Vini Mahajan’s elevation as the Chief Secretary of Punjab — the first woman to hold the post in the state — comes after years of struggle of a family dislodged from its roots in Shakargarh village of Pakistan following Partition.

Starting from scratch at relief camps in Sujanpur (Pathankot), her family elders went on to make it big. Her father BB Mahajan topped the IAS exam in 1957 and retired as the Union Food Secretary. His dream that his children rise higher came true today as Vini Mahajan took up the top post. From being the first woman Deputy Commissioner of the reorganised Punjab in 1995 to working with the PMO for seven years (2005-12) during the tenure of Manmohan Singh, she has set a rare record where her husband, Dinkar Gupta, is the Punjab Police chief and she would be heading the bureaucracy.

Mahajan has taken over from Karan Avtar Singh at a time when Punjab needs new impetus in the fight against Covid. She is an Economics graduate from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University, and a post-graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.