One of the historians assigned a research volume in the
prominent Towards Freedom project, undertaken by the
Indian Council of Historical Research, has left his study
mid-way. Professor Gyan Pande's disassociation with the
project has provided one in a flurry of blows to the research
which has dragged its feet for the last two decades. Prof.
Pande was to collate facts pertaining to the freedom
struggle in the year 1941.
The Towards Freedom project was conceived with the
central idea of the documenting the last decades of the
Indian freedom struggle. However, several years into the
project it is still nowhere near completion. The project has
changed several hands since it was started in the early
1970s. A whopping sum of Rs 1.71 crores has already been
spent by the ICHR on the Towards Freedom project since
1973.
Interestingly, the recently-released edition, compiled by
Prof. Partha Sarthy Gupta dealing with the year 1943-44,
has failed to give due credit to the ICHR. A council
document states the "Unfortunately the volume relating the
1943-44 compiled by Prof. P.S. Gupta does not say a word
about the ICHR in the introduction by the general editor
and the editor, or in the acknowledgments - nowhere."
Beside what is printed on the spine, all that is available in
the book to show that the ICHR has something to do with it
is that the expanded form of ICHR is wrongly printed as
Indian Council for Historical Research on the Title page.
Apart from other discrepancies in the printing and index is
conspicuous by its absence in what is meant to be a
historical reference book. However, besides being denied
due credit for the publication the ICHR has not felt the
pinch on its pocket in the publishing of the volume, priced
at Rs 7,500. The publishing cost is being footed by the
Oxford University Press.
Initially, a team of scholars under Prof. S. Gopal were
assigned the task of documenting this period of history. A
decade later, no substantial work as table as proof of any
progress in the project. Under the chairmanship of Prof.
Lokesh Chandra, Prof. P. N. Chopra was appointed head of
a team which went on to bring out a volume dealing with
the year 1937 and another volume on 1938 was sent to
press. When Prof. Irfan Habib took over as chairman of the
council. Prof. Chopra was removed and Prof. Gopal was
reinstated as head of the Towards Freedom project.
Scholars were meant to be given Rs. 2,5000 as honorarium
at the time of submitting their research work. However,
during the course of the project dearness and travel
allowance was to be provided to the historians and their
team of researchers. Of the 10 volumes scheduled by the
ICHR, only two have seen the light of day. While one
edition by Basudev Chatterjee has been sent to Oxford
University Press, twoothers compiled by K. N. Panikkar
and Summit Sarkar are in the pipeline, according to Prof.
S. Settar, chairman of the ICHR.