Distinguished Alumni Sardar Patel Vidyalaya

ACHAL JOTI

WIKIPED I A A CH A L J O T I

*1969 HS from SPV.A topper *Joined the IAS Gujarat cadre *Retired the Chief Secretary *Appointed the Chief Election Commissioner of India

This is a biography of Dr Raghubhai Nayak our school' s founding Principal. Freda Whitman was a distinguished educationist in Australia. After retiring as the principal of a public school in Sydney she devoted her time and energy to social and educational work among the less privileged and important health and education committees advising the governments. Her father was a legal adviser to the Australian government and represented Australia on the Human Rights Commission of the UN. Freda' s brother Gough Whitlam was also a lawyer and he became the Prime Minister of Australia.

Freda devotes a full chapter 17 to Sardar Patel Vidyalaya. On pages 236-237 she interviews Achal Jyoti a distinguished alumnus who was then the Commissioner of Education of Gujarat.

Achal' s comments: "The Commissioner of Education in Gujarat state Achal Kumar Jyoti was the people of SPV for eleven years. He believes the most important lessons he received at school were selfdiscipline, respect and concern for the poor and deprived in society and enough self-confidence to feel that he could cope on his own.

He particularly enjoyed the extracurricular cultural activities like drama. He was a regular participant in the school speaking competitions and appreciated the criticisms of very varied judges the principals invited to the school.

Mr Jyoti remembers the fundraising by the whole school family to build the auditorium on which Raghubhai insisted. As a child growing up in the national capital he had no association with the village world and feels the experience of working and staying in Mandi help his understanding of the diversity of India, as did the Friday Collection. When he went to college for his BSc degree and in the Indian Administrative Service, he feels his comprehensive educational opportunities have given him a decided advantage.

He feels gratitude and respect for Raghbhai because he first disciplined himself before he expected self-discipline from others and his preaching followed his own practice."

ABHIJIT SEN *1967 HS from SPV

Professor Abhijit Sen, a leading expert on the rural economy and a former member of the Planning Commission, died in August 2022 at 72 age.

In an academic career spanning over four decades, Sen taught economics at Sussex, Oxford, Cambridge and Essex before joining the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1985.

There, along with economists like Krishna Bharadwaj, Prabhat Pattnaik, C.P. Chandrashekhar, Amit Bhaduri and his wife Jayati Ghosh, he helped build the department’s reputation as a leading centre for development economics and the study of the Indian economy.

Apart from his teaching and research, Sen played a crucial role on the policy side too. In 1997, the United Front government appointed him chairman of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices – the ministry of agriculture body tasked with recommending minimum support prices for a number of farm commodities. When his term ended three years later, he was asked by the National Democratic Alliance government to head the High-Level Committee of Experts on Long-Term Grain Policy. Among the recommendations the committee made was to introduce a universal public distribution system (PDS) for rice and wheat for all consumers across India, and for the CACP to be made an empowered, statutory body.

In 2004, he was made a member of the Planning Commission – then the apex policy-making body on national economic matters – for a five-year term, and was reappointed in 2009. There, inter alia, he continued his advocacy of universal PDS and remunerative prices for farmers – even though this was at variance with the official policies of the Manmohan Singh government. He also dealt with the problem of commodity futures trading in India. In 2014, the Narendra Modi government replaced the Planning Commission with the Niti Aayog.

Born in Jamshedpur on November 18, 1950, Sen went to school at the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in Delhi before studying Physics at St Stephen’s College at Delhi University. Switching to economics, Sen earned his PhD from Cambridge for his thesis, ‘The agrarian constraint to economic development: The case of India’ under the supervision of Suzy Paine.

Apart from his work with the CACP and Planning Commission, Sen’s expertise was regularly tapped by the UNDP, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Asian Development Bank.

In 2010, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan for public service.

He is survived by his wife, the economist Jayati Ghosh, and daughter, Jahnavi Sen

KETAN MEHTA *1969 HS from SPV Name on the roll of honour

WIKIPED I A K ET A N M E H T A

SANJIV HANDA *1968 HS from SPV *Joined the Indian Railways *Retired Member Mechanical Railway Board

In 2010 Mr Sanjiv Handa, who was the General Manager of the East Central Railway, took over as the Member Mechanical, Railway Board and ex-officio Secretary to the Government of India. He succeeded Mr Praveen Kumar, who superannuated from the post.

A Special Class Railways Apprentice Officer of the 1969 Batch, Mr Handa joined the Indian Railways Service of Mechanical Engineering on January 19, 1974.

Before becoming General Manager of the East Central Railway on November 19 last year, Mr Handa held various key positions in the Railway Board, South Eastern, South East Central, Southern and South Western Railways. He also worked as an Additional Member (Mechanical Engineering) of the Railway Board.

During his tenure as Divisional Railway Manager, Kharagpur, the Route Relay Interlocking system at Howrah station was upgraded. The prolonged non-interlocking working forced the suspension of virtually all trains into Howrah for some days through Eastern Railway. However, Mr Handa ensured that train services from South Eastern Railway did not cease. Overnight an alternate was created at Santraganchi with no disruption to any of the long-distance trains.

As Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME), of South East Central Railway he introduced 25 tonne operation for the first time on Indian Railways. The initial manufacture of Box ‘N’HL wagons which have become the mainstay of Indian Railways began in Golden Rock Workshop while he was CME, Southern Railway.

Goods trains through the steepest Ghat section of Indian Railways, the Castle Rock-Quelem section, were earlier running only after breaking up of loads to distribute 8 WDG3 required for each train. Mr Handa started using 5 WDG4 instead and confined them to the front and rear only. Load split was therefore avoided and overnight the line capacity was doubled. These were the forerunners of our present-day very long Vasuki Trains of bulk cargo transportation by the railways.

Features like opposite dynamic brakes were exploited for the first time on Indian Railways and even today the South Western Railway is the only Railway on Indian Railways to do so. Again South Western Railway became the first Railway to introduce distributed power system on locomotives allowing the traffic department to avoid engine and break van reversal at terminals. All these strategies radically improved the efficiency of operations.

SHALINI RANDERIA

*1971 HS from SPV Name on the roll of honour *Wikipedia Shalini Randeria

SANDEEP MARWAH

WIKIPED I A S AN D E E P M A R W AH

SMITA KAKAR

A distinguished alumnus of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya Smita Kakar.

Smita Desai of 1968 Higher Secondary batch. After school, she did her MBBS and MS at Maulana Azad Medical College. She became an authority on the subject of human anatomy. She reached the top post of professor and HOD of anatomy at both Maulana Azad Medical College and Lady Hardinge Medical College.

*1968 HS from SPV

ANUP MOHTA

Prof surgery Lady Hardinge Medical College Was a professor at Maulana Azad Medical College Former Director at Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya and Maulana Azad medical college, Delhi former Director at CNBC hospital former Professor at the University College of Medical Sciences and GTB Hospital Studied at MAMC, Delhi Alumnus of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya

Research Gate profile of Anup Mohta

ARUN SHAH

Manubhai and Vidyaben Shah' s son Arun Shah was in the 1966 HS batch.

He was a very brilliant student of SPV and IIT Delhi. He got the president' s gold medal.

Arun was bestowed with a photographic memory and attained one of the highest IQs in the world, having obtained super high scores in various IQ tests.

After his BTech in Electrical Engineering Arun went to the US for a PhD. He passed away in 2004 perhaps due to some chronic health issue.

KAPIL BHALLA

Kapil Bhalla is today' s top cancer research and treatment scientist in the world.

His organization MD Anderson Research has won Nobel Prizes in medicine.

He passed his HS in 1969 from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya Professor, Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX Kelcie Kana Research Chair, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX In 1976 he did his MBBS at Maulana Azad Medical College, University of Delhi, Delhi

MD AN D E R S O N C E N T R E P R O FIL E O N K A P I L B H A L L A

HEMANT JOSHI

Hemant Joshi of the 1968 batch HS retired as MD and CEO of CRISIL, a Standard & Poor' s Company. He is an authority on risk management and credit rating in the country.

He earlier worked for L&T Mutual Fund.

In Sardar Patel Vidyalaya we knew him as our badminton champion.

He is into trekking and mountaineering and has trekked extensively in the Pokhra-Annapurna region of Nepal. He knows the region like the back of his palm.

Patelians who know him will tell you he is tall and handsome and the most unassuming guy in the school

Late Sh Sanjeev Saluja was the Principal Accountant General of Rajasthan when a highly aggressive brain cancer Glioblastoma took away his life.

He was a recipient of the Science Talent Scholarship of NCERT. After passing out from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in 1968 with distinctions in four out of five subjects.

He did BSc in Physics(Hons) at Saint Stephen' s College DU and MSc at IIT Delhi.

He joined Indian Audit and Accounts Service and rose to the top position.

In Sardar Patel Vidyalaya he was elected as the General Secretary in 1966-67 with a record margin of vicrory

SANJEEV SALUJA

ADITYA ARYA

Aditya Arya of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya is a renowned commercial and travel photographer.

He began professional photography in 1980 after graduating in History from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University.

He has played a pivotal role in the establishment of the India Photo Archive Foundation and the Neel Dongre Awards/Grants for Excellence in Photography.

At present, he divides his time between his photography archive and Museo Camera, the largest not-for-profit photography museum in South-East Asia.

A unique partnership between the India Photo Archive Foundation and The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram, Museo Camera is dedicated to the art and history of photography.

WIKIPED I A A DI T Y A A R Y A WEBSITE A D IT Y A A R Y A

TARUN MUKERJEE 1968 HS batch of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya has Tarun Mukerjee. He runs IVC industrial valves manufacturing company in Nasik.

It is a fifty-year-old enterprise today.

Tarun did his engineering after school and a PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad.

WEBSITE I V C V A L V E S N A S IK