St. Xavier's Alumni Association

St. Xavier's Alumni Association (SXAA) is an alumni organization for former students of the St. Xavier's High School, Patna in Patna, India. It was founded in 1947 by the graduating class of that year and is still around today. It is India's one of the oldest alumni associations,^[1] which has over 3,500 members.^[2] SXAA is an active member of the Jesuit Alumni Association of India (JAAI).^[3]

History

In 1947, Fr. Edward Niesen and Fr. J.P. Wroblewski proposd forming an Alumni Association for the outgoing students of St. Xavier's. Fr. Cleary, Fr. Watling and Fr. Wilzbacher sponsored an Annual issue of 'Alumunus', a slim publication that carried extensive articles, poems and other creative inputs from outgoing alumni. Yearly alumni reunions began.

Later, the Micheal's and Xavier's Alumni Association (MAXAA) was formed under the presidency of Ranjit Sinha. However, the two bodies separated, and the SXAA stood on its own again. After Ranjit Sinha's death the association instituted the Distinguished Xaverian Award to keep his memory alive and conferred the first award on him posthumously. Alumni moderators like Fr. Faulstich, Fr. Drinane and Fr. Chandy with extensive support from Fr. Reinboth have continued the association.

The presidents who succeeded Ranjit Sinha have been: Dr. A.K. Gupta, Prof. K.V. Srinivasan, Balram Das, Prof. S.D. Singh, Satish Anand, Rajiv Ranjan, Subhash Anand, Satyapal Dutta, Vijay Kochar, Vijay Sharma, Arun Prasad, J.K.Sinha, R.N.Sahaya, Justice Samarendra Pratap Singh and Dr. Sandeep Sen.

Present

The association enables old students remain connected and active. An annual reunion takes place just before Christmas every year.^[4][5] Over 500 old boys of the school gather from across the country.

The association also organizes poolside parties for the Patna-based alumni. Besides, it also organizes the reunion of golden and silver jubilee batches every year.^[6] It organizes various welfare activities for them, with career counseling by the alumni being one of them.^[7] The association also organizes a blood donation camp annually. SXAA also conducts a free health check-up of the school students by doctors who are Xavier pass outs. Through such interactions, the alumni tries to convey to the younger lot the proud legacy of the school. Some of the alumni also offer sports training to the current students. The alumni association also funds various school projects.

It contributed to the development of English and Computer labs of the school. It also finances a few poor students of the school, besides giving prizes worth ₹15,000 annually to toppers of various subjects.^[2][8]

Chapters

• Delhi
• Kolkata
• Mumbai
• Bangalore
• Ranchi
• London

Postal stamp

On 24 February 2007, the Diamond Jubilee celebration of SXAA was organised in the school campus. On this day, Ramkrishnan Suryabhan Gavai, Governor of Bihar, released the special envelope designed by R.S. Gandhi, Pradip Jain and Dr. Pradip Sarkar (Xaverian). It has a postal stamp of ₹5 with a photograph of St. Xavier's Building.

VIth National Congress of JAAI

VIth National Congress of JAAI (Jesuit Alumni Association of India) was hosted by SXAA and held in St. Xavier's School, Patna from 4th to 6th Feb 2011.^{[9][10][11][12]} The theme for the Congress was "Public - Private Partnership for better Education"^[10][11][13]

Office bearers

^[14]

Notable alumni

• Sujit K Mukherjee (1944): Teacher, Author, Translator & Publisher. Chief Publisher, Orient Longman. Taught English at Patna University, National Defence Academy (Khadakvasla), Poona University and University of Wisconsin (Madison). Also, posthumously awarded Sahitya Akademi Award for his translation work.^[15]
• Ranjit Roy Chaudhury (1946): Rhodes Scholar, Eminent Clinical Pharmacologist & Public Health Expert (WHO & Govt. of India)
• Kawaljit Singh (1946): Retired Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Department of Revenue, Government of India.
• Man Mohan Sinha (1948): Air Marshal, Indian Air Force
• Ashish Banerjee (1948): Lieutenant General, PVSM, Artillery Regiment
• Dr. Satikant Ghosh (1948): sprinter, Inter-University record holder, member of the Indian 4 × 100 m relay team in the 1954 Asian Games in Manilla, Philippines
• Partha Dey (1949): Air Marshal, Indian Air Force
• Dr. MD Abdul Hai (1951) : Renowned Physician of Patna, Presently Senior Doctor in Paras HMRI Hospital, Patna
• Tejendra Khanna (1954): Lt. Governor of Delhi
• Anwarul Hoda (1954): Deputy Director General ICITO/GATT and Deputy Director General, World Trade Organization.
• Nikhil Kumar (1955): Governor of Kerala. Former IPS officer and Member of Parliament^[6]
• Sujoy K. Guha (1955): Biomedical Engineer
• N. K. Singh (1956): Member of Rajya Sabha. ex IAS and Former Principal Secretary to the PM ^[16]
• Sanjaya Lall (1956): Development Economist and Professor of Economics, Green College, Oxford University.
• Syed Rizvi (1958): Retd IAS, Former Joint Secretary, Dept. of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India.
• Dr Priya Ranjan Prasad (1959): Automotive Safety & Injury Bio-mechanics Expert. Henry Ford Technical Fellow, Ford Motor Company, USA
• Om Prakash Kejriwal (1960): Director General, All India Radio & CEO, Prasar Bharati [1997-1999]
• Ram K Chopra (1960): Played Valdes in 1967 film adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's 'The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus' co-starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
• Shyam Saran(1961): former Foreign Secretary, Govt. of India
• J. K. Sinha (1961): former Director General of India's Central Reserve Police Force
• Dharmesh P Verma (1963): Member of Parliament
• Deshpriya Mukherjee (1963): IPS officer. Formerly, Additional Director, CBI & DGP, Tamil Nadu. Author of 'CBI: Victory or Mystery'(2013)
• Prabhakant Sinha (1963):Entrepreneur, Teacher, Author & Philanthropist. Founder of ZS Associates.^[17]
• Naveen Kshatriya (1964): Former Regional Vice President, British Petroleum. Former CEO & Managing Director, Castrol India. Visiting Lecturer at INSEAD, Fontainebleau.
• Prakash Koirala: Nepalese Politician. Son of former Nepalese Prime Minister B P Koirala and father of actress Manisha Koirala
• Abul K Abbas (1962): Professor and Chair, Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco.
• Roshan Seth: actor
• Vikram Seth: poet
• Yashovardhan Azad (1969) : IPS Officer, Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat & Former Special Director, Intelligence Bureau.

