Notable Alumni of Jawaharlal Nehru University [Sorted List]

1. Abdul Sattar Murad

1957-. (aged 69)

diplomat politician

Abdul Sattar Murad is a politician in Afghanistan.

2. Shri Mohan Jain

1949-. (aged 77)

biologist botanist

Shri Mohan Jain is an Indian-born plant biotechnology scientist. He worked several years for the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. He has done research on genetically modified food, mutation breeding, ornamental plants, date palm, and tropical fruit, such as banana. He has edited 44 internationally sold books.

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3. Pramod Ranjan

1980-. (aged 46)

journalist

Pramod Ranjan is an Indian author, social worker and journalist. He has worked for Bharatendu Shikhar (Shimla), Gram Parivesh, Dhramshala based Divya Himachal, Punjab Kesari, Dainik Bhaskar, and Amar Ujala. He was managing editor of the Forward Press magazine from 2011 to 2019.

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4. Abas Basir

1968-. (aged 58)

politician

Abas Basir is an Afghan academic and politician who served as the Minister of Higher Education from 14 September 2020 to 15 August 2021. He also held various significant national and international posts. He has served as Director General of South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP) who was nominated by the Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for a term...

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5. Urmilesh Singh

journalist writer

Urmilesh is an Indian journalist and author. He was the executive director of Rajya Sabha TV from 2010 to 2012, and has worked in various Hindi publications like Hindustan and Navbharat Times, among others. He also anchored Media Manthan on Rajya Sabha TV, a media-watch programme about the week's news and its coverage in the media.

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6. Suresh Rattan

1955-. (aged 71)

biologist scientist university teacher gerontologist

Suresh Rattan is a biogerontologist – a researcher in the field of biology of ageing, biogerontology.

7. Shane Boris

1981-. (aged 45)

film producer screenwriter

Shane Boris, is an American film producer and writer. He is the founder of Cottage M, an independent production house. Boris was nominated for Best Documentary Feature for The Edge of Democracy at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020. In 2022, Boris produced two acclaimed documentaries, Fire of Love and Navalny, which both secured Oscar nominations, and made him the...

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8. Jai Shanker Menon

1959-. (aged 67)

military officer

Major General Jai Shanker Menon is an Indian military official, and was the Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force from 7 February 2016 to 22 October 2017. Prior to this appointment in February 2016 by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Major General Menon served as the Additional Director General of Equipment Management in...

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9. G G Dwivedi

1951-. (aged 75)

military leader

Major General G G Dwivedi is an Indian Army career officer (retired), academic, journalist, author, corporate trainer and social worker. He retired in 2009 from the Indian Army (Infantry).

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10. Maya Krishna Rao

1953-. (aged 73)

actor

Maya Krishna Rao is a solo Indian theatre artist, stand-up comedian and social activist. Her well-known shows include Khol Do', 'A Deep Fried Jam','Ravanama and Heads Are Meant for Walking Into. Her performances cover many genres - dance theatre, comedy, multi-media, and theatre in education. She is a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2010), which she returned five...

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11. Sunny Singh

1969-. (aged 57)

author

Sunny Singh FRSL is an Indian-born academic and writer of fiction and creative non-fiction. She is Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts at London Metropolitan University.

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12. M.N. Reddi

1960-. (aged 66)

M. N. Reddi is a senior officer in the Indian Police Service and in July 2014 was appointed Commissioner of Police, Bangalore City. He has long experience in traffic policing, traffic management and road safety. He is Tech savvy police officer. He did his undergraduate studies at Christ College. He has an M.A. and an M.Phil in sociology from Jawaharlal...

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13. Rattan Chand

1955-. (aged 71)

civil servant

Rattan Chand is an Indian Health Economist and retired Indian bureaucrat who has served Government of India at various positions for more than 35 years. Apart from working at senior positions in Government of India he has also been a resource person to USAID, World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations, World Health Organization, Ministry of Health and Family...

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14. Sujata Patel

1953-. (aged 73)

university teacher sociologist

Sujata Patel is an Indian sociologist, currently holding the position of National Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study.

15. Nirmala Rao

1959-. (aged 67)

university teacher

Nirmala Rao is a British academic and the current vice chancellor of Krea University. She also served as vice chancellor of the Asian University for Women, Chittagong, Bangladesh from 1 February 2017 to January 2022. and as Pro-Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London from 2008 to 2016.

