Jindal was born in Baton Rouge on June 10, 1971 to recently arrived Punjabi Indian immigrants, Amar and Raj Jindal, who were attending graduate school. His family is of Punjabi ancestry, his father left [[India]] in the 1970s and his ancestral family village of Khanpura. Jindal was raised a [[Hinduism|Hindu]] but converted to [[Catholicism]] in high school. Jindal adopted the name "Bobby" after watching ''The Brady Bunch'' television program at age four. He has been known by that name ever since, as a civil servant, politician, student, and writer. Legally though his name remains Piyush Jindal.
He graduated from Baton Rouge High School in 1987 and went on to attend [[Brown University]] where he graduated with honors in biology and public policy. Following his graduation from Brown he attended [[Oxford University]] in the [[United Kingdom]] as a [[Rhodes Scholar]], having turned down admissions to medical and law schools at both [[Harvard University|Harvard]] and [[Yale University|Yale]].
In 1994, Jindal went to work for McKinsey and Company as a consultant for Fortune 500 companies before entering public service. In 1996, he was appointed Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH). There were many issues that needed resolving during his tenure, not the least of which was the growing deficit in Louisiana's Medicaid program. During Jindal's tenure as DHH Secretary, he rescued Louisiana's Medicaid program from bankruptcy, childhood immunizations increased, Louisiana ranked third best nationally in health care screenings for children, and new and expanded services for elderly and disabled persons were offered.