Department of Alumni Relations
Distinguished Alumni
Dr Manmohan Singh, Current Prime minister of IndiaDr Manmohan Singh(born 26 September 1932) is the 14th and current Prime Minister of the Republic of India. He is the first Indian Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term. He is also the first Sikh to hold the post. He attended Punjab University, Chandigarh studying Economics and attaining his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1952 and 1954 respectively, standing first throughout his academic career. | 
Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, 9th President of IndiaShankar Dayal Sharma (19 August 1918 - 26 December 1999) was the ninth President of India serving from 1992 to 1997. Prior to his presidency, Dr. Sharma had been the 8th Vice President of India. Dr. Sharma was an alumnus of Panjab University. He was also Chief Minister (1952-1956), Cabinet Minister(1956-1967) and was thereafter Union Minister for Communications (1974-1977). |
 Kapil Sibal, Present Minister of Human Resource DevelopmentKapil Sibal (born August 8, 1948) is a prominent Indian politician and former lawyer. He bacame the Ministry of Human Resource Development in the Government of India in 2009. He also held the two ministries:Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences in the First Manmohan Singh Cabinet. |
Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition(BJP)Sushma Swaraj (born 14 February 1952) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She is currently the Leader of the Opposition in the 15th Lok Sabha. She is a former union cabinet minister of India and a former chief minister of Delhi. Also she served as the chairperson of the BJP's 19 member campaign committee for the 2009 General Election. |
Bhai Mohan Singh (Padam Shri), Chairman & M.D. Ranbaxy Labs. Ltd.Max India Ltd can be called as the doyen of pharmaceutical industry in India. Bhai Mohan Singh is the founder of pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. He was a former vice president of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and was awarded the Padma Shri for his contribution in civic matters. For his contribution to the industrial development of Punjab, the Punjab Goverment had named an Industrial Township near Ropar after Bhai Mohan Singh. | 
Selja Kumari, MP/Union MinisterSelja was born on 24th September 1962, in Chandigarh. She gained her school education from New Delhi and gained an M. Phil. Degree from Panjab University, Chandigarh. She is an agriculturist and political and social worker. She started her political career in 1990 as the joint secretary of 'All India Mahila Congress'. In 1991, she was elected to the Lok Sabha from Sirsa in Haryana and she become the Union Minister of State for Education and Culture in the Narasimha Rao-led Congress government till 1995. |
Dr Abdus Salam, physicist, first Pakistani Nobel Laureate Mohammad Abdus Salam (January 29, 1926; Sahiwal, Punjab, British India (present-day Pakistan) ' November 21, 1996; Oxford, England) was a Pakistani theoretical physicist, astrophysicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his work in Electro-Weak Theory. Salam holds the distinction of being the first Pakistani and Muslim Nobel Laureate. Even today, Salam is considered as one of the most influential scientist and physicist in his country. | 
Dr. Hargobind Khorana, Nobel Laureate BiotechnologistBorn on 9th January 1922 at Raipur, Punjab (now in Pakistan). Dr. Khorana was responsible for producing the first man-made gene in his laboratory in the early seventies. This historic invention won him the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1968. Khorana, born into a poor family took his M.Sc from Punjab University at Lahore. Khorana's work, which is an important scientific landmark of the 20th century, has brought closer the day when synthetic DNA may be introduced into the defective human tissues to treat mentally retarded people. |
Kiran Bedi, First IPS OfficerKiran Bedi was born in 9 June 1949 in Amritsar, Punjab. She earned a Master's degree (1968-70) in Political Science from Panjab University. She is an Indian social activist and a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. She became the first woman to join the IPS in 1972, and most recently held the post of Director General, BPR&D (Bureau of Police Research and Development), Ministry of Home Affairs. She retired from the IPS in December, 2007, after taking voluntary retirement. She has also founded two NGOs in India. | 