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16. Hemant Joshi

1954-. (aged 72)

translator poet journalist linguist

Hemant Joshi is a Professor of Mass Communication and Journalism. He has taught Communication, Radio, TV along with Hindi journalism for three decades at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi and Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi (2006–2008).

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17. Devapriya Roy

1984-. (aged 42)

writer

Devapriya Roy is an Indian author best known for her books, Friends from College, Indira and The Heat and Dust Project. She lives in New Delhi with her husband Saurav Jha.

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18. Ashutosh

1965-. (aged 61)

journalist

Ashutosh is an Indian journalist and former politician of AAP. He was the spokesperson of the Aam Aadmi Party. He is the Co-founder and Editorial Director of SatyaHindi, He was previously associated with IBN 7, an Indian news television channel, as a News anchor and managing editor. On 15 August 2018 Ashutosh resigned from Aam Aadmi Party citing his personal...

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19. Shaida Mohammad Abdali

1978-. (aged 48)

diplomat

Shaida Mohammad Abdali is the Afghan Ambassador to Japan. He was formerly the Afghan Ambassador to India from 2012 to 2018.

20. Vijoo Krishnan

1974-. (aged 52)

politician

Dr. Vijoo Krishnan is an Indian peasant leader, writer on agrarian Issues and General Secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha. He is a politburo member of Communist Party of India. He was also part of the six-member central secretariat of CPI(M) from 2022 to 2025. He is one of the key organiser of Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan (Movement for Land...

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21. Seyed E. Hasnain

1954-. (aged 72)

biologist researcher

Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain is an Indian academic and a Microbiologist. He is a recipient of the prestigious Padma Shri award.

22. Sudipta Kaviraj

1945-. (aged 81)

academic

Sudipta Kaviraj is a scholar of South Asian Politics and Intellectual History, often associated with Postcolonial and Subaltern Studies. He is currently teaching at Columbia University in the department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies.

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23. Binalakshmi Nepram

1974-. (aged 52)

university teacher poet politician

Binalakshmi Nepram is an Indian humanitarian, author, and female activist for the advocacy of gender rights and women-led disarmament movements with the objective of arresting gun culture and bringing about peace for her home state of Manipur in particular and northeast India in general. For her contributions in this field to Manipur and northeast India she is known by the...

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24. Amitabh Rajan

1955-. (aged 71)

Amitabh Rajan is an Indian Administrative Service officer of Maharashtra cadre and the former Home Secretary and Additional Chief Secretary of Maharashtra. He headed the Reserve Bank of India Services Board as its Chairman from 2018-2022, and was also an Independent Director in the Board of the State Trading Corporation of India. He has made significant contributions to the fields...

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25. Manjari Joshi

1960-. (aged 66)

author translator journalist

Manjari Joshi is a TV newsreader/anchor of the Indian public service broadcast television network Doordarshan.She is the daughter of famous Hindi poet and journalist Raghuvir Sahay.

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26. Shakeel Ahmad Khan

1965-. (aged 61)

politician

Shakeel Ahmad Khan is a Former member of the 16th assembly of Bihar state in India. He is a National secretary of the Indian National Congress (INC).

27. Amitabh Mattoo

1962-. (aged 64)

writer

Amitabh Mattoo is one of India's leading thinkers and writers on Modern and Contemporary History, Political science, International relations. He was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2009. He is Dean of the School of International Studies, Chair & professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, honorary professor of international relations at the University of Melbourne and Distinguished Fellow...

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28. Ved Pratap Vaidik

1944-2023 (aged 79)

journalist author

Ved Pratap Vaidik was an Indian journalist, political analyst, and freelance columnist. He worked with the Press Trust of India, and was the founder and editor of its Hindi news agency "Bhasha". Before that he was the editor for views for the Navbharat Times of the Times Group. Later he was the chairman of Bhartiya Bhasha Sammelan. He was born...

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29. J. Devika

historian writer

Jayakumari Devika is a Malayali historian, feminist, social critic and academic from Kerala. She currently researches and teaches at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram as a professor. She has authored several books and articles on gender relations in early Kerala society. She is bilingual and has translated both fiction and non-fiction books between Malayalam and English. She also writes...

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30. Prasenjit Duara

1950-. (aged 76)

historian university teacher

Prasenjit Duara, originally from Assam, India, a historian of China, is Oscar Tang Family Distinguished Professor, Department of History, Duke University, after being the Raffles Professor of Humanities at the National University of Singapore, where he was also director of Asian Research Institute and director of research in humanities and social sciences. Duara also taught at George Mason University and...

