Baidyanath Misra

Having started his career as a lecturer in Ravenshaw College, he moved to Utkal University as a professor and the head of the department of Analytical & Applied Economics, where he instituted two academic chairs, funded by the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank of India. He served as the Vice-Chancellor of the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology from 1981 to 1985. During his tenure as the VC of OUAT, he established the College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar, College of Agriculture, Sambalpur, College of Home Science, Bhubaneswar, and the College of Fisheries, Ganjam. He headed the Odisha State Planning Board from 1985 to 1990. In 1987, he founded the Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies (NCDS), in Bhubaneswar, which is jointly funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Government of India, and the Government of Odisha. He was also a member of the panel of economists of the Planning Commission of India and the Odisha Pay Commission.

Baidyanath Misra (1920-2019) was an Indian economist, educationist, author, and administrator from the state of Odisha. He served as the Vice-Chancellor of the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Deputy-Chairman of Odisha State Planning Board, Chairman of Odisha's First State Finance Commission, Secretary of Odisha State Welfare Board, founder Secretary and President of Orissa Economics Association, and the founder Director and Chairman of Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies. He wrote 16 books in English and 20 in Odia. He was also a columnist in several leading Odia journals and newspapers. He organised several camps across Odisha, for helping the cause of the poor and downtrodden.