Dehra Dun : In what will come as a setback, if not a surprise to Doscoes the world over, the prestigious Doon School here, which boasts of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as its alumni, one of the few of the many top glitterati who have walked down its hallowed portals, Rishi valley School, Chittoor has ended its four year reign as the country’s most respected traditional boarding school, with an aggregate score of 1269, out of a maximum possible 1500.
Though the new ranking is being taken with a pinch of salt by many in this capital city of Dehra Dun, where the sprawling campus of the school is located, the saving grace has been that yet another school in the state, The Woodstock School, located in Mussoorie has been ranked as the number one international school in the country. It has got the better of its affiliate, The Kodaikanal International School to reach the top slot.
The survey conducted by the Delhi-based opinion polling and market research agency C Fore (Centre for forecasting and research) polled a mix of 2,044 fees-paying parents, principals, teachers and educationists in 16 cities across the country asking them to rate 404 of India’s most well-known schools on 14 parameters including academic reputation, quality of co-curricular and sports education, infrastructure, leadership/management, quality of alumni and faculty competence, disabled friendliness, teacher welfare and development among other attributes.
The perceptual scores awarded by sample respondents under each parameter were aggregated to arrive at a total score for 321 day schools, 50 legacy/traditional boarding schools and 33 new genre international schools.
Amongst the day schools, The Shri Ram School, Delhi with an aggregate score of 1293 has dislodged Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai to be ranked as number one in India. The Shri Ram School was rated the best day school countrywide on the vital parameters of competence of faculty, teacher welfare and development, individual attention to students and parental involvement.
Incidentally there was a razor thin margin of one point in the aggregates scores ranking the three top-ranked day schools, with Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore getting the third position.
With a discernable shift within the socio economic category A public in favour of new age education, The Rishi Valley School, the erstwhile leader, The Doon School, was obliged to share the second slot with Mayo College Girls, Ajmer.
The third place is shared by Welham Girls, Dehra Dun and Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, while The Lawrence School, Sanawar has managed to retain its number four position. The Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), Dehra Dun was ranked seventh.
“This year’s league tables of India’s most respected, day, boarding and international schools indicate a distinct shift in the mood of the informed public in favour of alternate style of education. All schools offering broad based education and spiritual development have risen in public esteemâ€, said Dilip Thakore, Editor, Education World.
A journalist with over 40 years of experience, Jagdish Bhatt was Editor, Hill Post (Uttarakhand).
Jagdish had worked with India’s leading English dailies, which include Times of India, Indian Express, Pioneer and several other reputed publications. A highly acclaimed journalist, he was a recipient of many awards
Jagdish Bhatt, aged 72, breathed his last on 28th August 2021 at his Dehradun residence.
I am from Bubneshwar, Orrissa, India. I am looking for my only son the best boarding school at Dehadun, where he can complete his class XII . He is now studing in one of the best school in class III in Bubneshwar in Orrissa. Please send me your valued suggestion as to how I can get him to your School.
Cell Phone: 08895824222.
Thank you.
Let the Doon School alumini list speak:
Government[edit]
Prime Minister[edit]
Name Class year Notability References
Rajiv Gandhi 1962 Prime Minister of India [11]
Cabinet Ministers[edit]
Kamal Nath (Class of 61), with a net worth of $55 million, is the wealthiest minister in the current Indian cabinet.