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31. Ramashankar Yadav

1957-2015 (aged 58)

poet spoken word artist writer

Ramashankar Yadav, also known as Vidrohi, was an Indian poet and social activist who went to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as a student but continued to live on or around its campus well beyond his student life.

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32. Purushottam Agrawal

1955-. (aged 71)

academic writer

Purushottam Agrawal is an Indian writer and former member of the Union Public Service Commission board.

33. Krishna Swaminathan

military officer

Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM is a serving Flag officer in the Indian Navy. He currently serves as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command. He earlier served as the 46th Vice Chief of Naval staff, the Chief of Personnel, the Controller of Personnel Services, Chief of Staff of the Western Naval Command, Flag Officer Defence Advisory Group,...

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34. Homeyra Qaderi

1979-. (aged 47)

educator university teacher writer human rights defender women's rights activist

Homeira Qaderi born in 1980 is an Afghan writer, advocate for women's rights, and professor of Persian literature, currently serving as a Robert G. James Scholar Fellow at Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Research, Harvard University.

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35. Anjali Gopalan

1957-. (aged 69)

LGBTQ rights activist

Anjali Gopalan pronunciation is an Indian human rights and animal rights activist. She is the founder and executive director of The Naz Foundation Trust.

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36. Soumen Mitra

1961-. (aged 65)

police officer

Soumen Mitra is an Indian police officer who served as the 38th Commissioner of the Kolkata Police. Mitra started his police career as a probation officer in Darjeeling as part of the 1988 batch of police officers in the Indian Police Service.

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37. Digvijay Singh

1955-2010 (aged 55)

politician

Digvijay Singh was an Indian politician from the state of Bihar, and an associate of George Fernandes of Janata Dal and later Samata Party, now led by Uday Mandal its President. He represented Banka in the Lok Sabha a few times. He was elected to Rajya Sabha twice. He died on 24 June 2010 in London after suffering a brain...

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38. Ashok Swain

1965-. (aged 61)

university teacher social scientist

Ashok Swain is a Swedish academic and public intellectual. He is a professor of peace and conflict research at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden. In 2017, he was appointed as the UNESCO Chair on International Water Cooperation and became the first UNESCO Chair of Uppsala University.

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39. Jyotindra Nath Dixit

1936-2005 (aged 69)

diplomat politician journalist

Jyotindra Nath Dixit was an Indian diplomat of Indian Foreign Service, who served as the National Security Advisor of India to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and is mostly remembered for his role as a negotiator in disputes with Pakistan and China. He also served as Foreign Secretary (1991–1994), the highest bureaucratic post in the Ministry of External Affairs.

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40. Le Luong Minh

1952-. (aged 74)

diplomat politician

Lê Lương Minh is a Vietnamese politician and diplomat who served as the 13th secretary-general of ASEAN between 2013 and 2017.

41. Abhay Kumar

1980-. (aged 46)

writer painter poet diplomat

Abhay Kumar is an Indian career diplomat and the author of several books including Nalanda: How it Changed the World. He currently serves as India's Ambassador of Azerbaijan. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 2003 after doing master's in geography at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Kirorimal College, Delhi University. He served as India's 21st ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros...

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42. Geetanjali Shree

1957-. (aged 69)

historian author writer

Geetanjali Shree, also known as Geetanjali Pandey, is an Indian Hindi-language novelist and short-story writer based in New Delhi, India. She is the author of several short stories and five novels. Her 2000 novel Mai was shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award in 2001, while its English translation by Nita Kumar was published by Niyogi Books in 2017. In 2022,...

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43. Kavita Krishnan

1973-. (aged 53)

journalist politician

Kavita Krishnan is a women's rights activist who has publicised the problem of violence against women following the 2012 Delhi gang rape of Nirbhaya.

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44. Ali Zeidan

1950-. (aged 76)

diplomat politician

Ali Zeidan is a former prime minister of Libya. He was appointed by the General National Congress on 14 October 2012, and took office on 14 November after Congress approved his cabinet nominees. Prior to the Libyan Civil War, Zeidan was a Geneva-based human rights lawyer. According to the BBC, he is considered by some local observers as a strong-minded...

