Dr. Amit Mitra is an Indian
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
and
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
and the current Special Advisor to
Chief Minister of West Bengal
The Chief Minister of West Bengal is the representative of the Government of India in the state of West Bengal and the head of the executive branch of the Government of West Bengal. The chief minister is head of the Council of Ministers and ap ...
on
Finance
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...
. Previously he was the Finance, Commerce & Industries Minister of the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
of Indian state of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
. He was the incumbent
MLA in the West Bengal state assembly from the
Khardaha state assembly constituency. Cited as a
giant killer
GIANT KILLER is a military Air Traffic Control (ATC) call sign used within certain regions of the contiguous United States (CONUS). The callsign is primarily administered by the United States Navy for military flight operations on the East Coast.
...
in the
2011 West Bengal state assembly election defeating
Asim Dasgupta, the former West Bengal Finance Minister. Mitra previously served as the Secretary general of the
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in India.
History
Established in 1927, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by Indian businessman G.D. Birla an ...
(FICCI).
Family
Son of Haridas Mitra, a freedom fighter and former Deputy Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and
Bela Mitra. His maternal grandfather was Suresh Chandra Bose, elder brother of
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperi ...
. Both Suresh Chandra Bose and Haridas Mitra were part of the secret service team of
Azad Hind Fauj
The Indian National Army (INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a collaborationist armed force formed by Indian collaborators and Imperial Japan on 1 September 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. Its aim was to secure In ...
. Bela Mitra took charge of the secret service of Azad Hind Fauj from Haridas Mitra.
Belanagar railway station in Howrah district on the Howrah-Bardhaman chord line, is named after her.
Education
Mitra went to
Calcutta Boys' School
The Calcutta Boys' School is an independent private day school located in Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal. was founded by the Rev. James Mills Thoburn (Methodist Missionary to India, and later Missionary Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Chur ...
and graduated from
Presidency College when it was an affiliate of the
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...
with a degree in Economics. He was a notable debater in West Bengal inter-college debate competitions. Mitra received a Masters from the
Delhi School of Economics
Delhi School of Economics (DSE), popularly referred to as "D School", is a Higher Educational Institution within the University of Delhi. The Delhi School of Economics is situated in University of Delhi's North Campus in Maurice Nagar. Establ ...
,
University of Delhi
Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...
and, in 1978, a PhD from
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
in the USA.
[ Dr. Mitra is included in ]Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
's list of distinguished alumni.
Early career
He taught at Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
and Franklin & Marshall College
Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Fran ...
for over a decade before returning to India. He received the prestigious Sears-Roebuck Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, 1990.
He joined the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in India.
History
Established in 1927, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by Indian businessman G.D. Birla an ...
and rose to be its secretary-general.[ He resigned as secretary-general of FICCI on May 18, 2011 upon his election as state assembly representative.
] During his tenure, he transformed FICCI into a professional organisation to research and formulate India's policy during its economic liberalisation
Economic liberalization (or economic liberalisation) is the lessening of government regulations and restrictions in an economy in exchange for greater participation by private entities. In politics, the doctrine is associated with classical liber ...
. The number of conferences organised by FICCI rose from 10 to 500 between 1994 and 2011 and its revenues saw an increase from Rs 3 crore to Rs 110 crore during the period Dr. Mitra presided over its activities.
He served as an Additional Director of Steel Authority of India Ltd from March 25, 2003 to March 24, 2006. At the request of Mamata Banerjee
Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 20 ...
, the railway minister, he headed a panel to draw up business plans for the public-private partnership projects of the railways. He has been on the government's advisory committee on the World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
and the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council. He was associated with Planning Commission as a member of the expert group on equitable development. He has also been appointed a member on the Board of Air India-National Aviation Company of India Ltd. (NACIL). He is also on the Board of IL&FS –CDI, a hundred per cent subsidiary of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) which is one of India's leading infrastructure development and finance company, Also on the Board of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC).
Dr Mitra was also a Member on the Advisory Board of the India Fund of the Unit Trust of India (UTI), Member, Advisory Board of Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd., a marketing subsidiary of Microsoft in India, Member, Central Listing Authority, established by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Member, Life Insurance Council, Member of the ‘Eminent Persons Group’ established by the UNCTAD Secretary General on Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs)- 2006, Member, Consultative Group set up by the Inter-State Council Secretariat (ISCS), Member, Committee on Public-Private Partnership in the area of Defence (2004–2005), Member, Advisory Committee on Competition Advocacy for advising Competition Commission of India, Member, Expert Committee to formulate energy Policy by Planning Commission (2005–06), Member of the "India-China Eminent Persons Group" from the Indian side, and Member, Advisory Committee to Union Commerce Minister of India on International Trade (WTO), and Member of the "Indo – EU Roundtable" from the Indian side (initiated by Government of India and the EU). He is a Member of the Joint Study Groups set up between the Governments of India-China, India-Japan, India-Israel, India-Korea & Indo-Russia. He is also represented on various sectoral Committees/Sub-Groups constituted by the National Manufacturing Competitive Council and the Planning Commission, Member of the ‘Expert Group on Equitable Development’ set up by the Planning Commission for preparing the Eleventh Five Year Plan. He was also Trustee of India Brand Equity Foundation. He was appointed in the two-member committee by the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India for suggesting Alternative Scheme of Collecting Excise Duties.
Political career
Amit Mitra joined All India Trinamool Congress on the invitation of Mamata Banerjee
Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 20 ...
and contested during the state assembly election of 2011 from the Khardaha state assembly constituency. He was attributed a giant killer
GIANT KILLER is a military Air Traffic Control (ATC) call sign used within certain regions of the contiguous United States (CONUS). The callsign is primarily administered by the United States Navy for military flight operations on the East Coast.
...
after the election as he defeated state Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta by a margin of 26,154 votes. Asim Dasgupta was elected from the Khardaha constituency previously five times in a row during the state assembly elections of 1987, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006.
Amit Mitra was sworn in as a minister on May 20, 2011 and was given the Finance and Excise portfolio.
Amit Mitra has opined that the ‘minimal capital expenditure’ made over a long period by the state government has led to the state of bankruptcy. He feels that the state's financial condition can be improved with a flow of investments and expansion of the state's existing industrial units.
Awards
Amit Mitra is a Padma Shree Award Winner from Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
in the year 2008 . The Japanese government conferred the `Order of the Rising Sun' on Amit Mitra in 2005 by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. The award was presented for his contribution towards promotion of friendly relations between India and Japan. He is also the recipient of highest civilian Awards conferred by President of the Republic of Italy in 2007.[
]
References
External links
Dr. Amit Mitra
- WB Assembly Profile
Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitra, Amit
Living people
Bengali Hindus
Indian economists
Presidency University, Kolkata alumni
University of Calcutta alumni
Delhi School of Economics alumni
Delhi University alumni
Duke University alumni
West Bengal MLAs 2011–2016
West Bengal MLAs 2016–2021
Politicians from Kolkata
Trinamool Congress politicians from West Bengal
State cabinet ministers of West Bengal
Recipients of the Padma Shri in trade and industry
20th-century Indian economists
1947 births