Name Class year Notability References
Mani Shankar Aiyar 1958 Union Cabinet Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Minister of Panchayati Raj, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports [12]
Kamal Nath 1964 Minister for Surface Transport and Highways [13]
Jitin Prasada 1991 Minister of State for Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas [14]
Jyotiraditya Scindia 1989 Minister of State for Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Indian National Congress from Madhya Pradesh [15]
Arun Singh 1960 Minister of State for Ministry of Defence [16]
C.P.N Singh 1952 Minister of State for Ministry of Defence [17]
Dinesh Singh 1943 Foreign Minister & Commerce Minister [18]
Karan Singh 1949 Rajya Sabha member, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Department [19]
R.P.N. Singh 1982 Minister for Surface Transport and Highways, Indian National Congress [20]
Members of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies[edit]
Name Class year Notability References
Akbar Ahmad 1966 Member of Parliament [21]
Udayanraje Bhonsle 1984 Member of Nationalist Congress Party from Maharashtra [22]
Kalikesh Singh Deo 1992 Member of Biju Janata Dal, MLA from Orissa, [23]
Sanjay Gandhi 1964 (DNG) Member of Parliament [24]
Piloo Mody 1944 Member of Parliament [21]
Dushyant Singh 1991 Member of Bharatiya Janata Party from Rajasthan [25]
Vishvjit Singh 1964 Member of Indian National Congress from Punjab [21]
Manpreet Singh Badal 1980 Founder of People’s Party of Punjab, Cabinet Minister for Finance [26]
Adesh Kanwarjit Singh Brar 1967 MLA from Punjab [27]
Ananga Udaya Singh Deo 1963 Orissa Minister for Steel & Tourism [28]
Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon 1974 Punjab Cabinet Minister for Food and Civil Supplies; former Minister for Excise and Taxation [29]
Uday Pratap Singh 1977 MLA from Uttar Pradesh [30]
Murtaza Ali Khan 1942 MLA from Uttar Pradesh [31]
Kunwar Gajendra Singh 1974 Rajasthan Minister of Power [32]
Saurabh Narain Singh 1993 MLA from Jharkhand [33]
Chief Ministers[edit]
Name Class year Notability References
Naveen Patnaik 1964 Chief Minister of Odisha [34]
Captain Amarinder Singh 1960 Chief Minister of Punjab [35]
Lt. Gen. Ghulam Jilani Khan 1943 Governor of Punjab, Pakistan [36]
Diplomats and Bureaucrats[edit]
Karan Singh, Class of 1949, son of last Dogra ruler of Kashmir
Name Class year Notability References
Uma Shankar Bajpai 1936 Foreign Secretary, Ambassador to Canada [37]
Vinod Kumar Grover 1953 Foreign Secretary, Ambassador to Netherlands [38]
Wajahat Habibullah 1963 Chief Information Commissioner of India [39]
Inder Pal Khosla 1954 Foreign Secretary, Ambassador to Afghanistan [40]
Dalip Mehta 1958 Foreign Secretary, Ambassador to Bhutan and Turkmenistan [41]
Nagendra Nath Jha 1964 Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Ambassador to Ireland, Turkey, Kuwait and Sri Lanka [41]
Noel Swaranjit Sen 1965 Director General of Police of Andhra Pradesh [42]
Arvind Virmani 1965 Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India [43]
A. N. D. Haksar 1950 Ambassador to Kenya and Portugal [44]
Aftab Seth 1959 Ambassador to Japan, Vietnam and Micronesia [45]
Bhawani Singh 1949 Ambassador to Brunei [46]
Karan Singh 1949 Ambassador to the United States [19]
Jamsheed Marker 1940 Ambassador to nineteen countries [47]
Munir Butt 1971 Ambassador to Pakistan [48]
Siddharth Singh 1958 Ambassador to Japan, Italy, Iran and Zimbabwe [49]
Maoist Activist[edit]
Name Class year Notability References
Kobad Ghandy 1969 Communist Party of India (Maoist) Politburo Member and Naxalite [50]
Armed forces[edit]
Ghulam Jilani Khan (Class of 1943), Lieutenant General, Defence Secretary of Pakistan and Founder of Chand Bagh School
Tilak Bahadur Nanda, PVSM, TATA House Class of 1943 Lieutenant General, Qualified Civil Engineer, and Master General of Ordnance (MGO)
Name Class year Notability References
Lakshman Katre 1944 Air Chief Marshal [51]
Brijesh Dhar Jayal 1953 Air Marshal [52]
Trilochan Singh Brar 1943 Air Marshal [53]