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45. Jayati Ghosh

1955-. (aged 71)

writer economist journalist university teacher

Jayati Ghosh is an Indian development economist. She taught economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi for nearly 35 years, and since January 2021 she has been Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA. Her core areas of study include international economics and globalisation, employment patterns in developing countries, macroeconomic policy, and gender and development.

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46. Thomas Isaac

1952-. (aged 74)

politician economist

Travancore Mathew Thomas Isaac is an Indian author and economist who was the Minister for Finance and Coir of the Indian state of Kerala. A central committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), he has authored a number of articles on economics, planning and politics, has published in leading regional, national and international periodicals, presented lectures and papers...

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47. Priyamvada Gopal

1968-. (aged 58)

academic

Priyamvada Gopal is an Indian-born academic, writer and activist who is Professor of Postcolonial Studies at the University of Cambridge. Her primary teaching and research interests are in colonial and postcolonial studies, South Asian literature, critical race studies, and the politics and cultures of empire and globalisation. She has written three books engaging these subjects: Literary Radicalism in India (2005),...

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48. B.V. Nandini Reddy

film director screenwriter

B. V. Nandini Reddy is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in Telugu cinema and television. She debuted with 2011 Telugu film, Ala Modalaindi.

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49. Nivedita Menon

academic

Nivedita Menon is a writer and a professor of political thought at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. She previously taught at Lady Shri Ram College and the Department of Political Science at Delhi University.

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50. Baburam Bhattarai

1954-. (aged 72)

engineer writer politician

Baburam Bhattarai, also known by his nom de guerre Laaldhwoj, is a Nepalese politician and architect who served as the 36th prime minister of Nepal from 2011 to 2013. He currently as leader of the Pragatisheel Loktantrik Party.

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51. Umar Khalid

1987-. (aged 39)

activist

Syed Umar Khalid is an Indian activist. He was a research scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and a former leader of the Democratic Students' Union at the university. He is associated with United Against Hate, a campaign founded along with Nadeem Khan in July 2017, in response to a series of lynchings in India.

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52. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar

1955-. (aged 71)

diplomat author

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is an Indian politician and retired diplomat who is serving as the minister of external affairs since 2019. He is the longest-serving minister for external affairs to hold the portfolio exclusively. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he is a member of parliament in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. He previously...

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53. Kanhaiya Kumar Gandhi

1987-. (aged 39)

activist student leader politician

Kanhaiya Kumar is an Indian political activist who served as the president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union and leader of the All India Students Federation (AISF). He served as National Executive Council member of Communist Party of India. He joined Indian National Congress on 28 September 2021 and has been appointed as the AICC in-charge of the National...

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54. Maneka Gandhi

1956-. (aged 70)

animal rights advocate politician environmentalist journalist ecologist

Maneka Gandhi is an Indian politician, animal rights activist, and environmentalist. She served as a member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, and is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She is the widow of Indian politician Sanjay Gandhi. Gandhi has held ministerial positions in four governments, most recently serving in Narendra Modi's...

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55. Swara Bhaskar

1988-. (aged 38)

actor

Swara Bhasker is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Best known for her supporting work in mainstream productions and starring roles in independent films, she has won two Screen Awards and has received nominations for four Filmfare Awards.

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56. Sanjaya Baru

1954-. (aged 72)

journalist writer

Sanjaya Baru is a political commentator and policy analyst. He served as Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry until his resignation in April 2018. Prior to this, he was Director for Geo-Economics and Strategy at the International Institute of Strategic Studies. He was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's media advisor and chief spokesperson (PMO) from...

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57. Nora Fatehi

1992-. (aged 34)

actor manufacturer model dancer singer

Nora Fatehi is a Canadian dancer and actress based in India. She primarily works in Hindi film and also appeared in Telugu, and Malayalam cinema. Fatehi made her acting debut with the Hindi film Roar: Tigers of the Sundarbans. and gained wider recognition for her dance performances in Indian films. She is regarded as one of the prominent dancers in...

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58. Nirmala Sitharaman

1959-. (aged 67)

politician

Nirmala Sitharaman is an Indian economist and politician who is serving as the minister of finance and corporate affairs since 2019. Prior to that, she served as the defence minister. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), she was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, from Karnataka in July 2016.

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59. Ashwani Kumar

1952-. (aged 74)

politician

Ashwani Kumar was a 1973-Batch IPS officer who served as Governor of the Indian state of Nagaland, and briefly as Governor of Manipur during 2013.