Salman Khursheed, (1970 Batch), Minister of External Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi

• Salman Khursheed (1970): Minister of External Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi^[18]
• Abhayanand (1970): Present D.G.P of Bihar and famous educationalist

Abhayanand, 48th D.G.P of the state of Bihar and famous educationalist

• Dilip Sinha (1970): Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the UN in Geneva.
• Arun Kumar Singh (1971): Indian Envoy to France, earlier India's Deputy Ambassador in the US.^[19]
• Arup Roy Choudhury (1972): CMD, National Thermal Power Corporation
• Amar Sinha (1972): Ambassador of India to Afghanistan
• Navin Sinha (1972): Judge, Supreme Court of India. Formerly, Chief Justice, Chhattisgarh & Rajasthan High Courts.^[20]
• Chandrika Rai (1973) : Minister of Transportation, Govt. Of Bihar
• Sourendu Gupta (1974): Noted Theoretical Physicist, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
• Yashovardhan K Sinha (1974): High Commissioner to Sri Lanka
• Anand Sen (1974): Vice President, TQM and Shared Services, Tata Steel Limited
• Lt. Gen Abhay Krishna (1974): Commander, South Western Command, Indian Army. AVSM, SM, VSM recipient. Led military parade in 66th Indian Republic Day in New Delhi, where US president Barack Obama was chief guest.^[21]
• Jagat Prakash Nadda (1974) : National General Secretary, Bhartiya Janata Party & Former Cabinet Minister, Govt of Himanchal Pradesh
• Kirti Azad: Cricketer, all-rounder, MP
• Amitabh Akhauri (1977): Managing Director, Indian Oil Corporation, Middle East FZE, Dubai
• Navanit Samaiyar (1979), Chief Operating Officer, Star Dental; Ex Exec Director IBM, India
• Shekhar Suman (1979): actor and comedian^[22]
• Surendra Rajiv (1980): Professor of Marketing & Provost's Chair, NUS Business School, Singapore. Formerly, Associate Professor, Booth Business School, Chicago.
• Somnath Sen (1980): Senior Advisor & Head of Practice, Indian Institute for Human Settlements. Founder Director of TARU.
• Amulya Singh (1980): Renowned Orthopedic Surgeon.
• Sharat K Sinha (1980): Indian Police Service. DCP, Traffic (Western Region), New Delhi^[23]
• Ashutosh Pandey (1980): Inspector General of Police, Uttar Pradesh^[24]
• Sanjay Sinha (1980): Vice President, Hindustan Times. Formerly, CEO, Baskin Robbins, India
• Amikar Dayal (1981): cricketer, former Captain of India's Under-19 team
• Syed Saba Karim (1982): Former Wicket Keeper, Indian Cricket Team, Board of Control for Cricket in India selector
• Shyamal Gupta (1983): Director, Agriculture and Food- South Asia, SGS
• Sandeep Das (1985): Tabla Virtuoso. Winner of Grammy Awards for his collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma for The Silk Road Ensemble - Sing Me Home
• Avinash Kumar: Cricketer, East Zone
• Manish Prabhat (1986): Indian Foreign Service. Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India, Paris^[25]
• Rahul Anand (1987): Economist, Asia Pacific Department, International Monetary Fund^[26]
• MD Abu Afsar (1988): Circle Officer, Govt. Of Bihar.
• Dharmendra Yashovardhan (1989): Entrepreneur, Angel Investor & INSEAD Alumnus. Co-founder & Former Chief Operating Officer, ixigo.com.^[27]
• Amrit Raj (1989): Entrenueur. Founder and Managing Partner, XCentrium.com ^[28]
• Siddhartha Chowdhury (1989): Author ^[29]
• Parijat Bhattacharjee (1989): Co-founder & CTO, Somnoware Healthcare Systems, US based sleep management platform ^[30]
• Manish Mehrotra (1990): Award Winning Chef^[31]
• Neel Sarovar Bhavesh (1990): Group Leader, Transcription Regulation, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi^[32]
• Shubham Sinha (2011): Silver Medallist, International Mathematics Olympiad, 2013. Presently, student at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.^[33]
• Keshav Singh (2013): National Boxer, Announcer,^[34]

External links

• SXAA Official Website

References