# List of Panjab University people

This is a list of people affiliated with the Panjab University. The list excludes people whose only connection with Panjab University is that they were awarded an honorary degree.

## Faculty

| Name | Affiliation | Notability |
| B. N. Goswamy | Professor of Art History | art historian known for his study of Indian miniature paintings |
| Bidyendu Mohan Deb | Professor of theoretical chemistry between 1984 and 2004 | theoretical chemist, chemical physicist and a professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata |
| Kare Narain Pathak | Vice-Chancellor (2000-2006) and Professor of Physics (1970-2001) | Condensed matter physicist, Former Vice-Chancellor & Professor Emeritus at Panjab University. UGC Emeritus Fellow |
| Kewal Krishan (forensic anthropologist) | Professor and former Chair of the Department of Anthropology | An academic known for contributions to forensic anthropology in India |

## Alumni
### Arts and literature

| Name | Class Year | Degree | College | Notability |
| Ayushmann Khurrana | | | | actor and singer |
| Babbu Maan | | | | Indian Punjabi singer and poet |
| Gul Panag | | | | actress and model |
| Irshad Kamil | | | | noted Bollywood lyricist, poet and winner of Filmfare and IIFA Awards. |
| Jaspal Bhatti | | | | Satirist and TV personality |
| Kapil Sharma | | | | Indian Comedian |
| Kanika Mann | | | | Television and film actress |
| Mahie Gill | | | | an actress who appears in Hindi films and Punjabi films. |
| Mukesh Gautam | | | | Punjabi cinema director |
| Nuruddin Farah | 1970 | | | Somali novelist |
| Priyakanta Laishram | | B.A (Sociology Honours) | | actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter and film editor. |
| Satinder Sartaaj | | | | Indian Punjabi singer and poet |
| Shilpa Anand | | Masters in Computer Applications (MCA) | | model, actress and software developer |
| Sunil Grover | | | | Comedian |
| Anupam Kher | | | | Actor |
| Harnaaz Sandhu | | B.A. M.A. | PGGC Sector 42 Chandigarh | Model who won Miss Universe 2021 Title |
| Rajesh Hamal | | | | Actor |

### Business

| Name | Class Year | Degree | College | Notability |
| F. C. Kohli | | | | first CEO of TCS. Considered as Father of Indian Software Industry |
| Pratip Chaudhuri | | 1974 | UBS | Chairman of the State Bank of India |
| Sandeep Bakhshi | | | Punjab Engineering | MD & CEO, ICICI Bank |
| Steve Sanghi | 1975 | | Punjab Engineering | CEO of Microchip Technology |
| Sunil Bharti Mittal | | | | Founder, chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises |

### Humanities and social sciences

| Name | Class Year | Degree | Notability |
| Harjinder Singh Dilgeer | | | National Professor of Sikh History, an authority on Sikh history, philosophy and scriptures; writer of Sikh History in 10 Volumes, Translator of Guru Granth Sahib (in English), creator of Navan Te Vadda Mahan Kosh (4 volumes, 2748 pages), plus writer of 60 books; presently Director of G.N. Research Institute, Birmingham, England. |
| Kavita Singh | 1996 | PhD | Professor and Infosys Prize winner |
| Romila Thapar | | | prominent Historian |

### Military

| Name | Class Year | Degree | College | Notability | References |
| Captain Vikram Batra | | B.Sc. | DAV | Kargil war hero and Param Vir Chakra awardee | |

### Politics and law
#### Heads of state and government

| Name | Class Year | Degree | College | Notability | References |
| Baburam Bhattarai | 1977 | B. Arch. | Chandigarh College of Architecture | 36th Prime Minister of Nepal | |
| Manmohan Singh | 1952; 1954 | BA (Economics); MA (Economics) | | 13th Prime Minister of India | |

