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Amitava Datta (born 7 July 1962) is an Indian educationist, politician, and social activist. He is the State President of the Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) in West Bengal, having held the position from 1999 to 2016 and again from 2021 to present.

Early Life and Education
Amitava Datta was born in 1962 in Howrah, West Bengal. His father, Sureswar Datta, hailed from Eastow, Bangladesh, and was a prominent Forward Bloc activist and follower of Subhash Chandra Bose.His mother, Kalpana Datta, came from an illustrious family in South 24 Parganas District of West Bengal and was a school teacher.

Datta completed his B.Sc. from the University of Calcutta in 1983. He then earned a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur, in 1987. He received the Chartered Engineer’s norm from the Institute of Engineers (India) in 1991.

Career
In the early phase of his career, Amitava Datta worked with the Director General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India, for two and a half years before resigning in 1990.

Educational Entrepreneurship
As an educational entrepreneur, Datta is dedicated to spreading quality education at an affordable cost.Inspired by Swami Vivekananda's vision of “Man Making” and “character building,” he founded several educational institutions in Howrah, West Bengal.

In 1993, he co-founded Maria’s Day School in Howrah, which is affiliated with the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), New Delhi. He later established three more Maria’s Day Schools in Shibpur, Ramrajatala, and Mourigram. In 1999, he founded Maria’s Institute of English & Computer Education (MIECE), the first distance education center in West Bengal under Sikkim Manipal University.

Additional institutions founded by Datta include Sureswar Dutta Law College (2013), an Ayurvedic Medical Centre (2015), Maria’s Institute of Art & Craft (2015), Pristine Skill Power Private Ltd. (2016), and Shankar Arogyalay Ayurvedic Hospital (2016).

Political Activities
Datta entered politics through the Yuva Shakti Abhijan, an organization for youth empowerment, and became its National Joint Convener. He joined the Janata Dal and served as the National Vice President of Yuva Janata Dal.

He has been the State President of JD(U) in West Bengal since its inception in 1999 until 2016, and again from 2021. Datta contested the West Bengal Assembly elections in 2006 from Howrah South and in 2016 from Howrah Central, finishing second on both occasions.

He has also served as the editor of Lokmat Weekly in New Delhi from 1992 to 1998 and founded several non-political and social organizations, including Nagarik Manch and Lohia Jaiprakash Smarak Samity. In 2014, he became the Convenor of Gono Front, a political front of ten parties in West Bengal.

Nominations and Responsibilities

 * Member, Advisory Committee, Indian Airlines (2001)
 * Member, Advisory Committee, NCVT, Ministry of Labour (2002)
 * Chairman, Eastern Zone, Central Warehousing Corporation (2004)
 * Member, Labour Welfare Board, West Bengal (2011)

Awards and Accolades

 * Asia Pacific International Award for Individual Contribution for International Integration (2013)
 * National Award for distinguished services in Education from the Independent Schools’ Federation of India (2011)
 * Prasad Puraskar (2008)

Publications
Amitava Datta is a prolific writer and has authored two books in Bengali:
 * Netaji Upekshito Keno?
 * Shikkshar Adhikar - Ainer Ontorale Nairajya