60. Shehla Rashid Shora

student activist

Shehla Rashid Shora is a former Indian Kashmiri social activist, and former leader of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union. She rose to prominence whilst leading the student agitation calling for the release for Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and others who were arrested on charges of sedition in February 2016 for participating and organizing sloganeering in JNU.

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61. Padma Anagol

historian

Padma Anagol is a historian known for her work on women's agency and subjectivities in colonial India. Her work broadly focuses on gender and women's history in colonial British India. Her research interests also include a wide spectrum of topics such as material culture, consumption and Indian middle classes, theory, historiography and periodization of Modern India and comparative histories of...

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62. T. V. Paul

1956-. (aged 70)

author political scientist

Thazha Varkey Paul is an Indo-Canadian political scientist. He is a Distinguished James McGill professor of International Relations in the department of Political Science at McGill University. Paul specializes in International Relations, especially international security, regional security and South Asia. He is most notable for his work on asymmetric warfare, soft balancing, and deterrence theory. He has also contributed to...

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63. Sanal Edamaruku

1955-. (aged 71)

publisher writer journalist

Sanal Edamaruku is an Indian author and rationalist. He is the founder-president and editor of Rationalist International, the president of the Indian Rationalist Association and the author of 36 books and other articles. In 2012, after examining an alleged miracle at a local church in Mumbai, he was charged under India's blasphemy law, causing him to voluntarily exile to Finland.

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64. R. Hari Kumar

1962-. (aged 64)

naval officer

Admiral Radhakrishnan Hari Kumar PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC is retired flag officer in the Indian Navy. He served as 25th Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS). Previously, he served as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command. In his prior appointments, he served as the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, Chief of Personnel, Controller Personnel Services, the Flag Officer Commanding...

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65. Sukhadeo Thorat

1949-. (aged 77)

economist

Sukhadeo Thorat is an Indian economist, educationist, professor and writer. He is the former chairman of the University Grants Commission. He is professor emeritus in Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is an expert on B. R. Ambedkar.

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66. Ishwar Modi

1940-2017 (aged 77)

sociologist

Ishwar Modi was an Indian sociologist and a pioneer of leisure studies in India. His work in this field has been widely reviewed in both India and abroad. He completed his master's degree in sociology and PhD from University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. He also worked for his PhD under the title Leisure, Mass Media and Social Structure (1985) at the...

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67. Muhammed Muhsin

1986-. (aged 40)

politician

Muhammed Muhassin also known as Muhammed Muhassin is an Indian politician and a Member of 14th Kerala Legislative Assembly from Pattambi Constituency in Palakkad district. He is the youngest MLA in 14th Kerala Legislative Assembly. He defeated the three-term senior Congress Party MLA, CP Mohammed with a margin of 7404 Votes in 2016 Kerala Assembly Election.

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68. Palagummi Sainath

1957-. (aged 69)

journalist writer

Palagummi Sainath is an Indian columnist and author of the acclaimed book Everybody Loves a Good Drought. He has extensively written on rural India, his notable interests are poverty, structural inequities, caste discrimination and farmers protests.

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69. Kalpana Kannabiran

1961-. (aged 65)

lawyer sociologist

Kalpana Kannabiran is an Indian sociologist, lawyer, human rights columnist, writer and editor based in Hyderabad, India. In March 2021, after a decade-long tenure, she retired from the post of Professor and Regional Director of the Council for Social Development, Southern Regional Centre, a research institute recognised by the Indian Council of Social Science Research. She is amongst the founding...

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70. Shantha Sinha

1950-. (aged 76)

academic activist

Shantha Sinha is an Indian anti-child labour activist. She is the founder of Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiya Foundation, popularly known as MV Foundation (which is named in memory of her grandfather Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiah), and is a professor in the Department of Political Science in Hyderabad Central University.

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71. Sitaram Yechury

1952-2024 (aged 72)

politician

Sitaram Yechury was an Indian Marxist politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who was a member of the Politburo of the CPI(M) from 1992 until his death in September 2024. Previously, he was a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, West Bengal, from 2005 to 2017.

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72. Amitabha Singh

film producer cinematographer film director

Amitabha Singh is an Indian cinematographer and producer known for the film Khosla Ka Ghosla and the award-winning Chillar Party, among others. The Good Road, a 2013 film he produced, fetched numerous accolades and was screened at various international film festivals. It was selected as India's official entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 86th Academy Awards....

