ICHR Special Projects

The Council took up some major projects which are making progress under the supervision of eminent scholars. The details are given below:

(April 2008 - March 2009)
Research Projects 2008-2009
Ongoing Research Projects 2008-2009

Towards Freedom Project

Subsequent to the publication of the Documents on the Movement for Independence in India – 1946, Part I, the following two volumes were brought out:

Documents on the Movement for Independence in India – 1945, edited by Professor Bimal Prasad.

Documents on the Movement for Independence in India – 1939, Part I, edited by Professor Mushirul Hasan.

These volumes, along with the 1946 volume brought out earlier, were released by Shri Arjun Singh, Minister for Human Resource Development, Government of India, on the occasion of the Foundation Day of the Indian Council of Historical Research on 27 March 2008. Besides, the second part of the volume for 1939 was finalized for publication and the second part of the volume for 1946 was taken up to be made ready for publication. The work for the finalization of the volume for 1940, edited by Professor K.N. Panikkar, and the collection of material for the volume for 1941 was continued. Significant progress was made in finalizing the volumes for the years 1942 and 1947 by Professor Bipan Chandra and Professor Sucheta Mahajan, the editors of these volumes, respectively.

Documents on Economic History of British Rule in India, 1858-1947

The project was conceived in April 1992 to compile and publish series volumes affecting the economic life of India during the British Rule: 1858-1947 on the themes of:

Documents on Population; Prices and Wages; Agriculture; Irrigation, Tenancy, Rent and Settlement; Famines; Exchange and Currency; Banking, Credit and Capital Movement; Railways; Tariffs and Fiscal Policies; Handicraft Industries; Modern Industries; Mines; Plantation; Foreign Trade and Tributes; Condition of Life; National Per Capita Income and Debts.
At present, the compilation of volumes on Railways and other volumes on different themes is being done in Calcutta under the General Editorship of Professor Amiya Kumar Bagchi, Director of Development of Studies, Kolkata. The ICHR has received a volume on Railway Act (Volume IV) and a volume pertaining to Bengal Presidency, Part I. The work is making satisfactory progress.

Dictionary of Social, Economic and Administrative Terms in Indian/South Asian Inscriptions

The project made good progress during the period under report. Approximately, 3,400 cards ad been computerized in Delhi for the volume pertaining to North Indian Inscriptions which is being done under the editorship of Professor K.M. Shrimali. Dr. K.V. Ramesh, the main editor for outh Indian Inscriptions, had also assured the Council that the manuscript of Volume It would be submitted by the end of December 2008. The Aligarh Unit, which is being looked after by Professor Irfan Habib in his capacity as General Editor, has also made satisfactory progress with respect to the volumes pertaining to Arabic, Persian and Urdu Inscriptions and is expected to be submitted by the end of this year.

The 1857 Project

Seminars, Conferences, Symposia sponsored by the ICHR

1. A two-day International Seminar on ‘The First War of Independence and Nation Building in South Asia –Issues and Concerns’ was organized during 17-18 October 2007 at New Delhi by the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (Mumbai). Professor Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Chairman, ICHR, inaugurated the seminar. Prominent speakers were Zoya Hasan, G. Hargopal, Uma Singh, V. Suryanarayana, Partha Ghosh, S.D. Muni, N. Mohan, Z. Nasreen, Parvin Nilofer, C. Rainford and Asghar Ali Engineer.

2. A two-day National Seminar on ‘The Revolt of 1857: Myth and Reality’ was organized by the Department of Medieval and Modern History, University of Lucknow, during 27-28 October 2007. It was inaugurated by Professor Basudeb Chattopadhyay. Prominent speakers were R.P. Singh, Rudrangshu Mukherjee, K.K. Sharma, S.Z.H. Jaffri, Sugam Anand, V.D. Pandey and Iqbal Husain.

3. A two-day National Seminar on ‘European Responses to the 1857 Rebellion in India’ was organized by the Department of Germanic and Romance Studies, University of Delhi, during 30-31 October 2007. Prominent speakers were Anil Bhatti, Flaminia Nicora, Youges Sharma, Claudia Reichel, Margit Koves, Margit Franz, Swati Dasgupta, Suchitra Choudhry, Balaji Ranganathan, Sovon Sanyal, Sarah Lemmen, Vibha Maurya and Maneesha Taneja.