Sukhbir Singh Badal, President of SADSukhbir Singh Badal (born 9 July 1962) is President of Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) political party . He was the Member of Parliament of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Faridkot constituency of Punjab. He currently serves as Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab. He went to the Lawrence School, Sanawar. He studied to acquire a B.A. (Hons) Economics, M.A (Economics) and MBA. He is an alumnus of Panjab University, Chandigarh and California State University, Los Angeles (USA). |
Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister of HaryanaBhupinder Singh Hooda(born 15 September 1947) is an Indian politician, a leader of the Indian National Congress. He became the chief minister of Haryana for the first time in March 2005. After the Haryana assembly elections, 2009, he again became the chief minister in October 2009. During his first term as Chief Ministership, he led many schemes and also led Congress to state power once again. Mr Hooda is credited with clean image and bringing people with mass base into Congress party. | 
Shri N N Vohra, Governor of J&K, Raj Bhawan, SrinagarEducated at the Punjab (India) and Oxford (UK) Universities. After topping in M.A. (English) he served as a Lecturer in Punjab University (1957-59). Was in the Indian Administrative Service (1959-1994), borne on the Punjab cadre. N. N. Vohra has been appointed as the new Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Vohra has been the Centre's mediator since 2003 for talks with various groups in Jammu and Kashmir. |
Justice Swatanter Kumar, Former Chief Justice, High Court, MumbaiBorn on December 31, 1947 in Delhi, Chief Justice Kumar enrolled with the Delhi bar council in July 1971. He practiced as an advocate in various high courts and the Supreme Court. He served as a judge in the Delhi and Punjab & Haryana High Courts before being sworn in as Chief Justice of the Bombay HC on March 31, 2007. | 
Justice Ashok Bhan, Supreme Court of IndiaBorn on October 2, 1941. Entered Legal Profession in 1965. Worked as part-time Lecturer in Faculty of Law, Punjab University from 1969 to 1979 and Additional Advocate General of Punjab from November, 1979 to March, 1980. He was Acting Chief Justice from 26th June, 2000 to 20th October, 2000 in the Karnataka High Court. Appointed as Judge of the Supreme Court of India from 2001-2008. |
Justice V.K. Bali, Chairman, CATBorn on January 24, 1945. Graduated in Law from Panjab University, Chandigarh in 1967. Started practicing in District Courts, Karnal in the same year and shifted to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in 1973. Practiced on all subjects of law and specialized in Constitutional, Service, Labour and Industrial Disputes and Criminal Laws. He assumed office as Chairman CAT on 08th March, 2007. | 
Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, Indian Express GroupBorn on 11 January 1951. Shekar Gupta is the editor-in-chief of The Indian Express. Shekhar Gupta has been conferred the Padma Bhushan. The award recognises his famous newsbreaks, beginning with the expose of the Nellie massacre in Assam that redefined the country's engagement with the North-east, and now his weekly column 'National Interest', which have defined the issues for contemporary Indian politics, business, society and, of course, journalism. |
H. K. Dua, Editor-in-Chief, Tribune GroupMr H. K. Dua, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), is one of the senior-most journalists of the country, having served as editor for over 15 years in four leading national dailies. He has been the Editor of the Hindustan Times, Editor-in-Chief of the Indian Express, Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune Publications and Editorial Advisor of The Times of India. Mr Dua has several prestigious awards to his credit, apart from the Padma Bhushan which the President K. R. Narayanan conferred on him in 1998 for distinguished service to journalism. | 
Anupam Kher, Renowned Movie StarAnupam Kher (born 7 March 1955) is an acclaimed Indian actor who mainly appears in Hindi films. In addition to Hindi films, he has work in several successful Punjabi, British, Hollywood and Chinese films as well. He also served as the chairman of the Indian Film Censor Board until recently, when he was replaced by Sharmila Tagore. He is an alumnus of National School of Drama (1978 batch) and later became its director, between 2001 and 2004. |
Babbu Maan, Punjabi SingerBabbu Maan (born Tejinder Singh Maan on March 18, 1975) is a Punjabi folk singer, lyricist, composer and actor. Born in the village of Khant Maanpur in the Fatehgarh Sahib District of Punjab, India. He learned how to write lyrics, while at school (Panjab University, Chandigarh) when he was about 16. After college, he started singing and composing music. He is one of the few singers who writes his own lyrics for all of his songs. | 
