Released on: September 2, 2008, 7:26 pm

Press Release Author: Dr BR Natarajan

Industry: Education

Press Release Summary: 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.


Press Release Body: 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.”

In terms of achievements, there is no denying that what Pele is to Soccer and Don
Bradman is to Cricket, Dr CR Mitra is to BITS Pilani Rajasthan.

About BITS Pilani: 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.

Web Site: http://www.bits-pilani.ac.in

Contact Details: 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
www.bits-pilani.ac.in