68 Notable alumni of Panjab University

Tenzin Tsetan Choklay is a Tibetan filmmaker.

Kamaljit Singh Bawa, FRS is an evolutionary ecologist, conservation biologist and a distinguished professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is also the founder of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment. In 2012, Bawa received the first Gunnerus Sustainability Award, the world's major international award for work on sustainability. He is an elected member...

Rajesh Bhola is a social worker, psychotherapist, journalist, author, columnist and writer on spiritual subjects from India. Bhola also contributes to Inner Voice of the Hindustan Times.

Bhagwan Singh Josh is an Indian historian, specialising in social and political history of modern India. He is Professor of Contemporary History at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is one of the project committee members of the Europe–South Asia Maritime Heritage Project. He has also been co-director of the Indian Council of Social Science...

Dr Ranjay Vardhan is an Indian sociologist who is serving as Head, Department of Sociology at the Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Sector 42, Chandigarh. He has developed the concept of Covidalization, i.e., Covid Socialization. He has published works in the field of Family and Gender Studies and has done pioneering works in the field of broken hearts.

Raj Kumar Pathria is a theoretical physicist, a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at University of Waterloo, and an Urdu poet.

Tsering Dhondup, also known as Tsering Dhundup Yangdhar, was a Tibetan politician who was the Minister of Finance of the Tibetan-government-in-exile, officially known as Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).

Gurpreet Singh Lehal is a professor in the Computer Science Department, Punjabi University, Patiala and director of the Advanced Centre for Technical Development of Punjabi Language Literature and Culture. He is noted for his work in the application of computer technology in the use of the Punjabi language both in the Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi script.

Dasho Sherub Gyeltshen is a Bhutanese politician who served as the Minister for Home and Cultural Affairs from November 2018 to 6 May 2021 when he resigned. He was a member of the National Assembly of Bhutan from October 2018 to 6 May 2021.

Neelkamal Puri is an Indian author, columnist and a college teacher.

Arvind Varma was the R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor, School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University. His research interests are in chemical and catalytic reaction engineering, and new energy sources.

Amit Rawal is an Indian judge, who is a former judge of Kerala High Court, the highest court in the Indian state of Kerala and in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, which is headquartered at Ernakulam, Kochi.

Amarjit Chandan is a Punjabi writer, editor, translator and activist. He has written eight collections of poetry and five collections of essays in Punjabi. He has been called "the global face of modern Punjabi poetry".

Narinder Kumar Mehra is an Indian immunologist, head of the department of transplant immunology and immunogenetics of the SRL Limited, Gurgaon. He is a former dean of research and holds the ICMR Dr. C.G. Pandit National Chair at AIIMS. An elected fellow of the International Medical Sciences Academy, The World Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and National Academy...

Radha Kessar is an Indian mathematician known for her research in the representation theory of finite groups. She holds the Fielden Chair in Pure Mathematics at the University of Manchester, and in 2009 won the Berwick Prize of the London Mathematical Society.

Harkishan Singh was an Indian pharmaceutical chemist and professor at Panjab University known for his research and teaching in India, United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and China. Singh specialized in organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and the study of natural products, making contributions to each field. During his career, he led the research group responsible for developing candocuronium iodide (also...

Jagdish Chandra Kapur was an Indian social scientist, entrepreneur and the founder of Kapur Surya Foundation and Kapur Solar Farms. He was also the Editor of World Affairs Journal, a publication aiming at and providing a platform for better interaction between the developed and the developing nations. The Government of India honoured him in 2010, with the Padma Bhushan, the...

Alka Pande is an Indian academic, author and museum curator.

Ashok Chopra is a publisher, author, editor, and literary columnist. Author of Memories of Fire: A Novel, A Scrapbook of Memories: My Life with the Rich, the Famous and the Scandalous and Of Love and Other Sorrows, he has co-authored Agnostic Khushwant: There Is No God with the Indian author-columnist Khushwant Singh and A Grain of Sand in the Hourglass...

Jagtar was a Punjabi poet. He was widely credited for being a stickler for meter and rhyme. He was very popular among the politically conscious Punjabi readers having left-wing leanings. In the early period of his popularity he was known by his pen name Jagtar “Papiha” which he later dropped.

Vijay Kumar Abrol, better known by his pen name Zahid Abrol, is an Indian Urdu poet who did the first Urdu translation of the 12th century Sufi-poet Baba Farid's shlokas and shabads.

Lionel Ranwala, (27 November 1939 – 13 November 2002) was a musician and a singer in Sri Lanka and a legend in Sri Lankan folk music. His birth city was Kalubowila and he studied in Kalubowila Budhdhagosha College, Kumara College Wellawatta and Lumbini College, Colombo.

Jatinder Mauhar is an Indian Film Director, Script Writer, Columnist and Researcher. In the very beginning, he started his career with music videos and it was after some time that Jatinder Directed his debut film Mitti. Jatinder Mauhar established himself as a style through Mitti, Sarsa appropriated by producer as Sikandar (2013) and Qissa Punjab (2015). He has written extensively...

