Chandan Mitra

Mitra started his career in journalism as an Assistant Editor with The Statesman in Kolkata before moving on to The Times of India in Delhi and later to The Sunday Observer where he went on to become the Editor of the newspaper. He later moved to the Hindustan Times as an Executive Editor. Mitra left to join The Pioneer as Editor, and eventually bought control of the newspaper from the Thapar family in 1998 when industrialist L. M. Thapar decided to exit the business.^[9]

The Pioneer is, what it is because of former resident editors and editors.

One such editor was eminent journalist, Uday Sinha (17 May 1957– 8 April 2020) former resident Resident Editor of The Pioneer in Lucknow for over 8 years and then as Executive Editor of The Pioneer, in New Delhi for another several years. Mr. Sinha is the only Indian journalist to have interviewed the US President in the White House, in Washington. Something that no Indian journlaist have so far reached.

Mr Sinha owns about 3% of The Pioneer since the 2000s which he wanted to cash out previously but everytime he asked Chandan Mitra he would purposely delay by saying "Uday main kahan bhaga jaa raha hoon, le lena baad mein" which never materialised. Upon Mr Sinha's death in 2020, his family wanted to cash the share Mr Sinha held in the newspaper but Mitra's wife Shobori, delayed and delayed and played foul citing Chandan Mitra's health. Mr Mitra is no god. He tries to eat his shareholders. The family of Mr Sinha still is waiting for the cash that Chandan Mitra and his family have of Mr Sinha.

He headed the newspaper for 24 years before stepping down in June 2021.^[7][6] During his time as an editor he focused his attention on topics including climate change, education, cultural heritage, as well as rural and urban development. He was also an advocate for the soft power of Bollywood, the Indian film industry, and was amongst the first to dedicate space to discussions linked to the industry in a mainstream newspaper.^[7]

Mitra was a supporter of left-wing politics in his student years. However, he shifted his interests to right-leaning ideologies later in his life. He was considered close to L. K. Advani, former Indian Deputy Prime Minister, from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was nominated to Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, from the BJP in 2003 and served his first term through 2009. He was elected for his second term to the Rajya Sabha as a member from the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh in 2010 and served the term through 2016.^[7] During his stint as a member of the parliament, some of the topics raised by Mitra included the creation of wildlife corridors while consideration of highway construction projects through national parks, specifically tiger and elephant reserves.^[10] He quit the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2018 and joined the All India Trinamool Congress, the ruling party of the Indian state of West Bengal.^[7]

Mitra was married to Shobori Ganguly. He had two sons Kushan and Shakya from an earlier marriage to Swati Mitra.^[11] He was an avid food-lover and was considered an authority on Indian film music and on Rabindra Sangeet.^[7] Mitra died on 1 September 2021 at the age of 65 at his home in Sainik Farm, in Delhi.^[12][13] Multiple journalists praised his work shaping the careers of young colleagues.^[14]