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Notable Personalities In Punjab

The following is the record of all popular and renowned personalities from the state of Punjab. This list consists of persons who are well known to large population of people but it doesn’t depend on the criteria of their popularity. This list should not be considered on the basis of current situation. They may be popular only for a short period but they were widely known by all people during their phase of popularity.

Famous Personalities from Punjab


Deepak Kapoor

The twenty fifth Chief of Army Staff of our Indian Army, General Deepak Kapoor PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC (1948 born) took over his credit during 30th September 2007. He also holds the post of Chairman, Chief’s of Staffs Committee (COSC) from 31st August 2009. He got retired from his duty on March 31st 2010 and was followed by General V K Singh PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC

He served as vice-chief of our Army before taking up the post of Chief of Army Staff. General Kapoor also served as Northern Army Commander during his tenure. He has been honored as Honorary Aide-De-Camp to Supreme Commander of our Armed Forces to our President. He also served as a senior Colonel Commandant of our Regiment of Artillery.

Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda

Our Indian Navy Admiral, Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda (born on October 10th 1915) honored as eighth Chief of the Naval Staff was on duty from March 1st 1970 to February 28th 1973. Sardarilal led our Indian Navy at the time of Indo-Pakistani war during 1971 and victoriously evacuated the naval blockade of east and West Pakistan, which in turn resulted in an outstanding victory of our country in the war.

Admiral Nanda was honored in our Indian Navy for his courageous decision-making ability and also for tirelessly trouncing the bureaucracy during his journey to enhance the lifestyle of his fellow sailors and also their dependents. Because of his heroic activities in sea, he at times remarked as India’s Nelson. He was honored with Ati Vishisht Seva Medal during the year 1961 and also with Param Vishisht Seva Medal in the year 1966. The honor of Padma Vibhushan was added to him during the year 1972.

Admiral Sardarilal Nanda was expired on May 11th 2009 in New Delhi at 93 years of age. His funeral function was carried out with full-fledged honors but not well responded as his career got mandated because of the role of his family members in controversial issues.

Ranjit Singh

The founder of the great Sikh Empire, Maharaja Ranjit Singh (survived during the period of November 13th 1780 to June 27th 1839) who ruled our India during the initial years of 19th century. The empire that existed in the state of Punjab was alive during 1799 to 1849. The place was counterfeit on the basement of Khalsa during the period of Maharaja Ranjit Singh from compilation of self-governing Sikh Misls. Mahavir Ranjit Singh was survived by Kharak Singh, his son.

Sunil Mittal

A ruler in the Indian telecom industry, Sunil Bharti Mittal (born on October 23rd 1957) is a philanthropist and Chairman, Founder and also Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises. His US$8.3 billion revenue organization governs country’s largest GSM concept mobile phone services and also world’s 5th largest wireless organization covering 190 million satisfied customers across 19 different countries in Africa and Asia. Bharti Mittal was born to Satpal (our former MP) and Mrs. Lalita. In the year 2007, Mittal was honored with the country’s third grade civilian honor award, Padma Bhushan. Sunil was also focused on educating future citizens through his Bharti Foundation. His foundation has come up with more than 200 schools during the year 2009 and he is properly credited in the world’s topmost list of philanthropists.

Sobha Singh

A renowned modern painter, Sobha Singh (survived during 1901 to 1986) was from Punjab region of India. Sobha was born in Ramgarhia Sikh family on November 29th 1901 in Sri Hargobindpur which lies in the Gurdaspur district of our Punjab state. Sobha’s father, Deva Singh served in Indian Cavalry. During the year 1949, he moved to Andretta (near to Palampur) which was a remote and least popular region in Kangra valley, starting painting as his profession. Currently these places are quite significant, frequently visited by many visitors and tourists who are fond of enjoying his art gallery. This painter was awarded with various awards and distinctions with the most vital being the credit of State Artist of Punjab Government during the year 1974 and also the Padma Shri award honored by Indian Government during 1983. Punjab University, Patiala honored him with a degree of Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa).