Jagjit Singh, Ghazal MaestroJagjit Singh (born February 8, 1941) is a prominent Indian Ghazal singer. He gained acclaim together with his wife, another renowned Indian Ghazal singer Chitra Singh, as the first ever successful duo (husband-wife) act in the history of recorded Indian music. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2003, the third highest civilian honour, for his contribution to music by the Government of India. |
Jaspal Bhatti, ComedianJaspal Bhatti was born on 3rd march 1955 at Guru ki Nagri Amritsar into a Sikh Ramgarhia family of Bhatti clan, got married to Ms. Savita Bhatti on 24th March 1985. He graduated from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh in Punjab, as an electrical engineer. He was famous for his street plays like his Nonsense Club during his college days. Mr. Jaspal Bhatti was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, at the first Golden Kela Awards. | 
Kirron Kher, ActressKirron Kher was born into a Jatt Sikh family on the 14th June 1955 Mumbai and brought up in Chandigarh, Punjab, where she did her schooling and later college from Panjab University, Chandigarh. In 2004, Kirron won the Bronze Leopard Award at the Locarno International Festival for her role as a mother to a radical son in Khamosh Pani. She continued to play mother to Rani Mukherji in Hum Tum (2004), Preity Zinta in Veer Zaara (2004), Aamir Khan in Rang De Basanti (2006) and Kajol in Fanaa (2006). |
Nuruddin Farah, Award Winning Somali NovelistNuruddin Farah (born November 24, 1945) is a prominent Somali novelist. Born in Baidoa, Somalia, Farah has garnered acclaim as one of the greatest contemporary writers in the world. Having published many short stories, novels and essays, his prose has earned him, among other accolades, the Premio Cavour in Italy, the Kurt Tucholsky Prize in Sweden, the Lettre Ulysses Award in Berlin, and in 1998, the prestigious Neustadt International Prize for Literature. |
Romila Thapar, HistorianRomila Thapar (born 1931) is an Indian historian whose principal area of study is ancient India. After graduating from Panjab University, Thapar earned her doctorate from the University of London in 1958. Later she worked as Professor of Ancient Indian History at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her major works are Asoka and the Decline of the Maurya, Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations, Recent Perspectives of Early Indian History (editor), A History of India Volume One, and Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. |
Satya Vrat Shastri, Sanskrit Scholar 2006, Jnanpith AwardSatya Vrat Shastri, born 29th September 1930, is a highly decorated Sanskrit scholar, writer, grammarian and poet from India. He received his B.A. Hons. and M.A. in Sanskrit from the Panjab University, and his Ph.D from the Banaras Hindu University. He has written three Mahakavyas, three Khandakavyas, one Prabandhakavyas and one Patrakavya and five works in critical writing in Sanskrit. His some of the important works are Ramakirtimahakavyam, Vaidika Vyakarana and "Discovery of Sanskrit Treasures" in seven volumes. | 
Pawan Kumar Bansal, Present Minister for State of Govt of IndiaPawan Kumar Bansal born on 16 July 1948 is a member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India. He completed B.Sc., LL.B.from Department of Law, Panjab University, Chandigarh. He represents the Chandigarh constituency and is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) political party. He studied in Government College, Sector 11, Chandigarh. He is Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs. He was formally administered the oath of office in May 2009 as cabinet minister of Parliamentary Affairs and played a crucial role in the formation of the 15th Lok Sabha. |
Kalpana Chawla, NASA AstronautKalpana Chawla (March 17, 1962 - February 1, 2003), was an Indian-American scientist and a NASA astronaut. She was one of seven crewmembers killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. She earned her B.E. degree in aeronautical engineering at Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh in 1982. Chawla joined the NASA astronaut corps in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1998. |
Inder Kumar Gujaral, Former PM of India.Shri Inder Kumar Gujral was sworn in as the 12th Prime Minister of India in 1977 April. Before assuming the office of the Prime Minister of India, Shri Gujral was the Minister of External Affairs from June 1, 1996 and held additional charge of the Ministry of Water Resources from June 28, 1996. He was the Minister of External Affairs earlier during 1989-1990. He was Ambassador of India to U.S.S.R. (Cabinet Rank) from 1976-1980 and held many Ministerial positions from 1967-1976. |
