Comrade Ashok Mitra Passes Away Long Live

NARESH PAUL CENTRE 53 Radha Bazar Lane, (1st Floor), Kolkata – 700 001 e-mail:[email protected] Website: www.befi.in (Ph):033- 2225-4414/2236-5108 (M) 94331 44271 Fax: 033-2236-5109/2242-0690 Circular No 13/2018 02nd May, 2018 To all Units, Office Bearers, CC & GC Members COMRADE ASHOK MITRA PASSES AWAY With profound grief, we report the demise of Comrade Ashok Mitra, a noted economist and an outstanding columnist, the Finance Minister (1977 – ‘87) of the Left Front Government of West Bengal, a relentless crusader against the neo-liberal economic regime and an Ex-MP, at a Kolkata Hospital last morning, 01st May 2018; he was 90. Born on 10th April 1928 in Dhaka (now in Bangladesh), did PhD thesis, in 1953, under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Jan Tinbergen from the University of Rotterdam. After brief stints as a Professor of Economics in a number of the Universities/Institutions in India and abroad, he was appointed as the Chairman of the Agricultural Cost and Pricing Commission; in 1970, he was appointed as the Chief Economic Advisor to the then Prime Minister Srimati Indira Gandhi, a post he resigned from in 1972; he was also a fierce critic of the Emergency proclaimed by the then Central Government in 1975. An eloquent orator and a prolific writer, both In English and in Bengali, Comrade Mitra was known for his razor-sharp and critical analysis of the society and politics; he won the Sahitya Academy Award for his contribution to the Bengali Literature. A communist till death, Comrade Ashok Mitra was always vocal, whether as an academician or a parliamentarian or an administrator, for the working class and the downtrodden people; he also made significant contribution to the debate over Centre-State relationship that led to the constitution of the Sarkaria Commission. Comrade Ashok Mitra was very closely associated with BEFI and enriched us through his erudite deliberations in a number of Conferences and Seminars both of this Federation and its Units. While conveying heart-felt condolence to the members of his family, BEFI dips its banner in respectful homage to the memory of Comrade Ashok Mitra. LONG LIVE COMRADE ASHOK MITRA .

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources: Secondary Sources
BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources: Records and Proceedings, Private and party organizational papers Autobiographies and Memoirs Personal Interviews with some important Political Leaders and Journalists of West Bengal Newspapers and Journals Other Documents Secondary Sources: Books (in English) Article (in English) Books (in Bengali) Article (in Bengali) Novels (in Bengali) 11 BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources Records and Proceedings 1. Bengal Legislative Assembly Proceedings Vol. LII, No.4, 1938. 2. Bengal Legislative Assembly Proceedings, 1939, Vol. LIV, No.2, 3. Bengal Legislative Assembly Proceedings, 1940, vol. LVII, No.5. 4. Bengal Legislative Assembly Proceedings-Vol. LIII, No. 4. 5. Election Commission of India; Report on the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth General Election. 6. Fortnightly Report on the Political Situation in Bengal, 2nd half of April, 1947. Govt. of Bengal. 7. Home Department’s Confidential Political Records (West Bengal State Archives), (WBSA). 8. Police Records, Special Branch ‘PM’ and ‘PH’ Series, Calcutta (SB). 9. Public and Judicial Proceedings (L/P & I) (India Office Library and Records), (IOLR). 10. Summary of the Proceedings of the Congress Working Committee’, AICC-1, G-30/1945-46. 11. West Bengal Legislative Assembly Proceedings 1950-1972, 1974-1982. Private and party organizational papers 1. All India Congress committee Papers (Nehru Memorial Museum and Library), (NMML). 2. All Indian Hindu Mahasabha Papers (NMML) 3. Bengal Provislal Hindu Mahasabha Papers (NMML). 4. Kirn Sankar Roy Papers (Private collection of Sri Surjya Sankar Roy, Calcutta) 414 5. Ministry of Home Affairs Papers (National Achieves of India), (NAI). 6. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Papers (NMML). Autobiographies and Memoirs 1. Basu Hemanta Kumar, Bhasan O Rachana Sangrahra (A Collection of Speeches and Writings), Hemanta Kumar Basu Janma Satabarsha Utjapan Committee, Kolkata, 1994.
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Birbal Sahni Supervision at the Institute
I NDIAN After retiring from the University in November 1955, Mitra continued as an Emeritus Professor. At the request of Bidhan Chandra Roy, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, he restructured the ailing West Bengal Secondary N A Education Board into an efficient and disciplined organization. Despite his TIONAL heavy schedule of work at the Board, Mitra continued his research and Birbal Sahni supervision at the Institute. Mitra trained scores of experimental scientists S who later did pioneering work. Notable amongst his students were Prof A. P. CIENCE (1891 - 1949) Mitra (FRS), M. K. Das Gupta (Radio Astronomer) credited with the discovery of the double radio galaxy CYGNUS-A, and Prof. J. N. Bhar. A Mitra’s family life was not very happy because of the premature death of his CADEMY wife and elder son Dr. Ashok Mitra. The latter tragedy dealt a grievous blow Often the discovery of a rare fossil can change the interpretation of evolutionary on him. Soon after this however he was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal history. The person who laid the foundation for fossil research in India was Society and also selected as a National Professor. He spent most of his spare Prof. Birbal Sahni. Early parental influence often shapes a child’s personality INSA time at home reading and writing. Every evening he used to visit the nearby and mindset. Young Birbal was fortunate in having an inspiring man for his Club for recreation and sometimes played a game or two of chess. father...Ruchi Ram Sahni who himself was a self-made man.
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