HVK Archives: ICHR sits on project for 25 years
ICHR sits on project for 25 years - The Times of India
Sakina Yusuf Khan
()
20 July 1997
Title: ICHR sits on project for 25 years
Author: Sakina Yusuf Khan
Publication: The Times of India
Date: July 20, 1997
In what is easily the worst academic scandal of recent times, the Indian
Council of Historical Research (ICHR) has failed to deliver in 25 years a
project it was assigned to complete in five years. That too, after
spending a whopping Rs 2 crore.
What is even more shocking is that renowned historians such as S. Gopal,
Mushirul Hasan, Bipan Chandra, Ravindar Kumar, Sumit Sarkar, Parthasarathy
Gupta, and K.N. Panikkar have been associated with the project.
Worse still, sources in the ICHR allege that the project was being misused
for personal academic aggrandisement. Trips to the UK were made by the
research staff on the pretext of collecting material, when according to the
project guidelines, only Indian documents were to be included in the
compilation.
It is also alleged that several of the documents collected have already
been published by some people under their own name.
While the project has very little to show for itself in terms of output,
some of the research personnel hired on an ad hoe basis, have been absorbed
as permanent stiff of the ICHR and even given promotions.
In August 1973, the ICHR embarked on an ambitious project called "Towards
Freedom," aimed at compiling a ten-volume series documenting the last
decade of the freedom struggle.
The idea was to publish documents giving India's point of view. This was
in response to the British government's Transfer of Power series, depicting
the events of 1937-1947 as a smooth transfer of authority rather than a
struggle for Independence.
After several extensions, funding for the project was finally discontinued
in March, 1992. By then nearly Rs 2 crore had been spent with only one
volume published. Even that was of such embarrassingly poor quality that it
had to be scrapped.
On the occasion of the 50th year of Independence, the ICHR is struggling to
save face by bringing out a few token volumes. Whether this will be
possible is not certain. Bela Malik of OUP, which is to publish these
books, says, "Only one volume, by Prof Parthasarathy Gupta, is likely to be
released by August end. As for the others, it will depend on when we
receive the final manuscript and its quality a good text could take just
six months, a clustered one as much as four years." However, she is,
unwilling to comment on the quality of the work so far submitted.
In August, 1992, the then chairperson of ICHR, Prof Irfan Habib, had
admitted that the work done was "scandalously small" considering the staff
employed. However, he had promised that press copies of all ten volumes
would be ready by December 31 that year.
Five years down the line, the present chairperson, S. Settar, is making
very much the same claim. "I admit the project has tried everybody's
patience. But in the last six months the progress has been very
encouraging. We hope to complete at least four volumes before the year is
out." he says.
Not many within the ICHR share Mr Settar's optimism. "We are not
interested in what is being cooked but in what is served on the table,"
says one official.
Those associated with the project as editors have their own explanations
for the delay. They claim it is an enormous task.
These explanations, however, do not cut much ice.
Back
Top
|
