Aman Mehta at 16:01, 16 October 2025

2025-10-16T16:01:20Z

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{{short description|Indian educationist, writer, social worker}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Chitra Naik
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1918|7|15|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Pune]], India
| death_date = {{death date and age|2010|12|24|1918|7|15|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Pune]], [[Maharashtra]], India
| restingplace =
| restingplacecoordinates =
| othername =
| occupation = Educationist Writer Social worker
| yearsactive =
| known for = Educational reforms
| spouse = [[Jayant Pandurang Naik]]
| domesticpartner =
| children =
| parents =
| website = {{URL|http://www.iiepune.org|Website of IIE}}
| awards = [[Padma Shri]] Pranawanand Award Jeevan Sadhana Award Karma Veer Bahurao Patil Samaj Seva Award Tagore Literacy Award [[UNESCO]] Raja Roy Singh Award [[Rajiv Gandhi]] Award [[UNESCO]] Jan Amos Comenius International Award [[Jamnalal Bajaj Award]]
}}
'''Chitra Jayant Naik''' (15 July 1918 – 24 December 2010) was an Indian educationist, writer, social worker, the chairperson of the Indian Institute of Education and the expert member of the [[Planning Commission of India]].<ref name="Educationist Chitra Naik No More">{{cite web | url=http://dnasyndication.com/showarticle.aspx?nid=DNPUN34665 | title=Educationist Chitra Naik No More | publisher=DNA Syndication | date=25 December 2010 | access-date=20 July 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511081344/http://dnasyndication.com/showarticle.aspx?nid=DNPUN34665 | archive-date=11 May 2018 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Indian Public Administration: Institutions and Issues">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nvzcy7o4sgAC&q=Chitra+Jayant+Naik | title=Indian Public Administration: Institutions and Issues | publisher=New Age International | author=Ramesh K. Arora, Rajani Goyal | year=1995 | pages=676 | isbn=9788173280689}}</ref> She was the chairperson of the Non-formal Education Committee set up by the [[Ministry of Human Resource Development (India)|Ministry of Human Resource Development]] and was a member of the [[National Literacy Mission]].<ref name="Educating the Society">{{cite web | url=http://www.sparrowonline.org/downloads/SNL21.pdf | title=Educating the Society | publisher=Sparrow Online | date=April 2011 | access-date=20 July 2015}}</ref> The [[Government of India]] awarded her the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of [[Padma Shri]] in 1986.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web |url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=18 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 }}</ref>

==Early life==
Chitra Naik was born on 15 July 1918 at [[Pune]] in the western Indian state of [[Maharashtra]]<ref name="Pune's Pride">{{cite web | url=http://www.punediary.com/wellknown11.html | title=Pune's Pride | publisher=Pune Diary | date=2015 | access-date=20 July 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020231121/http://www.punediary.com/wellknown11.html | archive-date=20 October 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and graduated in arts with honours.<ref name="Jamnalal Bajaj Award">{{cite web | url=http://www.jamnalalbajajfoundation.org/awards/archives/2002/women--and--child-welfare/chitra-naik | title=Jamnalal Bajaj Award | publisher=Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation | date=2015 | access-date=20 July 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130817053912/http://www.jamnalalbajajfoundation.org/awards/archives/2002/women--and--child-welfare/chitra-naik | archive-date=17 August 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref> She continued her studies to get another graduate degree in education and secured a doctoral degree (PhD) from [[Mumbai University]].<ref name="Educationist Chitra Naik No More" /> In 1953, she received a [[Fulbright scholarship]]<ref name="Educationist Chitra Naik dead">{{cite web | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Educationist-Chitra-Naik-dead/articleshow/7159314.cms | title=Educationist Chitra Naik dead | newspaper=Times of India | date=25 December 2010 | access-date=21 July 2015}}</ref> and did post doctoral studies at [[Columbia University]], New York.<ref name="Educationist Chitra Naik No More" /> Her career started at the Rural Institute in Bhudargad, [[Kolhapur District]] where she organised educational camps among the [[harijan]]s, gathered women to form women's associations (Mahila Mandal) and founded Children's daycare centres (Balwadi) and a health clinic.<ref name="Jamnalal Bajaj Award" />