4. A two-day National Seminar on Early Resistance to Colonial Rule in Tamil Nadu: From Polygars to 1857 was organized by the Department of History, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadu), during 1-2 November 2007. Professor Sabyasachi Bhattacharya inaugurated the seminar. Dr M. Ponnavaiko, Vice-Chancellor, Bharathidasan University, presided over the inaugural session. Prominent speakers were B. Surendra Rao, Sebastian Joseph, Subramaniam Reddy, Shobnan, K.A. Manikumar, Sadasivan, S. Gopalakrishnan, P.E. Mohan, P.B. Gopalakrishnan, Mohan Ram, Kalimuthu, G.J. Sudhakar, S.N. Nageswara Rao, and others.

5. A one-day National Seminar on ‘1857 ki Jange Azadi Mein Rohilkhand ka Hissa’ was organized by Maulana Ibadat Education Society, Amroha (UP) on 4 November 2007. Prominent speakers were N.R. Farooqui, S.N.R. Rizvi, S.Z.H. Jaffri, A.Q. Jafari, M.A. Naqvi, Rizwan Qaiser, Firdaus Azmat, Shafat Fahim, Shams Naqvi, Mehtab Naqvi, S.H. Akhtar and Shabi Ahmad.

6. A two-day National Seminar on ‘The Revolt of 1857: Nature and Scope’ was organized by the Department of History, Meerut College, Meerut (UP), during 4-5 November 2007. It was inaugurated by Professor S.P. Ojha, Vice-Chancellor, C.C.S. University, Meerut. Former Union Minister, Shri Satya Pal Malik, also addressed the seminar. Prominent speakers were S.C. Mittal, Geeta Srivastava, R.S. Aggrawal, K.K. Sharma, and others.

7. A two-day National Seminar on ‘The Revolt of 1857: Regional Perspectives’ was organized by the Department of History, Vidyasagar University, Midnapur (WB), during 20-21 November 2007. Prominent speakers were S.Z.H. Jaffri, Farhat Hasan, Basudeb Chattopadhyay, Ram Krishna Chatterjee, Himadri Banerjee, Atlury Murali, P.K. Shukla, Biswamoy Pati, Sanjukta Dasgupta and Rajsekhar Basu.

8. A two-day National Seminar on ‘The Revolt of 1857: Parallels and Social Highlights’ was organized by the Department of Ancient History and Culture, Rohilkhand University, Bareilly (UP), during 24-25 November 2007. About 20 noted historians and scholars were invited to present their papers on the said theme.

9. A two-day National Seminar on ‘Communal Unity and Indian Freedom Struggle’ was organized by the Department of Medieval History, Hamidia Girls’ Degree College, Allahabad, during 25-26 November 2007. More than 30 papers, mainly based on indigenous sources, particularly Urdu and Persian, were presented. Prominent speakers were S.Z.H. Jaffri, Zafarul Islam, S.N.R. Rizvi, A.Q. Jafari, and others.

10. A one-day National Seminar on ‘Revolt of 1857 and the Punjab: Historiographical Perspectives’ was organized by the Department of Punjab Historical Society, Punjabi University, Patiala, on 28 November 2007. It was inaugurated by Professor Surjit Hans and the keynote address was delivered by Professor Dilip Menon. P. K. Shukla explained that in 1857 all rebellious leaders were looking towards Bahadurshah Zafar as a symbol of legitimate sovereignty. Prominent speakers were Navtej Singh, Shamsul Islam and S.S.
Gill.

11. A two-day National Seminar on ‘Role of the Prominent Heroes in the Revolt of 1857 in the Malwa Region of Madhya Pradesh’ was organized by Sri Kaveri Research Institute, Ujjain (MP), during 29-30 November 2007. Twenty papers were presented in this seminar. Prominent speakers were Suresh Mishra, B.L. Lunia, M.K. Raghuvir Singh, K.L. Srivastava, and others.

