Alumni

Shri Narendrabhai Modi
Hon'ble Prime Minister

Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is the 14th and current Prime Minister of India, in office since 26 May 2014.he received a Master of Arts degree in political science from Gujarat University in 1982.

Shri Amitbhai Shah
Minister of Home Affairs of India

Amit Shah is an Indian politician and and the current President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).He had gained recognition as an excellent election campaign manager, and had been dubbed a "modern day Chanakya and master strategist"

Dr. K. Kasturirangan
Indian Space Scientist

Dr.Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan is an Indian space scientist who headed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from 1994 to 2003. He was a Member in the Upper House (Rajya Sabha, 2003–2009) of the Indian Parliament.

Shri Aziz Ahmadi
26th Chief Justice of India

Aziz Ahmadi was the 26th Chief Justice of India. After serving as a judge in the Gujarat High Court, Ahmadi was appointed judge to the Supreme Court in 1988. He was then elevated to the post of Chief Justice, and served from 1994–1997.

Shri Pankaj Patel
Chairman, Zydus Cadila

Pankaj Ramanbhai Patel (born 1951) is an Indian businessman, the chairman and managing director of Cadila Healthcare, the fifth largest pharmaceutical company in India.

Shri Hargovind Trivedi
Indian Nephrologist

Dr. Hargovind Laxmishanker Trivedi is an Indian nephrologist, the director of G. R. Doshi and K. M. Mehta Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre and a former member of faculty of B.J. Medical College, Ahmedabad.

Shri Sudhir Mehta
Chairman, Torrent Group

Sudhir Mehta is an Indian billionaire businessman. Together with his brother, Samir, they run Torrent Group, which was founded by their father.In May 2015, the brothers' net worth was estimated at US$3.1 billion.

Shri Pranav Mistry
Computer Scientist and Inventor

Pranav Mistry is a computer scientist and Inventor. At present, he is the Global Vice President of Research at Samsung and the head of Think Tank Team. He is best known for his work on SixthSense, Samsung Galaxy Gear and Project Beyond.

Shri Kumarpal Desai
Author, Critic, Columnist and Translator

Kumarpal Balabhai Desai is an author, critic,columnist and translator from Indian state of Gujarat.He has written over 100 books. He is Director of Gujarat University's School of Languages and Dean of Faculty of Arts.

Hasmukh Adhia
Civil servant

Hasmukh Adhia, IAS is an Indian Banker and a civil servant. He is one of the key persons behind the architecture and roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax & Demonetization scheme announced in 2016. He is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1981 Gujarat cadre batch who served as Finance Secretary and Revenue Secretary of State. He previously served in several capacities for the Indian and Gujarat governments, including as Financial Services Secretary. He is the present Non-Executive Chairman of Bank of Baroda. A week after the government nominated him chairman of state-owned Bank of Baroda, he was appointed as the Chancellor of Central University of Gujarat.

Ela Bhatt
Politician, social worker, trade union, lawyer, activist

Ela Ramesh Bhatt is an Indian cooperative organiser, activist and Gandhian, who found the Self-Employed Women`s Association of India (SEWA) in 1972, and served as its general secretary from 1972 to 1996. She is the current chancellor of the Gujarat Vidyapith. A lawyer by training, Bhatt is a part of the international labour, cooperative, women, and micro-finance movements and has won several national and international awards, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1977), Right Livelihood Award (1984) for "helping home-based producers to organise for their welfare and self-respect" and the Padma Bhushan (1986).

Raghuveer Chaudhari
Writer, poet, literary critic

Raghuveer Chaudhari is a novelist, poet and critic from Gujarat, India. He has also worked as a columnist for numerous newspapers, such as Sandesh, Janmabhumi, Nirikshaka and Divya Bhaskar. He was a teacher at the Gujarat University until his retirement in 1998. His most significant contributions have been in Gujarati language but he has also written Hindi articles. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977, for his novel trilogy Uparvas. He received Jnanpith Award, considered to be India`s highest literary award, in 2015. In 2019, he was awarded a D.Lit. by Gujarat University.

