Smt Nalini Mitra was the second daughter of Sri Binaychandra Basu Thakur. She was born on 26th of January, 1910. During that time there was only one primary school in Malkhanagarh and they have no chance of higher education there. Her maternal grandfather was a famous Zamindar from Barisal; Sri Kali Prasanna Guha took his granddaughter with him to his residence in Barisal. She was admitted to Barisal Sadar Girls School. Nalini constantly came in first in her class. But her grandfather was too ignorant of her progress in education.

In 1925 she passed Matric with letter marks in two subjects and with distinction. She received scholarship because of her results. Then she was admitted to Dhaka’s Eden College. She used to stay in Eden hostel. In the same year she was married to Professor Fanindranath Mitra of Dhaka University. Within a few years she has to leave her studies because of maternal duties. For six to seven years she was detached from her studies. During that time she brought up her kids, looked after her in-laws and completely dedicated herself towards her family.

From 1932 she started studying again. She passed her I.A examination with letter marks in Mathematics and in first division in 1933. After that her confidence grew. In 1935 she passed B.A examination in private from Dhaka University and later in 1938 she passed M.A examination in mathematics from the same University. She passed her M.A in second division as nobody achieved first division marks in their M.A examination that year. She also graduated her M.A in private. In 1939 she joined Anandomoyee Balika Bidyalaya as Assistant Headmistress. While working there she passed her BT exam in 1941. She achieved first division but came in second. In 1946 she joined Dhaka’s Eden College as Assistant Professor.

In 1947 the country became restless because of partition in the country. At that time Dhaka became the capital of East Pakistan. A lot of people thought that Pakistan will not be able to maintain Dhaka from so far. Smt Nalini Mitra was one of them. She joined hands with famous leader Smt Leela Ray and created ‘Purba Bongo Mahila Samity. They organised a function near Dhaka Sadar Ghat in which all the proceeds of that function was handed over to ‘Kaide Azam Zinna’. The reason behind this was to show loyalty towards Pakistan. Smt Leela Ray was the President and Smt Nalini Mitra was the vice president of the organization.

They tried a lot but nothing happened. In 1950 after a communal riot Smt Nalini Mitra sold her house in Dhaka and migrated to Uwari in a rented house. They gave shelter to around two to three hundred people in their rented house. She had a lot of Mussalman students who at that time was working in high government posts and she took their help to save a lot of poor Hindu people.

Her sons migrated to Kolkata before her. She then migrated to Kolkata with her husband and her daughter in 1950. She started working as Assistant Professor in Shimla College. In 1951 she was appointed Headmistress in Chunar Industrial Home in Chunar Fort. This home was created by Government of India to help and rehabilitate the refugee girls from East Pakistan; they mainly tried to teach these girls handicraft so that they can earn their livelihood on their own. She worked there for five years. After that the home was closed by order of government of India.

In 1955 she was appointed in the Education Department of Government of West Bengal. She was given the post of Director of Refugee and Rehabilitation. In 1971 she retired from that post.

Smt Nalini Mitra had two sons and one daughter. Her oldest son what is Arun, who passed his B.S.C.in Agriculture from America’s Texas University. Later he finished his M.S and Ph.D. from the same university. Her second son Ashok passed his M.A degree in Economics from Benaras Hindu University in first class. He then went on to finish his PhD under Noble Laureate Dr. Tinbergen from Holland University. He later became the finance Minister of the Left Front Government in West Bengal. Her daughter was married to an Engineer.

She built a house in New Alipore area of Kolkata. She wrote a memoir and named it ‘Amader Mama Badi’. At her old age she remembers her past and said – “Now I can hear less, see less, but still I have so many things to do. Can I finish them all?” She couldn’t finish them.