His life and his works were broadcasted by our Ministry of Information as a documentary film in the name of ‘Painter of the People’. There is also another documentary on him prepared by the British Broadcasting Corporation. There is a postal stamp bearing Sir Sobha Singh, released by Indian Government during the year 2001.

Har Gobind Khorana

The Biochemist, Har Gobind Khorana also referred as Hargobind Khorana (survived during January 9th 1922 to November 9th 2011) was honored with a Nobel Prize in the year 1968 for his contribution in the field of Physiology or Medicine along with Marshall W. Nirenberg and also Robert W. Holley. Their exemplanary research focused on how the nucleotides present in the nucleic acids of our cells that carry our genetic code, control the protein synthesis inside the cell. Niranberg and Khorana were also honored with Louisa Gross Horwitz Price delivered by Columbia University in the year 1968.

He transformed to naturalized citizen of United States in the year 1966, followed by accomplishing the National Medal of Science. He holds the post of MIT’s Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Biology and Chemistry, Emeritus and was also an honorary member in the Board of Scientific Governors at an organization called ‘The Scripps Research Institute’.

Arjan Singh

The one and only officer in our Indian Air Force carrying a five-star rank is the Marshal Arjan Singh DFC (born on April 15th 1919). This rank is almost equal to a Field Marshal and was honored to him in the year 2002. He was born in an Aulakh family in the Punjab town coming under Lyallpur, British region of India. As Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw expired in June 2008, Marshal Arjan Singh is the one and only surviving Indian Military officer carrying a five star rank.

Raj Kapoor

The Show-Man or otherwise called as Raj Kapoor was a popular Indian film actor, director and producer of our Hindi cinema. He was honored with two National Film Awards together with nine Filmfare Awards in our country. He was also nominated twice for Palme d’Or grand prize at Cannes Film Festival for his outstanding acting in the films Awaara (in the year 1951) and also Boot Polish (in the year 1954). His acting in the film Awaara is known to be one among the top ten greatest acting among all ages in Time magazine. All his films were biggest commercial hits alluring audiences all over the world specifically in Europe and Asia. He was honored with Padma Bhushan by our Indian Government during the year 1971. He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in the year 1987 for his incredible contribution to our Indian cinema.

Amrish Puri

A notable theatre and film actor, Amrish Puri (survived during June 22nd 1932 to January 12th 2005) remained as a key person in Indian theatre movement that gained its importance during 1960’s. He had worked with renowned playwrights like Girish Karnad and Satyadev Dubey. But, he is prominently notable for his iconic negative character in our Hindi cinema and also in various other Indian and international movies. To Indians, he is well remembered for his acting as Mogambo in Hindi movie Mr.India, a Shekhar Kapoor film released in the year 1987. Western countries remember him as Mola Ram, a prominent role played by Amrish Puri in Steven Spielberg’s Hollywood movie Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones in the year 1984.

Manmohan Singh

Our 13th and present Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh (born on September 26th 1932) is a prominent economist and the only Prime Minister of our country after Jawarharlal Nehru to take up the power after successful completion of five-year full term and also the first Sikh person to hold this honorable chair.

Basically born in a place called Gah (presently in the Punjab province of Pakistan), his family shifted to India during its separation in the year 1947. Followed by his doctorate degree in economics from London Oxford University, Manmohan Singh served for United Nations during 1966-1969. He started his political career when Lalit Narayan Mishra recruited him as advisor in our Ministry of Foreign Trade. During 1970s and 1980s, Manmohan Singh served in various significant posts in our Indian Government, such as our Chief Economic Advisor (during 1972-76), our Reserve Bank Governor (1982 to 1985) and also as Planning Commission Head (during 1985 to 1987).

Navjot Singh Siddhu

Our former Indian team cricketer and Indian Member of Parliament, Navjot Singh Siddhu is basically from Amritsar (which comes under Lok Sabha Constituency). Siddhu is a proud alumnus of Yadavindra Public School in Patiala.

Following his retirement from Indian Cricket team, Navjot Siddhu focused on politics and television commentary. In the year 2006, he was convicted of homicide in 1988 road rage incident forcing him to give up his political career. But his sentence was suspended by Indian Supreme Court and he later won his by-election seat.

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