in a television drama called ‘Khandaan’ and appeared in various print advertisements. She graduated from Loreto College in Kolkata and earned a diploma from the National School of Drama in New Delhi.