Kaajal Oza Vaidya
Journalist, writer, screenwriter

Kaajal Oza Vaidya is an author, screenwriter, radio personality and journalist from Ahmedabad, India. She initially worked as a journalist and actress. She has written more than 56 books including novels, short stories and essays. She has written stories, dialogues and scripts of soap operas and films. She writes columns in several publications and hosts a radio show.

Ashis Nandy
Sociologist, psychologist, writer academic

Ashis Nandy is an political psychologist, social theorist, and critic. A trained clinical psychologist, Nandy has provided theoretical critiques of European colonialism, development, modernity, secularism, Hindutva, science, technology, nuclearism, cosmopolitanism, and utopia. He has also offered alternative conceptions relating to cosmopolitanism and critical traditionalism. In addition to the above, Nandy has offered an original historical profile of India`s commercial cinema as well as critiques of state and violence.

Anil Chavda
Poet

Anil Chavda is a Gujarati language poet, writer and columnist from Gujarat, India.

Chandrakant Topiwala
poet, literary critic, translator

Chandrakant Amritlal Topiwala is a Gujarati language poet and critic from Gujarat, India.

Saumya Joshi
poet, play wright actor

Saumya Joshi is an Indian poet, writer, playwright, director and actor associated with Gujarati language literature, theatre and films. He is known in Gujarati theatre for his plays Welcome Zindagi and 102 Not Out. Greenroomma is his collection of poems. He has been awarded by Chandravadan Chimanlal Mehta Award for his contribution to Gujarati theatre in 2013. He is also recipient of the Yuva Gaurav Puraskar (2007) and Takhtasinh Parmar Prize (2008-09).

Labhshankar Thakar
poet, play wright novelist

Labhshankar Jadavji Thakar, also known by his pen names Lagharo and Vaidya Punarvasu, was a Gujarati poet, playwright and story writer from India. Educated in languages and Ayurveda, he taught at colleges before starting practice of Ayurveda. He had a modernist approach in literature and was heavily influenced by absurd theatre and the traditions of experimental literature. He chiefly wrote plays and poetry.

Anjali Bansal
Engineer

Anjali Bansal is the founder of Avaana Capital, investing in technology and innovation-led start-ups who are catalysing climate action and sustainability and delivering exponential returns. She has invested in various successful startups including Nykaa, Delhivery, UrbanClap, Darwinbox, Coverstack, Farmart, and Lenskart.

Kumarpal Desai
Writer, literary critic, children`s writer

Kumarpal Balabhai Desai is an author, critic, editor, journalist, columnist and translator from Gujarat, India. He studied and later taught at the Gujarat University. He is associated with several social and Gujarati literary organisations such as Gujarati Sahitya Parishad. He has written and edited more than hundred books including biographies and several works on Jainism. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2004.

Kadambari Jethwani
Actor, Model

Kadambari Jethwani is an UAE-based Indian entrepreneur, US-qualified medical doctor, HSC Board Exam Topper, internationally published medical author, and former film actress, model and beauty pageant title holder, who is known for her work in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Punjabi films, and her modeling campaigns.

Ankit Trivedi
Poet, columnist, editor, writer

Ankit Trivedi is a Gujarati language poet, writer, columnist, and emcee from Gujarat, India. His significant works include Gazal Purvak (collection of ghazals) and Geet Purvak (collection of geets). The Indian National Theater in Mumbai awarded him the 2008 Shayda Award for his contribution to Gujarati ghazal. He has received the Takhtasinh Parmar Prize literary award, Yuva Gaurav Puraskar award, and the Yuva Puraskar award. He edited Gazalvishwa, a Gujarati ghazal poetry journal, from 2006 to 2007.

Stalin K
Film director, Human rights activist

Stalin K. is an Indian documentary filmmaker, media and human rights activist. His films, Lesser Humans and India Untouched, on the issue of caste and untouchability in contemporary India, have galvanized international attention to caste discrimination and won numerous film awards. He has done pioneering work on new models of community media to empower marginalized groups.