12. A two-day National Seminar on ‘The Revolt of 1857’ was organized by Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, Kolkata, during 1-2 December 2007. The keynote address was delivered by Professor Barun De. Prominent speakers were Aniruddha Ray, Basudeb Chattopadhyay, Avijit Ray, Atish Dasgupta, Himadri Banerji, Aloke Das, Nurul Islam Manjur and Sabyasachi Bhattacharya.

13. A two-day National Seminar on ‘1857 Uprising – Lessons and Relevance to Present India’ was organized by the Commemoration Committee of 150th Anniversary of 1857 Freedom Struggle, Jhansi, during 8-9 December 2007. Prominent speakers were Irfan Habib, Chaman Lal, Pradeep Saxena, P.K. Shukla, Prabhash Joshi, Asghar Wajahat, Murli Manohar Prasad Singh, Chanchal Chauhan, Ram Sharan Joshi, and others.

14. A two-day International Conference on ‘Remembering 1857’ was organized by Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, during 13-14 December 2007. Professor Mushirul Hasan, Vice- Chancellor, and Dr Rakshanda Jalil contributed substantially to the organization of this seminar. Among the scholars who presented papers were Amresh Misra, Ira Bhattacharya, Sarmistha De, Sabyasachi Dasgupta, Veena Naregal, Charu Gupta, and others.

15. A two-day National Seminar on ‘1857 in Indian History–Historiography and Memory’ was organized by the Department of History, Pondicherry University, during 23-24 December 2007. Fourteen noted scholars were invited to present papers on the said theme. Prominent among them were R.L. Hangloo, Meena Bhargava, Subramania Reddy, A. Satyanarayana, Srinath, Z. Lahir, K.A. Manikumar, and others.

16. A symposium on ‘One Hundred and Fifty Years of 1857 Struggle’ was organized by A.P.C. Mahalaxmi College for Women, Tuticorin, on 7 January 2008. Prominent speakers were K.N. Panikkar, K.K.N. Kurup, S. Gopalakrishnan and S. Chandrashekhar.

17. A two-day National Seminar on ‘Rajasthan Mein 1857: Ek Jan Andolan was organized by SHODHAK, Jaipur, during 14-15 January 2008. Dr Ram Pandey of SHODHAK elaborated on the theme of the seminar in which about 25 papers were presented. Prominent speakers were K.C. Yadav, S.K. Pant, S.K. Gupta, T.K. Mathur, Rajpal Singh, Rita Pratap, Shiv Kumar Bhanot, Asha Pandey, Abul Moin Khan, Reyazuddin Khan, and others. Dr Y. Chinna Rao, Member Secretary, ICHR, addressing the participants in the seminar at Jaipur

18. A three-day National Conference on ‘1857 Revisited’ was organized by the Department of History, Kurukshetra University, during 16-18 January 2008. Prominent speakers were J.P. Mishra, Jogendra Singh, Jigar Mohammad, Himadri Banerjee, S.N.R. Rizvi, K.C. Yadav, S.C. Mittal, S.Z.H. Jaffri and Raghuvendra Tanwar.

19. A two-day National Seminar on ‘The Movement of 1857’ was organized by the Department of Medieval and Modern History, University of Allahabad, during 20-21 January 2008. V.C. Pandey, Ratneswar Mishra, Lal Bahadur Verma, Iqbal Hussain, Sushil Srivastava, S.Z.H. Jaffri, S.N.R. Rizvi, A.A. Fatmi and Om Prakash presented papers in the seminar.

20. A two-day National Seminar on ‘Reappraisal of Freedom Struggle’ was organized by the Department of History and Archaeology, Andhra University, Waltair, during 2-3 February 2008. Prominent speakers were R. Soma Reddy, Aloka Parasher Sen, S.S. Ramchandra Murthy, M. Radhakrishna Sharma, Y. Sudarshna Rao, D. Bhasker Murthy, S. Rajasekhara, P.N. Parabrahma Sastry, and others.

21. A three-day National Seminar on ‘The Revolt of 1857 in Central India’ was organized by Rani Durgawati Vishvavidyalaya, Jabalpur (MP), during 2-4 February 2008. It was inaugurated by Professor Namvar Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi Vishvavidyalaya. About 40 scholars including Namwar Singh, Rajiv Dube, Uma Tripathi, M.A. Khan, J.P. Mishra, Aleem Ahmad Khan, Pradeep Shukla, O.P. Sharma, A. Gangatharan, and others presented papers.