Meenakshi Wadhwa is a planetary scientist and educator who studies the formation and evolution of the Solar System through the analysis of planetary materials including meteorites, Moon rocks and other extraterrestrial samples returned by spacecraft missions. She was director of the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. She is the vice chancellor for Marine Sciences, dean...

William Kabogo Gitaū is Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of Information, Communications & The Digital Economy in the Republic of Kenya. He is also party leader of Tujibebe Wakenya Party.He previously served as the First Governor of Kiambu County, a position he won in the 2013 Kenyan general election.

K.C. Singh is an Indian Civil servant and was the Indian ambassador to Iran and UAE.

Rachna Singh is a Canadian politician and trade unionist who represented the electoral district of Surrey-Green Timbers in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2017 until 2024. A member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP) caucus, she has served as Minister of Education and Child Care of British Columbia from December 2022 until 2024.

Shamsher Singh Dullo is an Indian politician affiliated with the Indian National Congress, known for his extensive service in Punjab's political landscape. He served as a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.

Kewal Krishan, an Indian forensic anthropologist, is a professor of physical anthropology and former Chair of Department of Anthropology and Dean, International Students at Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. He has contributed to the development of forensic anthropology in India. He is one of the very few forensic anthropology experts of the nation.

Ajay Kumar Sood is an Indian physicist and researcher currently serving as the 4th Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.

Krishan Kant Paul is a former Indian Police Service officer, who served as the Commissioner of Police, Delhi from February 2004 to July 2007. Following his retirement from the IPS, he served as the governor of several states—Meghalaya (2013–15), Manipur (2014-15) and Uttarakhand (2015–18). He had also held the governorships of Mizoram and Nagaland briefly, as additional charges.

Adarsh Kumar Goel is a retired Indian judge. He is a former Chairperson of National Green Tribunal, and a former judge of the Supreme Court of India. He is also former chief justice of the Orissa High Court and Gauhati High Court, and a former judge of the Gauhati High Court and Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Sanjay Tandon is an Indian politician in the Bhartiya Janata Party.

Anjum Moudgil is an Indian sport shooter.

Narinder Nath Vohra, popularly referred as N. N. Vohra, is a retired 1959 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Punjab cadre who was the 12th governor of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. He was the first civilian governor of Jammu and Kashmir in eighteen years after Jagmohan.

Yash Pal was an Indian scientist, educator and educationist. He was known for his contributions to the study of cosmic rays, as well as for being an institution-builder. In his later years, he became one of the leading science communicators of the country.

Ghulam Ahmad Parwez was a well-known teacher of the Quran in India and Pakistan. He posed a challenge to the established Sunni doctrine by interpreting Quranic themes with a logical approach. The work 'Islam: A Challenge to Religion' is widely acknowledged as one of the most significant works in the history of Pakistan, according to Nadeem F. Paracha.

Arzu Rana Deuba is a Nepali politician, who previously served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. She served as the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Cooperatives and Natural Resources from August 2023 to July 2024.

Atul Gurtu is a high energy physicist in India. He joined the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, in 1971 and retired in 2011 as a senior professor, after a career spanning four decades in particle physics research.

Sushila Nayyar, also spelt 'Nayar', was an Indian physician, Gandhian and politician who served as the Minister of State for Health and Family welfare. She played a leading role in public health, medical education and social and rural reconstruction in India. She became Gandhi's personal physician and an important member of his inner circle. Later, she wrote several books based...

Bhupinder Singh Hooda is an Indian National Congress politician, who is serving as the Leader of the Opposition in Haryana Legislative Assembly. He was the Chief Minister of Haryana from 2005 to 2014.

Shekhar Gupta is an Indian journalist and author. He is the founder and the current editor-in-chief of ThePrint. He is also a columnist for the Business Standard and pens a weekly column which appears every Saturday.

Anil Vij is an Indian politician and a member of Haryana Legislative Assembly belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party serving as the Cabinet Minister in the Government of Haryana.

Jagdish Singh Khehar is an Indian jurist, who served as the 44th Chief Justice of India from 4 January 2017 to 27 August 2017. He was the first Sikh Chief Justice of India. He has been a judge in Supreme Court of India from 13 September 2011 to 27 August 2017 upon superannuation. He served for a brief period but...

Sunil Arora is a retired IAS officer of Rajasthan Cadre who served as the 23rd Chief Election Commissioner of India. He is also the chairman for Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB). He also served as a secretary to the Government of India in two ministries.

Tarun Tejpal is an Indian journalist, publisher, novelist, entrepreneur and founder editor of Tehelka magazine. He is known for the groundbreaking human interest and investigative journalism that was pioneered by Tehelka between 2000 and 2013. He is the author of four internationally acclaimed novels, including The Story of My Assassins.

Shiv Kumar, better known by his pen name Shiv Kumar Batalvi, was an Indian poet, writer and playwright of the Punjabi language. He was most known for his romantic poetry, noted for its heightened passion, pathos, separation and lover's agony.