Dinkar Joshi
Writer, novelist, banker

Dinkar Joshi is a Gujarati language author from India. He has written more than 160 books including novels, short story collections, essay collections and columns.

Abhinay Banker
Actor

Abhinay Banker is an actor, director, and writer who works in Gujarati cinema and theatre. After several theatre performances in his early career, he received recognition for his performance in Gujarati play Welcome Zindagi (2010), written and directed by Saumya Joshi, which has been performed over 650 times worldwide. He acted in Gujarati film Kevi Rite Jaish (2012).

Anil Joshi
Poet

Anil Joshi is a Gujarati language poet and essayist from Gujarat, India. He won Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujarati in 1990 for his essay collection Statue (1988). His significant works include Kadach (1970; Collection of poems), Barafna Pankhi (1981; Collection of poems) and Pavan Ni Vyaspithe (1988; Collection of Essay).

Priti Sengupta
Poet, Writer

Priti Sengupta is a Gujarati poet and writer from Gujarat, India. She received Kumar Suvarna Chandrak in 2006. She has written several travelogues.

Rajendra Shukla
Poet

Rajendra Anantrai Shukla is a Gujarati poet. He taught at various places before voluntarily retiring. He published several poetry collections which won him several major Gujarati literary awards.

Rajesh Vyas
Poet, Editor

Rajesh Vyas, better known by his pen name Miskin, is a Gujarati poet from India. Born and brought up in Ahmedabad, he completed his doctorate in Gujarati literature. He writes ghazal poetry and columns in various publications.

Bindu Bhatt
Short story , writer, novelist, essayist

Bindu Bhat is a Gujarati language novelist, storywriter, critic and translator from Gujarat, India. Her novel Akhepatar received the Sahitya Akademi Award for the year 2003. Her other significant works include Mira Yagnikni Dayari (1992) and Bandhani (2009).

Harsh Brahmbhatt
Poet, Editor

Harsh Brahmbhatt is a Gujarati language poet and writer from Gujarat, India. He has also made significant contributions to the Urdu ghazal form. He is a recipient of several awards, including the Shayda Award, Kalapi Award, Kumar Suvarna Chandrak and Dhanji Kanji Gandhi Suvarna Chandrak.

Susmita Mohanty
Entrepreneur

Dr. Susmita Mohanty is an Indian spaceship designer, serial space entrepreneur and a climate action advocate. She is well known for her research on space related topics. She co-founded India`s first private space start-up, Earth2Orbit in 2009. She is the only space entrepreneur in the world to have started companies on three different continents in Asia, Europe and North America. Susmita is one of the few people to have visited both the Arctic and Antarctica.

Harshadev Madhav
Poet

Harshadev Madhav is a Sanskrit and Gujarati language poet and writer who won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit in 2006 for his work of poetry, Tava Sparshe Sparshe. He had composed over 2200 poems in Sanskrit as of 1992.

Phoolchand Gupta
poet, writer, translator

Phoolchand Gupta is an Indian Hindi and Gujarati language poet, writer and translator. He hails from Himmatnagar, Gujarat, India. He made significant contributions to the Gujarati Dalit literature. Hindi Sahitya Akademi of state awarded him in 2013 for his book Khwabkhwahon Ki Sadi Hai. He won the Shafdar Hashmi Prize (2000) for his book Isi Mahol Mein.

Mohan Parmar
literary critic, short story writer, novelist

Mohan Parmar is a Gujarati language short story writer, novelist and critic. Parmar won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujarati in 2011 for his short story collection Anchalo. He was earlier editor of Hayati, an organ of Gujarati Dalit Sahitya Akademi, along with Harish Mangalam. He served as deputy editor of Parab, a monthly journal of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad.