Asghar Khan 1939 Air Marshal , former Commander-in-Chief of the PAF, Pakistani politician [54]
FN Billimoria 1952 Lieutenant General [55]
Kuldip Singh Brar 1954 Lieutenant General [56]
Adi M. Sethna 1942 Lieutenant General [57]
K. Bahadur Singh 1937 Lieutenant General [58]
Deepak Summanwar 1964 Lieutenant General [59]
Ghulam Jilani Khan 1943 Lieutenant General [60]
Ran Vijay Singh 1950 Rear Admiral [61]
Santosh Kumar Gupta 1954 Rear Admiral [62]
Business[edit]
Malvinder Mohan Singh (Class of 1982) is the executive-chairman of Fortis Healthcare.[63]
Name Class year Notability References
Rajiv Dutta 1969 Chief Financial Officer, eBay and President, Skype [64]
Ajit Narain Haksar 1943 Chairman ITC Ltd. [65]
Anil Kumar 1976 Director, McKinsey [66]
Vikram Lal 1970 Chairman, Eicher Group [67]
Arjun Malhotra 1981 Chairman, Headstrong [68]
Vittal Mallya 1939 Chairman, United Breweries Limited, Hoechst AG [69]
M. Ct. Muthiah 1968 Director of Indian Overseas Bank [70]
Sunil Kant Munjal 1973 MD, Hero MotoCorp, Confederation of Indian Industry [71]
Nikhil Nanda 1970 Head, Escorts [72]
Mhd. Rafique Saigol ? Chairman, Pakistan International Airlines [73]
Analjit Singh 1971 Chairman, Max Healthcare, Max New York Life Insurance and Max Bupa [74]
Malvinder Mohan Singh 1982 Executive chariman of Fortis Healthcare and former CEO & MD of Ranbaxy [74]
Shivinder Mohan Singh 1983 MD, Fortis Healthcare [74]
Gautam Thapar 1976 Chairman, Avantha Group [75]
L. M. Thapar 1952 Chairman, Ballarpur Industries Limited [76]
A. Vellayan 1976 Chairman, Murugappa Group [77]
R.C. Bhargava 1949 former CEO, Maruti Suzuki [78]
Media[edit]
Aroon Purie (Class of 1967), editor-in-chief of India Today.[79]
Name Class year Notability References
Swaminathan Aiyar 1960 Editor of Financial Express, The Times of India [80]
Inderjit Bhadwar 1969 Executive editor of India Today [81][82]
Vikramaditya Chandra 1983 CEO, NDTV [83]
Suman Dubey 1980 Editor-in-chief of Indian Express, Editor of India Today [84][85]
Prem Shankar Jha 1965 Editor of Hindustan Times, The Economic Times and The Financial Express [86]
Bhaskar Menon 1972 President, EMI [87]
Rakesh Wahi 1975 Founder, CNBC Africa [88]
Peter Mukherjea 1970 CEO, STAR TV, India [89][90][91]
Aroon Purie 1967 Founder of the India Today Group [92]
Prannoy Roy 1964 Founder of NDTV [93]
Tejeshwar Singh 1965 Publisher and Newscaster [94]
Karan Thapar 1971 Broadcaster, Journalist – CNBC & CNN-IBN [93]
B G Verghese 1958 Editor of the Times of India, Magsaysay Award winner [93]
Literature[edit]
Non-Fiction[edit]
Amitav Ghosh (Class of 1973), author of Man Booker nominated Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke
Name Class year Notability References
Aamir Ali 1974 Writer (Conflict, Via Geneva) [95]
Mani Shankar Aiyar 1966 Writer, Politician (Confessions of a Reluctant Fundamentalist) [80]
Kanti Bajpai 1972 Academic, Writer (Roots of Terrorism) [96]
Shyam Bhatia 1967 Writer (Goodbye Shahzadi) [97]
Ashok Chakravarti 1970 Writer, Academic (Aid, Institutions and Development) [98]
Pushpinder Singh Chopra 1968 Writer (Touching the Sky) [99]
Prasenjit Duara 1967 Writer (Culture, Power And The State) [100]
Mahmood Farooqui 1979 Writer, Artist (Besieged: Voices From Delhi 1857) [101]
Ramchandra Guha 1973 Historian, Writer (India after Gandhi) [102]
A. N. D. Haksar 1950 Writer, Scholar (Translations of Sanskrit texts) [103]
Sandeep Kumar 1969 Writer, Diplomat (On Edge: The Afghan Passage) [104]
Shomit Mitter 1976 Writer (Systems of Rehearsal) [105]
Padmanabh Vijay Pillai 1965 Writer, Politician (Perspectives on Power: India & China) [102]
Saurabh N. Saklani 1992 Writer (What Teens Need but Can’t Quite Say) [102]
Shiv Kunal Verma 1976 Writer (The Long Road to Siachen: The Question Why) & (“The Northeast Trilogy”) [106]
B G Verghese 1958 Writer, Journalist (Agenda for India) [102]
Gautam Vohra 1963 Writer (Tribals, Development and Environment) [107]
Aditya Kumar 2000 Writer (GST – New Face of Indirect Taxes in India) [108]
Fiction, Poetry and Drama[edit]
Vijay Prashad, Class of 1985, is a college professor in the United States.
