Life & Work
Professor Jagdeep S. Chhokar’s career moved from engineering and management education to law and sustained civic action.
Professor Chhokar was a founding member of the Association for Democratic Reforms, where he worked on electoral transparency and democratic governance. He was also an academic, civic activist, lawyer, engineer and conservationist.
Engineering and management
Before joining the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, he spent more than a decade with the Indian Railways as a mechanical engineer and manager. He later worked for four years as an international marketing manager in a public-sector organisation.
IIM Ahmedabad
He taught Management and Organisational Behaviour at IIM Ahmedabad from 1985 until his retirement in November 2006. He served as Dean in 2001–02 and as Director In-charge from July to September 2002. He also taught at universities in Australia, France, Japan and the United States.
Public work
Alongside his work with ADR, he was the founding chairperson of Aajeevika Bureau, which works with migrant workers in India.
Education
- Mechanical Engineering, 1967
- Production Engineering, 1967
- MBA, University of Delhi, 1977
- PhD, Louisiana State University, 1983
- Certificate in Ornithology, Bombay Natural History Society, 2001
- LLB, Gujarat University, 2005
Book
He was the lead editor of Culture and Leadership Across the World: The GLOBE Book of In-Depth Studies of 25 Societies, published in 2007.
In memoriam
Professor Chhokar died in New Delhi on 12 September 2025, aged 81. He donated his body to Lady Hardinge Medical College.
Source: Association for Democratic Reforms
Photographs
Photograph provided for the memorial archive; photographer and rights status not recorded.