Panjab University

Panjab University   (University)
Motto	Sanskrit: तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमयत
Formation	1882
Headquarters	Chandigarh, India
Type	Public
Other name	PU
one of the most well ranked universities in India

Panjab University (PU) is a collegiate central university located in Chandigarh, India. Originated in 1882 as the University of the Punjab Lahore, it was relocated in Chandigarh in the year 1947 as the East Punjab University after the partition of India, where the university was split between India and Pakistan.

The university has 78 teaching and research departments and 10 centres/chairs for teaching and research at the main campus located at Chandigarh. It has 188 affiliated colleges spread over the eight districts of Punjab state and union-territory of Chandigarh, with Regional Centres at Muktsar, Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur cities in Punjab state. It is one of the most well ranked universities in India.

The campus is residential, spread over 550 acres (2.2 km²) in sector 14 and 25 of the city of Chandigarh. The main administrative and academic buildings are located in sector 14, beside a health centre, a sports complex, hostels and residential housing.

History

Panjab University featured on a 1989 stamp of India.

The present-day Panjab University traces its roots to the University of the Punjab established on 14 October 1882 at Lahore (now in Punjab, Pakistan). Most of the colleges affiliated to University of the Punjab were in the present Indian part of British India.

After the partition of India in 1947, the university was split into two for Indian Punjab and Pakistani Punjab. A new university was then established/relocated in the Punjab, India in 1947. To distinguish the two, the name of the university on the Indian side, the spelling for 'Punjab' was changed to Panjab. After 1947 the university had no campus of its own for nearly a decade. The administrative office was in Solan and the teaching departments functioned from Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Delhi, and Amritsar.

In 1956 the university was relocated to Chandigarh, on a red sandstone campus designed by Pierre Jeanneret under the guidance of Le Corbusier. Until the re-organisation of Punjab in 1966, the university had its regional centres at Rohtak, Shimla, Jalandhar and its affiliated colleges were in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and U.T. of Chandigarh. With the re-organisation of Punjab, the university became an Inter-State Body Corporate catering to the newly organised state of Punjab and union-territory of Chandigarh.

Faculty

Name	Affiliation	Notability	References
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
Kewal Krishan (forensic anthropologist)	Associate Professor and 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	References
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
Mahie Gill				an actress who appears in Hindi films and Punjabi films.
Mukesh Gautam				Punjabi cinema director
Nuruddin Farah	1970			Somali novelist
Satinder Sartaaj				Indian Punjabi singer and poet
Shilpa Anand				model

Business

Name	Class Year	Degree	College	Notability	References
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	College	Notability	References
Harjinder Singh Dilgeer				National Professor of Sikh History, an authority on Sikh history, philosophy and scriptures, writer of 60 books
Kavita Singh	1996	PhD		Professor and Infosys Prize winner
Romila Thapar				prominent Historian

Military

Name	Class Year	Degree	College	Notability	References
Vikram Batra		B.Sc.	DAV	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	References
Bhupinder Singh Hooda				former Chief Minister of Haryana
Justice 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
Mehr Chand Mahajan				Third Chief Justice of India and former Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
Selja Kumari				MP/Union Minister
Sherub Gyeltshen		BA		Member of the National Assembly of Bhutan and Minister for Home and Cultural Affairs
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
Amit Rawal		LLB	Department of Laws	Judge of Kerala High Court
Rajiv Pratap Rudy				former Union minister
William Gitau		B.Com.		1st Governor of the Kiambu County

Science and technology

Name	Class Year	Degree	College	Notability	References
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 The Punjab Engineering College was affiliated to the Panjab University between 1953 and 2003.</ref>
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	References
Anjum Moudgil			DAV	shooter
Malaika Goel			DAV	shooter
Neeraj Chopra			DAV	track and field athlete; 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	College	Notability	References
Vandana Shiva	1972	BSc		environmental activist

• Tarun Tejpal, founder-editor Tehelka

 

Alumni on Wikispooks

Person	Born	Nationality	Summary	Description
Vandana Shiva	5 November 1952	India	Author Activist Philosopher Environmentalist	Anti-globalization and anti-GMO activist
Manmohan Singh	26 September 1932	India	Politician Economist	Le Cercle

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.