Omprakash Mishra was born to Late Ghanashyam Mishra and Late Manorama Mishra on 7th March 1961 at Mal Bazar in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal. Father Ghanashyam Mishra, an alumnus of AC College, Jalpaiguri was a leading light of trade union movement in the Dooars region in North Bengal. First wave of trade unions for the tribal and downtrodden people in the tea belt of Dooars were established under his stewardship. He was part of the socialist group within Indian National Congress before independence and in the post-independence period when socialists broke away from the Congress, he sided with them and became an activist of the Praja Socialist Party (PSP). Labourers of all the tea gardens in the Dooars were part of the trade union he led in mid 1950s to till his assassination in 1966, at a young age of 42. He had contested the 1952, 1957 and 1962 election to West Bengal Assembly. Manorama Mishra died within a month of her husband’s death leaving behind 4 sons. A daughter born to the couple had died earlier. Jai Prakash, the eldest of the brothers, then studying in class VIII did not avail the land allocated to the family by tea garden managements. They never stayed in the family house which presently serves as a small library for the tribal students. The young brothers stayed with relatives and in a Christian missionary orphanage- Boys Town, run by Father John Thwyates at Mal Bazar before they moved to Balurghat in 1976, with Jai Prakash getting a job in Life Insurance Corporation. A group of socialists and trade union activists meet in Jalpaiguri town from time to time to pay tributes to the legacy of Late Ghanashyam Mishra. Recently, in February 2014, they had met in Kolkata for the same.
Omprakash Mishra joined Balurghat College for his Higher Secondary (Class XI and XII) in 1976 and continued with his graduation course in Political Science (Honours) from the college. He obtained a First Class First position in his graduation in North Bengal University and then briefly studied at the Delhi School of Economics and North Bengal University before joining the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU, New Delhi) in July 1982 for his Masters’ degree. He continued at the School of International Studies for M. Phil and had been awarded the degree in 1986. He secured First Class for both his degrees from JNU. On completion of studies at JNU, Omprakash joined Government College at Jhargram in West Bengal as a Lecturer of Political Science (August 1986) but very soon switched to the Department of International Relations at Jadavpur University (November 1987). He got married to Bandana Mishra, D/o Shri Sudhish Mukherjee and Late Dipali Mukherjee, a long time residents of Balurghat, in August 1987. The couple have a daughter, Sylvia, and a son, Abhishek. His sister-in-law Minati Datta Mishra is also from Balurghat and thus establishing strong family bonding with Balughat.
Academia and Scholarship :
Professor Mishra has been engaged in teaching, research and research supervision at Jadavpur University, Kolkata since 1987. At the age of 33 he was the Head of the Department of International Relations in the University (1994-1996) and the Founder-Coordinator of the Centre for Refugee Studies. He was a Gold Medalist in B. A. (Honours) in Political Science from Balurghat College under North Bengal University in 1981 and First Class in M. A. and M. Phil in International Studies and International Politics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU, New Delhi) in 1984 and 1986 respectively. He joined the Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University as a Lecturer in 1987, was appointed as Reader in 1993 and is a Professor since 2001. He has supervised the research work of a number of PhD and MPhil scholars and published and lectured extensively on issues and themes related to Indian Foreign Policy & National Security, Political Economy, United Nations, Human Rights and Forced Migration. Some of the publications of Prof. Mishra include the edited volumes ‘The Elsewhere People: Cross-Border Migration, Refugee Protection and State Response’, 2003; ‘Terrorism and Low Intensity Conflict in South Asian Region’, 2003; ‘Forced Migration in South Asian Region: Displacement, Human Rights and Conflict Resolution’ in collaboration with Brookings Institution, Washington D. C., 2004).
In August 2004, Honourable Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh invited him to serve the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), a responsibility he served with distinction. It was quite an honour to be part of the NSAB at an age of 43 and closely work with some of the most important professionals and officials in the domain of foreign policy, international relations, national security and the challenges facing the country. Some of the members of the NSAB at that point included Amb. Hamid Ansari (now the Vice President of India), Shri Dinesh Pathak (former Director of Intelligence Bureau), Admiral P J Jacob (former Vice Chief of Indian Navy) Shri M K Rasgotra (former Foreign Secretary). Shri M K Narayanan (now the Governor of West Bengal) was the National Security Advisor. He resigned from NSAB in March 2006 in order to contest the West Bengal Assembly Election in May 2006 against Chief Minister Shri Buddhadev Bhattacharya.
In November 2005, the University Grants Commission invited him to Chair an Expert Committee on Universities and Public Policy. This constituted a first systematic approach to bridge the gap between the university system in the country and the realm of public policy in the country.
In 2005 Jadavpur University organised a nationally coordinated programme of the Centre for Refugee Studies under the leadership of Prof. Mishra on The Partition of India Revisited: Thinking Through and Beyond Violence, Trauma and Memory.
Prof. Mishra has been a consultant to many reputed international research institutes and organisations, like the Global IDP Project of the Norwegian Refugee Council, the UNHCR, and the Brookings Institution etc. He has been invited by many of the top teaching and research institutes and national and international NGOs and has been invited to countries including USA, Canada, UK, China, Switzerland, South Korea, Austria, Pakistan, Thailand, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Australia, Nepal, Uzbekistan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Japan, Vietnam etc. for various academic assignments.
Prof. Mishra’s first US visit in 1997 at the age of 36 was under the prestigious International Visitors Leadership Program of the Government of the United States of America. It may be noted that this programme involves invitation of the Government of the USA to emerging leaders in the age group of 30 to 40 in diverse fields from different countries. Presently 67 Heads of States/Governments in different parts of the world are alumnus of this programme. From India, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Dr. APJ Kalam, Smt. Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, Dr. Manmohan Singh were part of this programme much earlier than they became Prime Minister/President.
In 1997-1998 Prof. Mishra initiated the establishment of a first ever academic and research centre for refugee study in the country. He became the founder-coordinator of the Centre for Refugee Studies at Jadavpur University. University of Oxford invited him to give lectures on different aspects of the refugee problem. He was the first one to argue that Kashmiri Pundits forced out of Kashmir valley cannot be referred to as ‘migrants’ but must be given the category of ‘Internally Displaced People’ (IDPs)--- a position which has been accepted by Government of India since 2005. Prof. Mishra wrote the India section in the first ever Global Survey of IDPs produced by Norwegian Refugee Council and published by Oxford University Press. Francis Deng, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on IDPs wrote a Foreword for Prof. Mishra’s edited volume ‘Forced Migration in South Asian Region: Displacement, Human Rights and Conflict Resolution’ brought out by Brookings Institute and Jadavpur University.
In November 2006 Prof. Mishra founded Global India Foundation--- a think tank established with the objective of promoting national resilience and international interdependence together with professionals and citizens from various parts of India. The Foundation is an initiative to contribute in India’s efforts to realise its aspirations of playing a meaningful and constructive role in regional and global affairs. The Foundation was launched in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in January 2007.
He was the Pro-Vice Chancellor of IGNOU, the largest University of the world from 23 July 2007 to 22 July 2010. He has served as Chairperson of Expert Committees to consider recognition of more than 20 Universities and national level educational institutes offering programmes in management, finance and accounting, engineering and vocational courses involving educational technology. He is extensively consulted by the University Grants Commission (the UGC) and Distance Education Council on educational institutions, instructions and their regulations. He has been invited to more than 80 universities in the country and abroad and has lectured on aspects and issues related to foreign policy, international affairs, global economy etc.