List of Jawaharlal Nehru University people

This is a list of people associated with the Jawaharlal Nehru University. Excluded are those people whose only connection with JNU is that they were awarded an honorary degree.

Alumni

Arts

Name	Class Year	Degree	Notability	References
Sanjay Chauhan (screenwriter)		MA, MPhil (Centre for Indian Languages, School of Languages)	Film story, Screenplay, Dialogue writer, Author [I am Kalam; Sahib Biwi aur Gangster; Paan Singh Tomar; Urmi, Main Aur Pradhan Mantri]
P. Jaya Kumar		MA (Arts and Aesthetics)	Filmmaker, Screenwriter, Author	[1]
Srijit Mukherji			Bengali film director	[2]
Swara Bhaskar		MA (Sociology)	Bollywood actress	[3]
Archishman Sarker		MA (Arts and Aesthetics), MPhil (Art History)	Indian art historian	[4][5]
Shaunak Sen		PhD (Arts and Aesthetics)	Indian filmmaker, winner of Golden Eye award	[6]
B. V. Nandini Reddy	1994	International Politics	Telugu Film Director

Politics and Law

Heads of State and Government

Name	Class Year	Degree	Notability	References
Baburam Bhattarai	1986	PhD in Urban Planning	36th Prime Minister of Nepal	[7]
Ali Zeidan			24th Prime Minister of Libya	[8][9]

Others

Name	Class Year	Degree	Notability	References
Ajit Seth		M.Phil	30th Cabinet Secretary of India	[10][11]
Mukul Arya			Ambassador of India to Palestine	[12]
Ajit Seth		M.Phil	30th Cabinet Secretary of India	[13][14]
Amitabh Kant		MA	CEO of NITI Aayog	[15]
Amitabh Rajan		MA (History); PhD (Sociology)	Home Secretary of Maharashtra, Chairman of Reserve Bank of India Services Board	[16]
Arvind Gupta		PhD (School of International Studies)	Deputy National Security Advisor of India	[17]
Ashok Tanwar			Former President of Indian Youth Congress
Aishe Ghosh		MA, M.Phil	Student Activist
Muhammed Muhsin		PhD in Social Work	Politician Communist Party of India, MLA - Kerala Legislative Assembly
Dipsita Dhar			Student Activist
Chandan Kumar		Master in Computer Science	Student Activist
Gurjit Singh
Lê Lương Minh			13th Secretary General of ASEAN	[18]
Jyotindra Dixit		PhD (School of International Studies)[19]	2nd National Security Adviser	[19]
Nirmala Sitharaman	1984	MA (Economics); M.Phil.	Former Defense Minister of India Finance Minister, India	[20]
Palagummi Sainath			Renowned journalist, Ramon Magsaysay Laureate
Prakash Karat		M.Phil & PhD	Former General Secretary of Communist Party of India Marxist
Ranjit Nayak		MA (Sociology)	World Bank's Chief for Kosovo Chief Adviser of Macedonia on International & EU affairs
Pradeep Narwal		MA (History)	INC Politician AICC Secretary	[21]
Shehla Rashid		MA (Sociology)	student activist	[22]
Sitaram Yechury			General Secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist)	[23]
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar		MA (Political Science); M.Phil. & PhD in International Relations	IFS Officer, 30th Foreign Secretary of India Minister of External Affairs	[24][25]
Syed Ibrahim		MA	24th Director of Intelligence Bureau
Venu Rajamony		MA in International Relations	IFS Officer. Former Press Secretary to President of India Former Indian Ambassador to Netherlands.	[26][27]

Humanities and Social Sciences

Name	Class Year	Degree	Notability	References
Abhijit Banerjee	1983	MA in Economics	Nobel laureate and Ford Foundation Professor at MIT	[28][29][30]
Anant Kumar	1990	BA in German	Award-winning German Writer in Kassel and Resident Writer of Royal City Gotha	[31]
David Vumlallian Zou		MA; M.Phil.	historian
Muzaffar Alam	1977		George V. Bobrinsky Professor of History at University of Chicago	[32]
Sanjoy Bhattacharya		MA	historian	[33]
Bishnu Mohapatra		Mphil	Political Scientist and Poet
Abhay Xaxa	2018	M.Phil; PhD (sociology)	Human rights activist, poet and anthropologist	[34][35]