Kishorsingh Solanki
Writer, poet, novelist, teacher

Kishorsinh Hinduji Solanki is a Gujarati poet and novelist from Gujarat, India. He is an editor of Shabdasar, a Gujarati literary magazine.

Vijay Shastri
Writer, short story writer, translator, editor, novelist

Vijay Ramanlal Shastri is an Indian Gujarati language short story writer, novelist, critic and translator. He was educated and worked at the M. T. B. Arts College in Surat and has written more than two hundred short stories in addition to several works of criticism.

Praful Raval
Writer, poet

Praful Raval is a Gujarati teacher, poet, essayist and short story writer. Raval is a co-editor of Kavilok and Kumar and works as a general secretary of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad. He received Kumar Suvarna Chandrak in 1982.

Bhavin Gopani
Poet

Bhavin Gopani is a Gujarati language ghazal poet from Gujarat, India. His significant works include Umbaro (2016) and Orado (2016), collections of ghazals. The INT - Indian National Theater, Mumbai, awarded him the Shayda Award in 2016 for his contributions to Gujarati ghazal poetry.

Bhupendra Nath Goswami
Meteorologist

Bhupendra Nath Goswami is an Indian meteorologist, climatologist, a former director of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM). and a Pisharoty Chair Professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research. He is known for his researches on the Indian monsoon dynamics and is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz. Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences, India as well as The World Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences in 1995.

Dhirendra Mehta
writer, poet, literary critic, children`s writer

Dhirendra Pritamlal Mehta is a Gujarati novelist, poet, critic and editor who received the 2010 Sahitya Akademi Award for Gujarati language for his novel Chhavni.

Rajendra Patel
Poet, short story writer, literary critic

Rajendra Patel is a Gujarati language poet, short story writer and critic from Gujarat, India. He has served as Vice President of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad since 2014. His significant works include Jueeni Sugandha (2003; collection of short stories), Shri Purant Janse (2009; collection of poems) and Avagat (2014; collection of criticism). Gujarat Sahitya Akademi awarded him three times for his poems, short stories and criticism. His book Jueeni Sugandh was translated by Navneet Thakkar in Hindi as Juhi Ki Mahak (2007). He also served in the editorial team of Shabdasrishti, a monthly magazine published by Gujarat Sahitya Akademi.

Harikrishna Pathak
Poet, children`s writer

Harikrishna Pathak is a Gujarati poet, short story writer, editor and children`s writer from Gujarat, India.

Manjula Pradeep
Human rights activist

Manjula Pradeep is an Indian human rights activist and a lawyer. She is the former Executive Director of Navsarjan Trust, one of the largest Dalit rights organizations in India, addressing the issues of caste discrimination and gender based discrimination.

Manhar Modi
Poet, teacher, literary critic

Manhar Modi was a Gujarati poet from Gujarat, India. Born and educated in Ahmedabad, he taught Gujarati at various colleges and edited several magazines. He was experimental in his poetry.

Yoseph Macwan
Writer, poet, children`s writer, critic, essayist

Yoseph Macwan is a Gujarati poet and critic from Gujarat, India. He is also well known for his contribution in Gujarati children`s literature.

Pravin Pandya
Poet, play wright, screen writer

Pravin Pandya is a Gujarati language poet, writer, playwright and dramatist from Gujarat, India. His significant works include Ajavasnan Matsya (1994), India Lodge (2003), Hathiraja Ane Bija Natako (2004) and Barda Na Dungar (2009). He is noted in Gujarati literature for his theatre activism and his dramatized adaptations of Hindi poet Shamser Bahadur Singh`s works. He won Uma-Snehrashmi Prize (2008–09) for his book Barda Na Dungar.

Vibhut Shah
Writer, librarian

Vibhut Shah was a contemporary Gujarati novelist, playwright and short story writer from India.

Makrand Mehta
Social historian

Makrand Mehta is a social and business historian from Gujarat, India.

Mukund Parikh
Novelist, poet, play wright

Mukund Parikh is a Gujarati novelist, poet and playwright from Gujarat, India.