22. A one-day National Seminar on ‘Delhi and its Neighbourhood’ was organized by the Department of History, Mata Sundari College for Women, University of Delhi, on 12 February 2008. It was inaugurated by Professor Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Chairman, ICHR. The keynote Address was delivered by Professor Irfan Habib. Other distinguished scholars who participated in the seminar were Suraj Bhan, Shireen Moosvi, U.P. Arora, S.Z.H. Jaffri, S. Pandey, K.M. Shrimali, B.P. Sahu, Ratna Shree, Shabi Ahmed, P. K. Shukla and Amar Farooqui, Member Secretary, ICHR.

23. A two-day National Seminar on ‘The First War of Independence of 1857’ was organized by the Commissioner, Archaeology, Archives and Museum, Bhopal, during 16-17 February 2008. Prominent speakers were Arun Awasthi, Mamta Chinsoria, Mehboob Desai, J.P. Mishra, R. Mishra, Arun Pathak, Meena Rai, Amita Singh, Devendra Chaube, Zakir Hussain, and others.

24. A three-day symposium on ‘Sources and their Nature on 1857 in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan’ was organized by Shri Natnagar Shodh Sansthan, Sitamau (MP), during 24-26 February 2008. Prominent speakers were S. K. Purohit, S.P. Vyas, Shankar Goyal, S.S. Bais, Ravindra Bharadwaj, Pamaram, Agnes Thakur, R.N. Srivastava, Pradeep Shukla, Abha Pal, and others.

25. A two-day National Seminar on ‘Andaman and 1857’ was organized by Andaman and Nicobar Administration at Port Blair during 26-27 February 2008. It was inaugurated by Lt. General (Retd.) Bhopinder Singh, the Hon’ble Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. P.K. Shukla of ICHR critically examined the theme on the basis of primary sources. N. Rajendran, M.A. Mujtaba, G.S. Pandey, M.A. Salim and M.M. Singh were among the distinguished scholars who presented papers and discussed the theme in detail.

26. A two-day National Seminar on ‘Revisiting 1857: Significance and Relevance’ was organized by the Department of History, University of Kalyani (WB), during 26-27 February 2008. It was inaugurated by Professor Arabinda Kumar Das, Vice-Chancellor, and the keynote address was delivered by Professor Basudeb Chattopadhyay. Distinguished speakers at the seminar included Himadri Banerjee, Atul Chandra Pradhan, Chhanda Chatterjee, Sukumar Sarkar, Kaushik Roy and Sabyasachi Dasgupta.

27. A two-day National Seminar on ‘Rising of 1857: Literary, Folklore and other Cultural Representations of South India’ was organized by the Department of History, Archaeology and Culture, Dravidian University, Kuppam (AP), during 18-19 March 2008. About 15 noted scholars, which included N. Rajendran, S. Gopalakrishnan and P. Yanadi Raju, presented papers.

28. A one-day National Seminar on ‘India in 1857’ was organized by Arya Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Kurukshetra, Haryana, on 29 March 2008. Prominent speakers were Suraj Bhan, K.L. Tuteja and S.D. Gajrani, who elaborated on the role of Kurukshetra in the 1857 Uprising.

29. A two-day National Seminar on ‘Regional History and Historiography of 1857’ was organized by Hastinapur Research Institute, Meerut (UP), during 29-30 March 2008. Prominent speakers were A.K. Sinha, S.K. Mittal, A.K. Mittal and J. K. Sharma. P.K. Shukla and Ashfaque Ali examined the rebels’ perceptions as reflected in the original sources.

30. A National Seminar on ‘Peoples’ Role in 1857 Uprising—Delhi and its Neighbourhood Region’ was organized by Surajmal Memorial Education Society, New Delhi. It was inaugurated by Professor Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Chairman, ICHR. Mushirul Hasan, K.C. Yadav, Geeta Srivastava, Suraj Bhan, S.Z.H. Jaffri, Sushma Yadav, and others were among the prominent speakers who presented papers on the said theme.