Military and police

Name	Class Year	Degree	Notability	References
R. Hari Kumar			Chief of naval staff of the Indian Navy	[36]
Anjana Sinha		Master of Arts	Director of National Industrial Security Academy
Soumen Mitra		MPhill	Police Commissioner of Kolkata	[37]

Science and Technology

Name	Class Year	Degree	Notability	References
Alok Bhattacharya	1976	PhD	Parasitologist and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate	[38]
Amita Sehgal	1982	M.Sc.	Molecular Biologist, ChronobiologistMember of National Academy of Sciences since 2016	[39]
Apurva Sarin			Cell biologist, N-Bios laureate	[40]
Arun Kumar Shukla	2002	M.Sc.	Structural Biologist, N-Bios laureate, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate, Infosys Prize laureate	[41]
Gaiti Hasan	1980	MPhil	microbiologist	[42]
Seyed E. Hasnain	1980	PhD	biologist	[43]
Srinivasan Ramachandran			bioinformatician, N-Bios laureate	[44]
Suman Kumar Dhar			Molecular biologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate	[45]
Somdatta Sinha	1982	PhD	Biologist	[46]

Others

• Brahma Chellaney, columnist and author on geostrategic affairs
• Harun Rashid Khan, Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India (2011 to 2016)
• Umesh Upadhyay, President & Director Media at Reliance Industries Limited
• Pankaj Mishra, novelist and essayist.^[47]
• Ashok Kumar Sarangi, Chief Vigilance Officer and CGM-in-Charge, Reserve Bank of India
• Jawed Habib, hairdresser and businessman^[48][49]
• Geetanjali Shree, Novelist and short-story writer, winner of International Booker prize
• Asad Zaidi, Hindi poet, literary critic, publisher, and translator
• Vijoo Krishnan, General Secretary, All India Kissan Sabha
• Yogendra Yadav, Phsephologist , Founder member of Aam Aadmi Party .
• Sanal Edamaruku, Indian Rationalist
• Shekar Natarajan – Supply chain executive and engineer

Faculty

See also: Category:Academic staff of Jawaharlal Nehru University

Name	Affiliation	Notability	References
Anvita Abbi	Professor of Linguistics		[50][51]
Ayesha Kidwai	Professor of Linguistics	theoretical linguist and Infosys Prize recipient
Balaji Prakash		biochemist, N-Bios laureate	[52]
Birendra Nath Mallick,		Neurobiologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate	[53]
Brahm Shanker Srivastava,		microbiologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate	[54]
Deepak Kumar	Professor of Physics between 1988 and 2016	physicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate	[55]
Franson Manjali	Professor of linguistics.
Joy Pachuau	Professor of Historical studies	historian	[56]
Kapil Kapoor	Professor of Linguistics & English, Chairman Indian Institute of Advanced Study		[citation needed]
Kavita Singh	Professor of Art History between 2001 and 2023		[57]
Mahendra P. Lama	Professor, JNU	vice chancellor of Sikkim University	[58][59]
Makarand Paranjape	Professor of English between 1999 and 2018	author, poet, and director of Indian Institute of Advanced Study	[60][61]
Muchkund Dubey	Former Professor of International Relations	17th Foreign Secretary of India
Nivedita Menon	Professor of Political thought		[62]
Pius Malekandathil	Former Professor of History	Historian and author
Prabhat Patnaik	Former Professor of Economics
Pratiksha Baxi
Pushpesh Pant	Professor of International relations	food critic and writer	[63]
Raja Mohan			[64]
Robert L. Holmes		philosopher
Sanjay Puri	held various positions since 1987	Statistical physicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate	[65]
Syed Iqbal Hasnain		glaciologist, writer, and climate change activist
Gopal Guru	Professor of Political Studies, Editor of Economic and Political Weekly	He received Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for Distinguished Contribution to Development Studies for 2013–14
Dwaipayan Bhattacharyya	Professor of Political Studies	Political Scientist
Zoya Hassan	Professor of Political Studies	Member of the National Commission for Minorities from 2006 to 2009, Political Scientist
Ajay Gudavarthy	Professor of Political Studies