Mountaineer, Indian Army officer, author, social worker, founder of the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre;
Vice-Chairman, Board of Advisors — Historical Record
Major Hari Pal Singh Ahluwalia, popularly known as Major H. P. S. Ahluwalia, was a distinguished mountaineer, Indian Army officer, author, social worker, institution-builder, and disability-rights pioneer.
He was one of the Indian mountaineers who reached the summit of Mount Everest during the historic 1965 Indian Everest Expedition. Soon after, during the 1965 Indo-Pak war, he suffered a spinal injury that left him wheelchair-bound. Rather than allowing this injury to define defeat, he transformed his life’s direction into public service, rehabilitation, institution-building, and advocacy for persons with spinal injuries and disabilities.
Major Ahluwalia founded the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre in New Delhi, which became a major institution for spinal-injury care, rehabilitation, treatment, training, and research. His life brought together courage, discipline, adventure, suffering, resilience, and service.
He also wrote extensively and contributed to public life through his work in mountaineering, disability care, social service, and institutional development. His journey from Everest to spinal-injury rehabilitation remains one of India’s important examples of personal adversity being transformed into public good.
Major H. P. S. Ahluwalia served as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Advisors of The Anad Foundation in an earlier phase of the Foundation’s work. His advisory association reflected the importance of courage, institution-building, service, rehabilitation, public responsibility, and human dignity in the wider cultural and charitable imagination of Anād.
Historical Advisory Note
This page forms part of the Foundation’s Board of Advisors / Historical Governance Records section. It records Major H. P. S. Ahluwalia’s advisory association with The Anad Foundation in an earlier phase of its work.
It should not be read as a current authorisation record, statutory governance statement, or present office-bearing profile.
For current statutory, donor, CSR, audit, banking, legal, or governance purposes, reliance should be placed on the Foundation’s current Trust records, Board resolutions, statutory registrations, and documents issued by authorised office-bearers.