CHANDIGARH : It’s an institution that has had the likes of a president, prime ministers, Union Cabinet ministers, Nobel laureates, governors, chief ministers, actors and other distinguished people on its rolls.As Panjab University in Chandigarh gets down to hosting its biggest alumni meet in February next year - what it calls the “first of its kind of event ever organised at the university-level” in India - a lot of other notable people from around the globe too are likely to be part of it.The unique alumni meet is for the real old-timers of the university -- those who graduated or did their post-graduation from the institution prior to 1970.
“The event, to be held on February 19 and 20, will be the first of its kind ever organised at the university-level in India. Many unknown alumni who are serving Indian society and people abroad in various capacities will have an opportunity to visit their alma mater,” Panjab University Vice Chancellor R C Sobti said.
Established in 1882 in Lahore, now in Pakistan, Panjab University was relocated to its present sprawling campus in Chandigarh’s Sector 14 and 25 in 1956. It is one of the oldest universities in the country.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leads the list of alumni from the university. He was a student of the university in the 1950s and later became part of the faculty in the Economics Department. At the young age of 32 years, he became a professor in the varsity.
Sobti said besides the Prime Minister, five of his Cabinet colleagues, including Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, Tourism Minister Kumari Selja, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Sports Minister M S Gill are the university’s alumni.
Former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral is also an alumnus of the university. Former president Shankar Dayal Sharma, who died in 1999, had also studied there.
Other notable alumni from the university include Leader of the Opposition, Sushma Swaraj, her husband and former governor Swaraj Kaushal, Nobel laureate Hargobind Khorana, late Indian American astronaut Kalpana Chawla, first Nobel laureate from Pakistan Mohammed Abdus Salam and India’s first woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi.
Also in the list are Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra
