Reminiscing `The Pearl of Ludhiana’, Jagdish Lal Behal

Ludhiana, July 5, 2023: It was a morning of pure nostalgia at Ramgarhia Girls College today when faculty members met Radhika Jaitwani, daughter of industrialist of yesteryears, Jagdish Lal Behal. 

Radhika has recently compiled a photo journal of the life and times of her father who is credited with bringing an economic boom in Ludhiana in the 1960s. It was the time of remarkable growth in the hosiery and woollen industry. 

Ranjodh Singh, President, Managing Committee, remarked that Miller Ganj made great progress in that era, and his father Giani Bhagat Singh’s enterprise, GS Autos, and other industrial families were making their mark in the national growth trajectory.  He added that Jagdish Behal was a man much ahead of his times, and brought the Pearl Yamaha Scooty to India in collaboration with the Japanese industrial giant. 

Other speakers on the occasion were Sham Sundar Khanna, a contemporary of Behal, and a neighbour of the Pearl Woollen Mills; Harminder Singh, whose father was an employee at the Pearl Group; and Dr. Narinder Sandhu, former Principal, RGC. 

Officiating Principal Prof. Jaspaul Kaur said that this book of tributes stands testimony to the larger-than-life character of a man who touched so many lives by his magnanimity and philanthropy.