Exhibitions

1. At the request of Nehru Centre, Mumbai, an Exhibition was organized by the ICHR from 15 October to 4 November 2007. It was inaugurated by Professor Mariam Dossal. A large number of students, teachers, scholars, media persons, and common masses visited the venue throughout the period of Exhibition.

2. The ICHR, in collaboration with its Southern Regional Centre, Bangalore, organized an Exhibition on 1857 during 15-31 December 2007 at Bangalore. It was inaugurated by Professor S. Chandrashekhar of Bangalore University. The Southern Regional Centre made special efforts in translating the catalogues of the Exhibition into Kannada language which were distributed along with English catalogues to the visitors. Professor S. Chandrashekhar of Bangalore University inaugurating the Exhibition on 1857 on 15-11-2007; to his right are Shri K.N. Hari Kumar, Professor Sabyasachi Bhattacharya and Shri K. Channabasappa, a freedom fighter

3. With the cooperation of the University of Delhi, the ICHR organized an Exhibition on 1857 on the occasion of the 68th Session of the Indian History Congress (28-30 December 2007) from 28 December 2007 to 4 January 2008 at the Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi. Over a thousand delegates of the Indian History Congress, university students, and common masses visited the Exhibition.

4. In collaboration with Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata, the ICHR organized an Exhibition on 1857 from 21 January to 4 February 2008. It was inaugurated by Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the Hon’ble Governor of West Bengal. Professor Sabyasachi Bhattacharya introduced the theme of the Exhibition during the inaugural function. On this occasion a symposium was also organized on ‘1857 Uprising’ on 25 January 2008. Prominent speakers were Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Shireen Moosvi, N. Rajendran, and others.

5. In collaboration with Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, the ICHR organized an Exhibition on 1857 during 1-10 February 2008. A large number of students, teachers, common masses, media persons, etc. visited the venue throughout the Exhibition period.

6. The ICHR organized an Exhibition on 1857 in collaboration with the State Museum of Goa, Panaji, during 19-29 February 2008. Shri Pratap Digambar Kamath, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Goa, inaugurated the Exhibition. Many dignitaries participated in the inaugural programme.

7. Shri Pratap Digamber Kamath, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Goa, seeing the exhibits displayed ICHR organized an Exhibition on 1857 at Berhampore in collaboration with the Department of History, University of Kalyani (WB), during 26-28 February 2008. It was inaugurated by Professor Arabinda Kumar Das, Vice-Chancellor of the University.

8. The ICHR, in association with its North-East Regional Centre, Gauhati, organized an Exhibition on 1857 during 5-16 March 2008. The Exhibition was inaugurated by Professor Amarjyoti Chaudhury, Vice-Chancellor, Gauhati University. Six important documents bearing significant information about the Rebellion of 1857 in the regions of the North-East were also made a part of the Exhibition.

Source Collection Programme

Satisfactory progress was made in the ongoing Source Collection Programme, as can be seen from the details given below:

1. Under the supervision of Professor Iqbal Hussain a large number of Urdu and Persian documents have already been collected and compiled for publication both in English and Hindi.

2. The compilation work of Extracts from the contemporary Urdu newspapers such as ‘Tilism-i-Lakhnau’, ‘Delhi Urdu Akhbar’ and ‘Aftab-i-Alamtab’ is nearing completion for publication in Urdu and Hindi under the supervision of Professor Shireen Moosvi and Dr Imtiaz Ahmad.

3. Excerpts from the available contemporary Marathi language sources are in the process of being collected under the supervision of Professor J.V. Naik of Mumbai with the purpose of bringing these out in book form.

4. Earlier prepared by the ICHR, 1857: A Select Bibliography has been made more comprehensive through addition of a number of primary and secondary sources.

5. A project to select and compile the source materials relating to ‘1857 Revolt’ from the State Archives of Bengal has been entrusted to Professor Basudeb Chattopadhyay, Calcutta University, Kolkata.

6. The Research Project on ‘European Responses to the Rebellion in India’ assigned to Professor Shaswati Mazumdar, Department of Germanic and Romance Studies, University of Delhi, has made satisfactory progress as a lot of material on the subject has been collected and the translation work has begun.