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

(October2007 - March 2008)

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

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.