==Legacy and positions==
In 1948, she helped her husband and renowned educationist, [[Jayant Pandurang Naik]], to found the Indian Institute of Education (IIE),
<ref name="Remembering a legend">{{cite web | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Remembering-a-legend/articleshow/3446819.cms | title=Remembering a legend | newspaper=Times of India | date=5 September 2008 | access-date=20 July 2015}}</ref> a research institute affiliated to [[Mumbai University]], to facilitate higher education and research facilities for the teachers in the [[Greater Bombay]] area.<ref name="About Us">{{cite web | url=http://www.iiepune.org/InnerPages/About_Us.aspx | title=About Us | publisher=IIE | date=2015 | access-date=20 July 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526225541/http://www.iiepune.org/InnerPages/About_Us.aspx | archive-date=26 May 2015 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Chitra Naik was a collaborator in the endeavours of [[Jayant Pandurang Naik|Jayant Naik]], an inductee of the [[UNESCO]] Roll of Honour of the 100 significant educational thinkers of the last 25 centuries.<ref name="UNESCO Roll of Honour">{{cite web | url=http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/services/online-materials/publications/thinkers-on-education.html | title=UNESCO Roll of Honour | publisher=UNESCO | date=2015 | access-date=21 July 2015 | archive-date=9 October 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151009072611/http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/services/online-materials/publications/thinkers-on-education.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> She served as the director of IIE and under her leadership, the institution set up training centres for women in the disciplines of home nursing, first aid, maternal and child care, sanitation and nutrition.<ref name="Jamnalal Bajaj Award" /> She also established a Children's Home (Bal Bhavan) and a training centre for social workers, organised education camps on family planning for women and conducted a project study on ''Mobilising Gram Panchayats for Rural Development''.<ref name="Jamnalal Bajaj Award" />

Naik was the director of National Institute of Basic Education, New Delhi and chaired the Non-formal Education Committee of the [[Ministry of Human Resource Development (India)|Ministry of Human Resource Development]].<ref name="Educating the Society" /> She was a member of the [[Planning Commission of India]] and attended to the responsibilities of the General education, Social welfare and Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe as the expert member of the commission for the [[Five-Year Plans of India|Ninth Five Year Plan]] (1997–2002).<ref name="Indian Public Administration: Institutions and Issues" /> She was a member of the Working Group on Adult Education (1978–83) under the Ministry of Human Resource Development<ref name="Committees and Commissions in India">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-4Mh097YC6oC&q=chitra+naik+committee&pg=PA1304 | title=Committees and Commissions in India | publisher=Concept Publications | year=1993 | isbn=9788170224877}}</ref> and a permanent member of the ''CABE Committee on Decentralised Management of Education'' (1993) set up by the Central Advisory Board of Education<ref name="Development of Education in India, Volume 5">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCRqyug6KQYC&q=chitra+naik+committee&pg=PA148 | title=Development of Education in India, Volume 5 | publisher=Concept Publications | author=S. P. Agrawal, J. C. Aggarwal | year=1997 | pages=447 | isbn=9788170226611}}</ref> She served as a member of the [[National Literacy Mission]]<ref name="Educating the Society" /> and was involved with the International Institute of Adult and Lifelong Education (IIALE) as a member of its International Consultative Committee.<ref name="Administrative Set Up - IIALE">{{cite web | url=http://www.iiale.org/admin.html | title=Administrative Set Up – IIALE | publisher=International Institute of Adult and Lifelong Education | date=2015 | access-date=20 July 2015}}</ref> She was in close association with the [[Government of Maharashtra]] and served in various capacities as the Director of [[Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education]], Director of Higher Education and Director of Education.<ref name="Educationist Chitra Naik No More" /> Naik is the author of the books, ''Shikshan ani Samaj''<ref name="Shikshan ani Samaj">{{cite web | url=http://210.212.169.35/W27/Result/Dtl/W21OneItem.aspx?xC=033816 | title=Shikshan ani Samaj | publisher=Indian Institute of Education | date=1975 | access-date=21 July 2015 | author=Chitra Naik | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304073433/http://210.212.169.35/W27/Result/Dtl/W21OneItem.aspx?xC=033816 | archive-date=4 March 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref> ([[Marathi language|Marathi]]), ''Educational innovation in India'',<ref name="Educational innovation in India">{{cite book | title=Educational innovation in India | publisher=UNESCO Press | author=Chitra Naik | year=1974 | asin=B007ESYZWK}}</ref> and ''Lokmanya Tilak as Educational Thinker''.<ref name="Lokmanya Tilak as Educational Thinker">{{cite web | url=http://210.212.169.35/W27/Result/Dtl/W21OneItem.aspx?xC=032959 | title=Lokmanya Tilak as Educational Thinker | publisher=Indian Institute of Education | date=2004 | access-date=21 July 2015 | author=Chitra Naik | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063829/http://210.212.169.35/W27/Result/Dtl/W21OneItem.aspx?xC=032959 | archive-date=4 March 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref> She has also written many books for children of which four were published by the [[National Book Trust]] in fourteen languages.<ref name="Educationist Chitra Naik No More" />

