List of Panjab University people
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of people affiliated with the Panjab University at Chandigarh. The list excludes people whose only connection with Panjab University is that they were awarded an honorary degree.
Faculty
- Bidyendu Mohan Deb – Professor of theoretical chemistry between 1984 and 2004
- B. N. Goswamy – Professor of art history; known for his study of Indian miniature paintings[1]
- Kewal Krishan (forensic anthropologist) – Professor and former chair of anthropology; known for contributions to forensic anthropology
- Kare Narain Pathak – Vice-Chancellor (2000-2006) and professor of physics (1970-2001); condensed matter physicist; UGC Emeritus Fellow[2]
Alumni
Arts and literature
- Amitoj – Punjabi poet[3]
- Ohanna Shivanand – model, actress and software developer || [4]
- Jaspal Bhatti – satirist and TV personality[5]
- Nuruddin Farah – Somali novelist
- Mukesh Gautam – Punjabi cinema director
- Mahie Gill – actress who appeared in Hindi films and Punjabi films
- Sunil Grover – comedian
- Rajesh Hamal – actor
- Irshad Kamil – Bollywood lyricist, poet and winner of Filmfare and IIFA Awards
- Anupam Kher – actor
- Ayushmann Khurrana – actor and singer
- Priyakanta Laishram – actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter and film editor[6]
- Babbu Maan – Indian Punjabi singer and poet
- Kanika Mann – television and film actress[5]
- Gul Panag – actress and model[7]
- Harnaaz Sandhu – model who won Miss Universe 2021[8]
- Satinder Sartaaj – Indian Punjabi singer and poet[5]
- Kapil Sharma – Indian comedian[5]
Business
- Sandeep Bakhshi – MD & CEO, ICICI Bank[note 1]
- Pratip Chaudhuri – Chairman of the State Bank of India
- Sunil Mittal – founder, Chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises[9]
- Steve Sanghi – CEO of Microchip Technology[note 1]
Humanities and social sciences
- Harjinder Singh Dilgeer – historian; national professor of Sikh history; an authority on Sikh history, philosophy and scriptures; presently Director of G.N. Research Institute, Birmingham, England; author[a]
- Kavita Singh – academic and Infosys Prize winner[10]
- Romila Thapar – prominent historian[5]
Military
- Vikram Batra – Kargil war hero and Param Vir Chakra recipient[11]
Politics and law
Heads of state and government
Other politicians, civil servants, and lawyers
- Deepak Anand – Canadian politician
- Sunil Arora – IAS officer and Election Commissioner of India[13]
- Sukhbir Singh Badal – Member of Parliament[5]
- Kiran Bedi – first woman IPS officer[5]
- Parminder Singh Brar – politician, sports administrator and lawyer
- William Gitau – first Governor of the Kiambu County
- Sherub Gyeltshen – member of the National Assembly (Bhutan) and Ministry of Home Affairs (Bhutan)
- Bhupinder Singh Hooda – former Chief Minister of Haryana[5]
- Subodh Kumar Jaiswal – CBI director
- Sukhpal Singh Khaira – Member of the Legislative Assembly, Punjab, India
- Dalvir Singh Khangura –
- Jagdish Singh Khehar – 44th Chief Justice of India[14]
- Swatanter Kumar – former Judge, Supreme Court of India[5]
- Selja Kumari – MP/Union Minister[5]
- Mehr Chand Mahajan – third Chief Justice of India and former Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
- Tuhin Kanta Pandey – Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India
- Krishan Kant Paul – former IPS who is current governor of Uttrakhand and former governor of Meghalaya;executive director of UN Women
- Lakshmi Puri – India's ambassador to Hungary (with accreditation to Bosnia and Herzegovina), 1999–2002; UN Director of UN-OHRLLS, 2009–2011; Assistant Secretary-General for Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnerships at UN Women, 2011 until her retirement[15][16][17]
- Amit Rawal – Judge of the Kerala High Court[18]
- Rajiv Pratap Rudy – former Union minister[19]
- Abhinav Singh – Advocate, Author, International Scholar, Criminologist and Historian[20]
- T. V. Somanathan – Cabinet Secretary of India
- Sushma Swaraj – Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of India[5]
- Jai Ram Thakur – Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh
Science and technology
- K. K. Aggarwal – engineer, professor and eminent IT expert[21]
- Kalpana Chawla – NASA Astronaut. Died on 1 February 2003 in Space Shuttle Columbia accident[note 1][22]
- Sardul Singh Guraya – Developmental biologist and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize recipient
- Atul Gurtu – high energy physicist
- Satinder Vir Kessar – organic chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
- Rajinder Kumar – chemical engineer, former professor at the Indian Institute of Science; Padma Bhushan recipient
- Narinder Kumar Mehra – immunologist
- Radhe Mohan – scientist, former Chairman of Medical Physics at the MD Anderson Cancer Center[23]
- Manohar Lal Munjal – acoustical engineer, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
- Yash Pal – scientist and educator[24]
- G. V. R. Prasad – paleontologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
- Sunil Saigal – Professor and a former dean of the Newark College of Engineering at NJIT, New Jersey[note 1]
- Ranbir Chander Sobti – cell biologist and Padma Shri awardee
- Ajay K. Sood –
- Sampat Kumar Tandon – Geologist, A Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
- Veena Tandon – Parasitologist and Padma Shri recipient
Sports
- Nripjit Singh Bedi – volleyball player
- Ravi Bhardwaj – basketball player[25]
- Neeraj Chopra – track and field athlete; 2020 Summer Olympics gold medalist in javelin; medalist in the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games[26]
- Yashaswini Singh Deswal – shooter
- Malaika Goel – shooter
- Anjum Moudgil – shooter[27][28]
Others
- Azad Singh Punia – Assistant Commandant in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP); awarded a PhD in History from Panjab University in 2025 for his research on Ruchi Ram Sahni while stationed in remote regions of Arunachal Pradesh.[29]
- Shekhar Gupta – journalist, founder and editor-in-chief of ThePrint
- Vandana Shiva – environmental activist
- Tarun Tejpal – founder-editor Tehelka[30]