Name Class year Notability References
Inderjit Bhadwar 1969 Writer (Sniffing Papa, The Chamber of Perfumes) [109]
Vimal Bhagat 1960 Writer (Stage Whispers) [110]
Vikramaditya Chandra 1983 Writer (The Srinagar Conspiracy) [111]
Amitav Ghosh 1972 Writer (Sea of Poppies) [112]
Aminuddin Khan 1988 Writer (A Right Royal Bastard) [113]
Aftab Seth 1959 Writer, Poet (Pillars of a Landscape) [114]
Vikram Seth 1969 Writer, Poet (The Golden Gate) [102]
Vishvjit Singh 1964 Writer (Kuch Shabd Kuch Lakeerein) [102]
Ardashir Vakil 1978 Writer (Beach Boy) [115]
Education[edit]
Name Class year Notability References
Kanti Bajpai 1972 Former Headmaster of The Doon School [116]
Shomie Das 1953 Former Headmaster of The Doon School; Mayo College; Lawrence School, Sanawar [117]
Wajahat Habibullah 1961 Director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration [118]
Nazir Jairazbhoy 1945 Musicologist at University of California, Los Angeles [119]
Surendra Kandhari 1952 Former Principal of Welham Boys’ School [120]
Deepak Lal 1958 Economist at University of California, Los Angeles [121]
Gulab Ramchandani 1948 Former Headmaster of The Doon School [122]
Vivek Ramchandani 1972 Founder Principal, The Shri Ram School [123]
Ravi J. Matthai 1945 Director of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad [124]
Dalip Mehta 1958 Dean of Foreign Service Institute, India [125]
Vijay Prashad 1985 Professor at Trinity College (USA) [126]
Sumer Singh 1967 Former Principal, Lawrence School, Sanawar; Daly College [127]
Aftab Seth 1959 Diplomat, Rhodes scholar [128]
Mahmood Farooqui 1979 Artist, Rhodes scholar [129]
Lovraj Kumar 1947 India’s first Rhodes scholar [130]
Arts[edit]
Fine Arts[edit]
Anish Kapoor (Class of 1970),[131] Sculptor of installations such as Cloud Gate and Sky Mirror.[132]
Name Class year Notability References
Anish Kapoor 1970 Sculptor [132]
Latika Katt 1966 Sculptor [133]
Vivan Sundaram 1961 Painter [134]
Design[edit]
Name Class year Notability References
Rohit Khosla 1976 Fashion designer [135]
Tarun Tahiliani 1980 Fashion designer [136]
Films[edit]
Name Class year Notability References
Mahmood Farooqui 1979 Writer, Artist, Co-director of Peepli Live [137]
Ali Fazal 2005 Actor, Artist, Joy in 3 Idiots [138]
Ashvin Kumar 1991 Oscar-nominee Film director [139]
Rajiv Rai 1973 Film director [140]
Ashwin Mushran 1990 Actor [141]
Roshan Seth 1960 Actor [142]
Imaad Shah 2003 Actor [143]
Vivaan Shah 2009 Actor [144]
Himani Shivpuri 1971 Actor [145]
Chandrachur Singh 1986 Actor [146]
Dan Dhanoa 1974 Actor [147]
Nandita Puri Dhanoa 1979 Actor [147]
Music[edit]
Name Class year Notability References
Shayan Italia 1995 Singer, Artist, Musician [148]
Ashwin Mushran 1990 Voice-over artist [149]
Sports[edit]
Bunker Roy (Class of 1962), Squash Champion and founder of Barefoot College.
Name Class year Notability References
Abhinav Bindra 2000 Beijing Olympics 2008 Gold Medalist (Air Rifle) [150]
Nandu Jayal 1942 Mountaineer [151]
Bunker Roy 1962 National Squash Champion [152]
Kunwar Gajendra Singh 1975 Junior junior National Squash Champion [153]
Titular Princes[edit]
Name Class year Notability References
Miangul Aurangzeb 1946 Crown prince of Swat [154]
Mukarram Jah 1951 Titular Nizam of Hyderabad (1967–1971) [155]
Hso Khan Pha 1956 Titular Saopha of Yawnghwe [156]
Rana Hemant Singh 1969 Titular Maharaja of Dholpur (1969–1971) [157]
Murtaza Ali Khan 1941 Titular Nawab of Rampur (1966-1971) [158]
Sawai Bhawani Singh 1947 Titular Maharaja of Jaipur (1970–71) [159]
Pragmulji III Titular Maharaja of Kutch (1991-present)