About Dr. Balwinder Singh Sandha
I was brought up in an agricultural farming family of Punjab, a northern Indian state of fertile lands
situated in between the rivers Sutlej and Beas. The traditions of my homeland are in my family. My
father served in Indian Air Force and participated in the wars with China in 1962 and with Pakistan in
1965. My forefathers participated in action during World War 2 and fought in somewhere in Europe.
My paternal grandfather fought in Burma (Now Myanmar) during World War 2. As I recall, my
childhood days spent in agricultural farming atmosphere. So, I have deep emotions for environment
throughout my life. I still cherish the long high flights of eagles and the warm summer evenings in the
open meadows of my surroundings.
Besides all, I choose to study business subjects and post graduated in commerce in 1983, getting
Master of Commerce degree from prestigious Guru Nanak Dev University, Sri Amritsar. After
completing my student life, as of my professional interest I joined bank as probationary officer in
1984.
During my professional days, I worked at various levels in bank and became Chartered Associate of
Indian Institute of Banking and Finance. My area of specialisation in bank was agriculture credit and I
got chance to work for the farmers as part of my official duties and formed several Self Helf Groups
of small and marginal farmers as well as of agricultural workers. I was the pioneer branch manager in
my bank to initiate Joint Liability Groups in the district of my branch and formed Farmers Producers
Organisation.
After successfully serving the bank for 36 years, Punjab Gramin Bank, a house hold name in Punjab, I
retired as Senior Manager in 2020. After retirement, I joined a Group Housing Construction
Company, AGI Infra Limited in February 2021 as Chief Financial Officer.
It was just an emotional chance that, besides my financial management responsibilities in freshly
joined corporate house, I was entrusted with the additional work of environmental approvals and
liaison work with the State departments. Here, in 61st spring of my life that I struck an idea to venture
for an extra mile to do my Doctorate and got the degree of Doctorate in Management Studies in with
specialisation in Environmental Management. My thesis in research on Environmental Management
in Sustainable Development Perspective was well appraised.