For BITSians worldwide Dr CR Mitra the former Dynamo Diro of BITS Pilani is a Legacy who Never Dies

Dr CR Mitra (CRM) who is the Dynamo Diro to BITSians world over breathed his last after a brief illness on Wednesday August 27, 2008 at Delhi. CRM is known as an institution builder and innovator in higher education. He is not only a thinker, but also a great planner and implementer. His work spans half a century in which he shaped three institutions of higher education, namely, HBTI Kanpur, BITS Pilani, and the NIIT Academy New Delhi. His ideas have worked and survived the test of time.

Son of the late Sri Iswar Chandra Mitra, Dr. C.R. Mitra studied at Allahabad University, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, did his Masters at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then acquired a Doctorate in Engineering Science from Columbia University, New York.

Returning to India from the USA, in the mid sixties CRM became the Director of HBTI Kanpur. In 1969 he was offered the Directorship of Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani Rajasthan and then on it was a mission with passion for Dr Mitra to put BITS Pilani in the league of IITs as one among the top ranking institutions in India with global reputation. Dr Mitra’s administrative acumen, resource mobilization and resource optimization abilities resulting in the building of a sizeable endowment for BITS Pilani are folklore among university administrators world over.

The broad based integrated educational system with strong emphasis on interdisciplinary approach at BITS Pilani to make the students graduating from BITS to be achievers apart from being dreamers was his vision. BITS alumni spread across the globe from Australia to America have no hesitation in declaring that it is the BITS Educational system pioneered by Dr CR Mitra which made them world movers.

Dr Mitra was twice the President of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and he was the first Asian to become the President of Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU).

The Practice School concept analogous to Internship by medical graduates pioneered by him for all students of BITS Pilani put the entire India map as the Practice School station map of the Institute.

To address the human resource development needs of the industry and simultaneously address the challenge of running higher degree programs at BITS Pilani, in the year 1979, Dr Mitra pioneered the M.E.(Collaborative) degrees which has today resulted in work integrated learning programs having an enrollment of about 17,000 and two thirds revenue for the Institute.

The educational reforms Dr Mitra carried out at BITS Pilani from 1969 to 1989 in terms of admissions, examination reforms, the dual degree concept, cafeteria approach to choosing electives, Industry University collaborations and many more have been the subject of several PhDs and numerous research papers.

Dr CR Mitra is undoubtedly one of the greats in shaping higher education in India and his insights, his clarity of mind and his wisdom guided his colleagues and students all through.

After two decades of passionate association with BITS Pilani, in the year 1989, CRM was invited by NIIT where he shaped the DNIIT, GNIIT, ANIIT and FNIIT programmes thus bestowing NIIT with the de facto status of a provider of university level education and force to reckon with in IT education.

Dr Mitra has authored several books which include Challenge and Response towards a New Education Policy, Education for Self Reliance, Higher Education in Changing Scenarios, S & T in Action, Managing S & T and The Knowledge Enterprise: Redefining Higher Education.

CRM, as he was fondly known, is survived by his wife, Dr. Sandhya Mitra, his son, Dr. Amitava ‘Babi’ Mitra, his daughter, Dr. Anuradha Mitra Ghemawat, his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Srirupa Mitra and his two grandsons, Abhiranjan Mitra and Gautam Mitra, his son-in-law, Dr. Pankaj Ghemawat and his granddaughter, Ananya Maumita Ghemawat, his sisters, Dr. Raka Mitra and Dr. Rita Mitra and by many other relatives.

On a more personal level, Dr. Mitra comes from a family imbued in the arts, literature, music and visual arts, and was an inspiration behind Swarabitan in Allahabad. Dr. C.R. Mitra is an ardent admirer of Tagore’s writings, songs, paintings and educational experiments. He took his inspiration from GuruDev Rabindranath Tagore's "Where the Mind is without Fear and the Head is Held High"

To quote Dr Vijay Mandke former Deputy Director at BITS Pilani “Never a conformist and always a rebel with a cause, Dr Mitra made invaluable contributions to Indian Higher Education not just in terms of thoughts and ideas but more importantly in terms of deeds and outcomes. It is time the nation took notice of the value that this gentle genius added to Indian Higher Education.”

Dr BR Natarajan
Professor & Vice President BITSAA
Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)
PIlani (Rajasthan) 333031 India
Phone 91-1596-242210
Fax 91-1596-244183
Email:brnt@bits-pilani.ac.in
http://www.bits-pilani.ac.in

Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani Rajasthan which has the reputation of pioneering the online examinations for admissions through the path breaking BITSAT and setting a bench mark in industry university collaborations is one among the top ranking universities towering above the rest in various best college surveys in India today. BITS offers degrees in various disciplines presently at Pilani, Dubai, Goa and Hyderabad campuses apart from an array of work integrated learning programmes for HRD of a vast spectrum of Indian corporates. The alumni of the Institute who are who is who in various professions and Proud to be BITSians peaking with Passion Quotient for Alma mater are spread across the globe from Australia to America.

This release was published on openPR.