Satinder Pal Singh, popularly known as Satinder Sartaaj, is an Indian singer, songwriter, actor and poet primarily associated with Punjabi songs and films. He gained fame with his song "Sai". Since then he has performed across the world. Sartaaj made his film debut as Maharaja Duleep Singh in The Black Prince in 2017.

Aditya Puri is a senior advisor at The Carlyle Group. He was the managing director of HDFC Bank, India's largest private sector bank. He assumed this position in September 1994. Puri was the longest-serving head of any private bank in the country. India Today ranked him at #24 in India's 50 Most Powerful People of 2017 list.

Rajiv Pratap Rudy is an Indian politician from Bihar. He is a four-time Member of Parliament representing Bharatiya Janata Party. In 2024, he won from Saran (Lok Sabha constituency) in Bihar. Earlier, he won three times in 1996, 1999 and 2014 from Chapra Assembly Constituency, which later became Saran. He was also an MLA from Taraiya Assembly Constituency representing Janata...

Sunil Bharti Mittal is an Indian billionaire industrialist and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises.

Sukhbir Singh Badal is an Indian politician and businessman who served twice as the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab and is currently the president of Shiromani Akali Dal, and was a member of Parliament from the Firozpur Lok Sabha constituency. He is the son of Parkash Singh Badal, who has served five times as the Chief Minister of Punjab. He...

Sushma Swaraj was an Indian lawyer, politician and diplomat who served as the 5th Chief Minister of Delhi, and also the Minister of External Affairs of India in the First Modi ministry from 2014 to 2019. She was the second person to complete a 5-year term as the Minister of External Affairs, after Jawaharlal Nehru. A senior leader of the...

Kiran Bedi PPMG PNBB is a former tennis player who became the first Indian woman to join the officer ranks of the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972 and was the 24th lieutenant governor of Puducherry from 28 May 2016 to 16 February 2021. She remained in service for 35 years before taking voluntary retirement in 2007 as Director General,...

Kirron Anupam Kher is an Indian politician, actress, television personality, singer, and entertainment producer. She is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and was a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian Parliament, from Chandigarh, from 2014 to 2024. Through her film career, she is the recipient of two National Film Awards and a...

Vandana Shiva is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalization author. Based in Delhi, Shiva has written more than 20 books. She is often referred to as "Gandhi of grain" for her activism associated with the anti-GMO movement.

Sardara Singh Johl is an Indian agriculture economist, writer, politician and the chancellor of the Central University of Punjab. A former National Professor of Agricultural Economics of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, he served as the vice chancellor of the Punjabi University and Punjab Agricultural University during different tenures and chaired the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices set...

Gulkirat Kaur "Gul" Panag is an Indian actress, voice actress, model and politician. She was crowned Femina Miss India Universe 1999 and represented India at Miss Universe 1999. She began her career in Hindi films with the 2003 film Dhoop directed by Nagesh Kukunoor and since then, she has starred in several films like Jurm along with the TV series...

Charanjit Singh Channi is an Indian politician who served as the 16th Chief Minister of Punjab and also as leader of the house in assembly. He is a member of the Indian National Congress. He is serving as a Member of the Lok Sabha from Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency since 4 June 2024. He was also Minister of Technical Education...

Jaspal Singh Bhatti was an Indian television personality known for his satirical take on the problems of the common man. He was most well known for his television series Flop Show, Full Tension and mini capsules Ulta Pulta which ran on Doordarshan, India's public service broadcaster, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was commonly known as the "King...

Pratip Chaudhuri is an Indian banker. An alumnus of the 1974 batch of University Business School - Chandigarh, he is a former chairman of State Bank of India. He took charge from O. P. Bhatt, on 7 April 2011 and retired on 30 September 2013. Prior to that he was the Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of the International Division of...

Ved Kumari Ghai was an Indian Sanskrit scholar from Jammu City, Jammu and Kashmir. She was head of the Sanskrit department in Jammu University.

Vishwanath Tripathi is a Hindi writer. He has around 20 publications to his credit which include literary criticism, memoirs and poetry collection.

Panna Lal Punia, usually known as P. L. Punia, is an Indian politician and former Member of the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh from 2014 till 2020. He is a Dalit leader of the Indian National Congress.

Manmohan Singh was an Indian economist, bureaucrat, academician and statesman who served as the prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He was the fourth longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Narendra Modi. A member of the Indian National Congress, Singh was the first and remains the only Sikh prime minister of India. He was also...

Nuruddin Farah is a Somali novelist. His first novel, From a Crooked Rib, was published in 1970 and has been described as "one of the cornerstones of modern East African literature today". Farah has also written plays both for stage and radio, as well as short stories and essays. Since leaving Somalia in the 1970s, he has lived and taught...

Akram Hossain Khan, MBE is an English dancer and choreographer of Bangladeshi descent. His background is rooted in his classical Kathak training and contemporary dance.