#### Other politicians, civil servants, and lawyers

| Name | Class Year | Degree | College | Notability |
| Amit Rawal | | LLB | Department of Laws | Judge of Kerala High Court |
| Bhupinder Singh Hooda | | | | former Chief Minister of Haryana |
| Dalvir Singh Khangura | | | | |
| Deepak Anand | www.deepakanandmpp.ca | M.B.A | | Canada Politician |
| Jagdish Singh Khehar | 1977; 1979 | LLB; LLM | | 44th Chief Justice of India |
| Jai Ram Thakur | | | | Chief minister of Himachal Pradesh |
| Kiran Bedi, | 1970 | | | first woman IPS Officer |
| Krishan Kant Paul, | | | | former IPS who is current governor of Uttrakhand and former governor of Meghalaya;executive director of UN Women |
| Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri | | M.A. | | 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. |
| Mehr Chand Mahajan | | | | Third Chief Justice of India and former Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir |
| Rajiv Pratap Rudy | | | | former Union minister |
| Selja Kumari | | | | MP/Union Minister |
| Sherub Gyeltshen | | BA | | Member of the National Assembly of Bhutan and Minister for Home and Cultural Affairs |
| Subodh Kumar Jaiswal | | M.B.A | | CBI Director |
| Sukhbir Singh Badal | | | | Member of Parliament |
| Sukhpal Singh Khaira | | | | Member of the Legislative Assembly, Punjab, India |
| Sunil Arora | | | | IAS officer and Election Commissioner of India |
| Sushma Swaraj | | | | Minister of Foreign Affairs |
| Swatanter Kumar | | | | former Judge, Supreme Court of India |
| William Gitau | | B.Com. | | 1st Governor of the Kiambu County |
| Parminder Singh Brar | | LLB, MBA | | politician, sports administrator and lawyer |

### Science and technology

| Name | Class Year | Degree | College | Notability |
| Ajay Kumar Sood | 1971; 1972 | BSc; MSc | | |
| Atul Gurtu | | | | high energy physicist |
| G. V. R. Prasad | | | | paleontologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate |
| K. K. Aggarwal | | | | engineer, professor and eminent IT expert |
| Kalpana Chawla | | BE | Punjab Engineering | NASA Astronaut. Died on 1 February 2003 in Space Shuttle Columbia accident |
| Manohar Lal Munjal | | | | acoustical engineer, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate |
| Narinder Kumar Mehra | 1969 | B.Sc. | | immunologist |
| Radhe Mohan | | | | scientist, former Chairman of Medical Physics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center |
| Rajinder Kumar | 1954 | B.Sc. | | chemical engineer, former professor at the Indian Institute of Science; Padma Bhushan recipient |
| Ranbir Chander Sobti | 1969; 1970; 1974 | B.Sc.; M.Sc.; Ph.D. | | Cell biologist and Padma Shri awardee |
| Sampat Kumar Tandon | | | | geologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate |
| Sardul Singh Guraya | 1954; 1956; 1959 | B.Sc.; M.Sc.; Ph.D. | | developmental biologist and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize recipient |
| Sunil Saigal | 1978 | | Punjab Engineering | professor and a former dean of the Newark College of Engineering at NJIT |
| Satinder Vir Kessar | 1953 | | | organic chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate |
| Veena Tandon | 1967; 1968; 1972 | B.Sc.; M.Sc.; Ph.D. | | parasitologist and Padma Shri recipient |
| Yash Pal | 1949 | M.Sc. | | scientist and educator |

### Sports

| Name | Class Year | Degree | College | Notability |
| Anjum Moudgil | | | DAV | shooter |
| Malaika Goel | | | DAV | shooter |
| Neeraj Chopra | | | DAV | track and field athlete; olympic games 2021 gold medalist winner in javelin throw, medalist in the Asian and Commonwealth games |
| Nripjit Singh Bedi | 1958 | | | volleyball player |
| Ravi Bhardwaj | | MBA | | basketball player |
| Yashaswini Singh Deswal | | | DAV | shooter |

### Others

| Name | Class Year | Degree | Notability |
| Vandana Shiva | 1972 | BSc | environmental activist |
| Shekhar Gupta | | | Renowned Journalist, Founder and Editor-in-chief ThePrint |
| Tarun Tejpal | | | founder-editor Tehelka |