==Death==
Towards the later part of her life, Naik suffered from heart and lung diseases and was admitted to hospital in December 2010.<ref name="Educationist Chitra Naik dead" /> The treatment could not save her and she died on [[Christmas Eve]], 2010, at the age of 92, at [[Pune]], survived by her niece, Aruna Giri.<ref name="Educationist Chitra Naik No More" />

==Awards and honours==
Chitra Naik was a recipient of the Pranawanand Award for Educational Research of the [[University Grants Commission (India)|University Grants Commission]] and Jeevan Sadhana Award of the [[University of Pune]].<ref name="Educationist Chitra Naik dead" /> The [[Government of India]] awarded her the civilian honour [[Padma Shri]] in 1986<ref name="Padma Awards" /> and she received the first ''Karma Veer Bahurao Patil Samaj Seva Award'' in 1989.<ref name="Pune's Pride" /> The Indian Adult Education Association (IAEA) selected her for the Tagore Literacy Award in 1992 and the same year, [[UNESCO]] awarded her the Raja Roy Singh Award.<ref name="Jamnalal Bajaj Award" /><ref name="Founders">{{cite web | url=http://www.iiepune.org/InnerPages/Founder.aspx | title=Founders | publisher=IIE | date=2015 | access-date=21 July 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170524155207/http://www.iiepune.org/InnerPages/Founder.aspx | archive-date=24 May 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref> This was followed by the Rajiv Gandhi Award for social Service and the [[UNESCO]] Jan Amos Comenius International Award and, in 2002, she received the [[Jamnalal Bajaj Award]] from the [[Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation]].<ref name="Jamnalal Bajaj Award" /><ref name="Founders" />

==Bibliography==
* {{cite web | url=http://210.212.169.35/W27/Result/Dtl/W21OneItem.aspx?xC=033816 | title=Shikshan ani Samaj | publisher=Indian Institute of Education | date=1975 | access-date=21 July 2015 | author=Chitra Naik | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304073433/http://210.212.169.35/W27/Result/Dtl/W21OneItem.aspx?xC=033816 | archive-date=4 March 2016 | url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book | title=Educational innovation in India | publisher=UNESCO Press | author=Chitra Naik | year=1974 | asin=B007ESYZWK}}
* {{cite web | url=http://210.212.169.35/W27/Result/Dtl/W21OneItem.aspx?xC=032959 | title=Lokmanya Tilak as Educational Thinker | publisher=Indian Institute of Education | date=2004 | access-date=21 July 2015 | author=Chitra Naik | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063829/http://210.212.169.35/W27/Result/Dtl/W21OneItem.aspx?xC=032959 | archive-date=4 March 2016 | url-status=dead }}

==See also==
{{portal|India|Education}}
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Jayant Pandurang Naik]]
* [[Planning Commission of India]]
* [[National Literacy Mission]]
* [[Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Jamnalal Bajaj Award winners}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naik, Chitra}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Pune]]
[[Category:Marathi people]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women educational theorists]]
[[Category:Indian women science writers]]
[[Category:Indian social sciences writers]]
[[Category:University of Mumbai alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia University alumni]]
[[Category:English-language Indian writers]]
[[Category:Social workers from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:Women writers from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women educators]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:Scientists from Pune]]
[[Category:Women educators from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Educators from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]

Chitra Naik - Revision history

Aman Mehta at 16:01, 16 October 2025