Tuesday 23 June 2015

Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR)

Why in news?

  • Member Secretary of ICHR Gopinath Ravindran has quit the prestigious organisation midway through his term. The resignation comes amid growing perception of his differences with the council chairperson and his concerns regarding the functioning of the council.
  • Close on the heels of the resignation of Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Chief Editor of Indian Historical Reviewin April, Y. Sudershan Rao, Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research, publisher of the prestigious journal, has disbanded its advisory committee.
    • Romila Thapar, Satish Chandra, Irfan Habib, Muzaffar Alam and 17 more internationally renowned scholars were in the committee.
  • A team was constituted by ICHR to review history writings in India. 
    • Fears about 'right-tilt' of Indian history
  • Often in news due to its role in Cultural/Public Diplomacy 


About ICHR
  • The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) is plainly a Fund-disbursing Agency for carrying out research to Indian and Foreign Scholars on their specific applications for Fellowships, Grants, symposia, etc. 
  • The source of the Funds, at the disposal of the ICHR is Grants-in- Aid received from the Department of Higher Education in the Ministry of Human Resource Development
  • There have been many moves to bring the ICHR under the Ministry of Culture of Government of India but so far it has continued to be under the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
  • Registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 

The Objectives of the ICHR, as enunciated in the initial Pamphlet published by the Department of Education, Government of India in 1972, are as under:
  • to bring historians together and provide a forum for exchange of views between them;
  • to give a national direction to an objective and scientific writing of history and to have rational presentation and interpretation of history
  • to promote, accelerate and coordinate research in history with special emphasis on areas which have not received adequate attention so far;
  • to promote and coordinated a balanced distribution of research effort over different areas;
  • to elicit support and recognition for historical research from all concerned and ensure the necessary dissemination and use of results.
[Source: Indian Express, The Hindu, Wikipedia, ICHR Website]

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