*Mitra (Proto-Indo-Iranian, nominative *Mitras) was an important Indo-Iranian divinity. Following the prehistoric cultural split of Indo-Aryan and Iranian cultures, names descended from *mitra were used for the following religious entities:

Both Vedic Mitra and Avestan Mithra derive from an Indo-Iranian common noun *mitra-, generally reconstructed to have meant "covenant, treaty, agreement, promise." This meaning is preserved in Avestan miθra "covenant." In Sanskrit and modern Indo-Aryan languages, mitra means "friend," one of the aspects of binding^{[disambiguation needed ]} and alliance

The Indo-Iranian reconstruction is attributed to Christian Bartholomae, and was subsequently refined by A. Meillet (1907), who suggested derivation from the Proto-Indo-European root *mei "to exchange."

A suggested alternative derivation was *meh "to measure" (Gray 1929). Pokorny (IEW 1959) refined Meillet's *mei as "to bind." Combining the root *mei with the "tool suffix" -tra- "that which [causes] ..." (also found in man-tra-, "that which causes to think"), then literally means "that which binds," and thus "covenant, treaty, agreement, promise, oath" etc. Pokorny's interpretation also supports "to fasten, strengthen", which may be found in Latin moenia "city wall, fortification", and in an antonymic form, Old English (ge)maere "border, boundary-post".

Prof. Sugata Mitra is Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. He is best known for his "Hole in the Wall" experiment, and widely cited in works on literacy and education. He is also Chief Scientist, Emeritus, at NIIT.

Mitra has been described as a polymath by the University of London, as his 30 years of research spans a wide range of disciplines.

He was born in Calcutta, India on 12 February 1952.

Starting with molecular orbital computation in the 1970s, Mitra discovered that the structure of organic molecules determine their function more than the constituent atoms (Crystal structure sensitivity of the band structure of organic semiconductors. S.C. Mathur and S. Mitra, Journal of Phys.C Solid State, 12, (2) (1979) UK).

After earning a Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), Delhi, he went on to research energy storage systems - first at the Centre for Energy Studies in the IIT, and later at the Technische Universität, Vienna. This resulted in a new design for zinc-chlorine batteries that is now in use by the military (A design for zinc-chlorine batteries. S. Mitra, Journal of Power Sources, 8, 359-367 (1982) USA).

Shazia Manzoor (Punjabi, Urdu: شازیه منظور ) is a singer from Rawalpindi who now resides in Lahore Heera Mandi, Punjab, Pakistan. She is a popular singer in Pakistan and India and among the Punjabi diaspora. Shazia Manzoor sings mostly Punjabi music. She has sung various Punjabi folk songs and Punjabi Sufi poems and also sings Urdu songs as well. She is popular for her songs like Aaja Soniya, Mahi Aavega, Maye Ni Kinnu Akhan, Chann Mere Makkhna and Dhol Mahia, etc.

Shyamal Mitra (14th January, 1929 - 15th November, 1987) was a Bengali singer, composer and producer. Along with Hemanta Mukherjee and Manna Dey, he was the most notable musician of the golden era of Bengali music industry. His baritone voice reflected a range of emotions. Beside recording a huge number of popular Bengali basic songs, he also worked as playback singer in more than hundred Bengali movies and directed music in more that fifty Bengali films. He also sang in various other Indian languages, like Hindi, Assamese and Oriya.

Shyamal Mitra was born in Naihati, a city near Kolkata, India. His father, Dr. Sadhan Kumar Mitra, was a reputed doctor over there. The father wanted his son to follow his foot steps and to become a doctor, but the son was very keen about music and always inspired by his mother and the local singer Mrinal Kanti Ghosh. People associated with the I.P.T.A. movement used to visit Sadhan-babu's house and this gave the chance to yound Shyamal Mitra to come in contact with Salil Chowdhury. Young Shyamal Mitra and his youngest sister Reba used to sing “O Aalor Pathajatree” on the road for I.P.T.A.

Suchitra Mitra (19 September 1924 – 3 January 2011) was an Indian singer and composer, as well as a well-respected exponent of Rabindra Sangeet or the songs of Bengal's poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore. As an academic she remained a Professor and the Head of Rabindra Sangeet Department at the Rabindra Bharati University for many years. Mitra was a playback singer, acted in a Bengali films as well, and was many years associated with IPTA.

Mitra studied at the Scottish Church College, the University of Calcutta and at Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal, India. She has also remained the Sheriff of Kolkata (2001). After prolonged illness Mitra died of a cardiac ailment on 3 January 2011, in Kolkata.

Mitra's father, the celebrated littérateur, Saurindra Mohan Mukherjee, was a close associate of the Tagore family of Jorasanko. Suchitra Mitra's natural aptitude in music was recognized by Pankaj Mullick, who gave her, her first lesson in Rabindra Sangeet. From her childhood as the youngest member of her family, Suchitra cultivated her love for the songs and poetry of Tagore. She had an unerring ear for music and a natural gift of voice and expression.