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73. Talat Ahmad

1955-. (aged 71)

geologist

Talat Ahmad is an Indian Earth Scientist, former Professor at the Department of Geology, University of Delhi and served as Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Senior Scientist. He served as Chairman of Governing body which oversees Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun from 1 December 2021 (full charge from 1 June 2022) onwards and served the office till 30 November...

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74. Asghar Wajahat

1946-. (aged 80)

writer

Dr Syed Asghar Wajahat, popularly known as Asghar Wajahat, is a Hindi scholar, fiction writer, novelist, playwright, an independent documentary filmmaker and a television scriptwriter, who is most known for his work, 'Saat Aasmaan' and his acclaimed play, 'Jis Lahore Nai Dekhya, O Jamyai Nai', based on the story of an old Punjabi Hindu woman who gets left behind in...

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75. Sara Rai

1956-. (aged 70)

author

Sara Rai, is a contemporary Indian writer, translator and editor of modern Hindi and Urdu fiction. She lives in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh, India. Rai mainly writes and publishes short stories in Hindi. Written in a reflective prose style, her stories explore the individual complexities in the lives of ordinary people and outsiders in contemporary India.

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76. Pankaj Mishra

1969-. (aged 57)

literary critic writer journalist

Pankaj Mishra FRSL is an Indian essayist, novelist, and socialist. His non-fiction works include The World After Gaza, Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Beyond, along with From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia, and A Great Clamour: Encounters with China and Its Neighbours, and he has published two novels....

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77. Srijit Mukherji

1977-. (aged 49)

actor screenwriter film director

Srijit Mukherji is an Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Bengali cinema. His regular collaboration with veteran actor Prosenjit Chatterjee brought him into the limelight. His first feature film Autograph (2010), was a critical and commercial success, where he had written the script with Chatterjee in mind. His fifth film, Jaatishwar, won four national awards at India's...

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78. Abhijit Banerjee

1961-. (aged 65)

university teacher economist

Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee is an Indian American economist who is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is co-founder and co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), an MIT based global research center promoting the use of scientific evidence to inform poverty alleviation strategies. In 2019, Banerjee shared the...

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79. Muhammad Mizanuddin

1953-. (aged 73)

Muhammad Mizanuddin is a Bangladeshi academic. He served as the 22nd Vice-chancellor of Rajshahi University since March 20, 2013.

80. Faramarz Tamanna

1977-. (aged 49)

politician director general

Dr. Faramarz Tamanna is a postdoctoral fellow and visiting professor at the University of Ottawa. He is also a writer, an Afghan politician and the chancellor of the University of Afghanistan in Kabul. He was director general of the Center for Strategic Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Afghanistan). He holds a PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi,...

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81. Prakash Karat

1948-. (aged 78)

university teacher writer politician

Prakash Karat is an Indian Communist politician. He was the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from 2005 to 2015. He served as interim coordinator of CPI(M) after the death of incumbent General Secretary Sitaram Yechury.

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82. Ajit Seth

1951-. (aged 75)

civil servant

Ajit Kumar Seth is an Indian civil servant who was the 30th Cabinet Secretary of the Republic of India. He is a 1974 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from Uttar Pradesh Cadre. Upon retirement from the post of Cabinet Secretary, Ajit Kumar Seth was appointed as Chairman of Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB).

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83. Parakala Prabhakar

1959-. (aged 67)

politician

Parakala Prabhakar is an Indian economist and political commentator. He served as communication advisor in the Government of Andhra Pradesh from July 2014 to June 2018. For several years, he presented current affairs discussion programme on Telugu television channels, such as Pratidhwani on ETV2 and Namaste Andhra Pradesh on NTV.

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84. Uday Shankar

1962-. (aged 64)

journalist

Uday Shankar was an Indian dancer and choreographer, best known for creating a fusion style of dance, adapting European theatrical techniques to Indian classical dance, imbued with elements of Indian classical, folk, and tribal dance, which he later popularised in India, Europe, and the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. He was a pioneer of modern dance in India.

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85. Edith Schippers

1964-. (aged 62)

politician

Edith Ingeborg Schippers is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businesswoman who served as President of DSM Netherlands between 2019 and 2023.

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86. Amitav Acharya

1962-. (aged 64)

academic

Amitav Acharya is a scholar and author, who is Distinguished Professor of International Relations at American University, Washington, D.C., where he holds the UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance at the School of International Service, and serves as the chair of the ASEAN Studies Initiative. Acharya has expertise in and has made contributions to a wide range of topics...

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