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India Today
18-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Go easy on history, keep it out of school curriculum
Year 2145 AD.A prime-time news debate is going on. The topic today is state-sanctioned correction of history e-books. On the panel is a ruling party spokesperson, a historian with a PhD from the Rajiv Gandhi University and three ChatGPT bots. The correction they are debating is about the first battle of Sindoor in 2025. The news studio is in the posh area of 'Greater than the previous Noida'.advertisementThe historian thunders: 'This is a complete fabrication. Let me point out the exact lies in the NCERT textbooks. I am quoting a primary source, a foreign publication, so that there is no bias. A French news portal - France 24 – writes that the Pakistanis had won the war on May 8 itself, showing complete air dominance. You don't believe it? Wait, let me quote another. A noted Chinese publication says India lost seven Rafales and the Pakistanis bombed 34 airbases, leading to a ceasefire.' The AI newsreader interjects: 'But we had satellite pictures to show the bombed airbases. Even The New York Times had published''Just some grainy pictures? We have recorded video footage of Pakistanis celebrating their victory. You can see fireworks. The army chief got promoted to the rank of a field marshal. There is so much corroborative evidence. Are you even listening to what you are saying?'As this is patently evident, any historical event or period will have different recorded versions of it, based on the agenda of the writer. Even in an era of satellite surveillance, Operation Sindoor had multiple versions of its chronology. Imagine 400 years ago, when there was no evidence recording mechanism, how easily one could distort such cases, we are destined to believe whatever written records survived from that era. In most cases they are hagiographies like Ain-i-Akbari or Baburnama, which were written by writers working on a retainer being paid by the kings. Even a highly communal Jizya tax is portrayed as protection money paid by the citizens to ensure security. A century later, we will whitewash hafta vasooli or Rangdari tax as kingdom or reign had varying degrees of atrocities and reforms. Every king had shades of grey. A history book should be aware of the same, and provide a balanced take for young students. It's easy to create binaries of heroes and villains which suit story books. History is far too serious a subject matter to be taught to young minds.A sixth standard student, a 12-year-old, tries to paint characters in black and white, purely out of convenience, and lack of reasoning abilities. And such tropes are then carried over by the film and television industry to create hagiographies of such rulers. We are all aware of dramas like The Sword of Tipu Sultan and Akbar, The Great. When an entire generation feeds on such stuff, grows up, and learns the darker things about such rulers, they revolt and naturally cry propaganda. They are unable to digest students study history to memorise facts and figures and regurgitate them on answer sheets during their exams to score marks. When was the first Battle of Panipat fought? becomes a quiz question, stripping it of all the complexities of a war - the ensuing politics and its impact on subsequent generations. Why was Babur invited to fight Ibrahim Lodi? And why did Babur eventually defeat the guys who invited him? No clue. History is essentially a domino effect, but we are so focused on individual slabs or dominoes that we never really zoom out to see the entire when we grow up, in our 30s and 40s, do we buy expensive hard-bound books at airports to read history from the lens of a mature grown-up man. Then, we will appreciate it. But by that time, we have already hard coded our biases, and hence we look for stuff that confirms our biases. It's too late. That's why, focus on geography, teach civics, but maybe, go easy on history, as it's far too complex to be taught to young people. Let them grow up and buy history books at airports.(Abhishek Asthana is the founder of a creative agency – GingerMonkey. He tweets as @GabbbarSingh)- Ends(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)Tune InMust Watch
Time of India
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Nat'l Statistics Day: Arunachal highlights 75 years of NSS
Itanagar: The state department of economics and statistics on Saturday celebrated the 19th National Statistics Day at the Golden Jubilee Banquet Hall, commemorating the birth anniversary of renowned statistician, professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Based on the theme of '75 Years of National Sample Survey,' the celebrations highlighted the pivotal role played by the National Sample Survey (NSS) in fostering evidence-based policymaking, since its inception in 1950. Speaking at the event, Rajiv Gandhi University vice-chancellor professor SK Nayak lauded the field officers for their vital role in raising awareness about the importance of statistics in socio-economic planning and national development. "Field-level functionaries are the backbone of our statistical ecosystem. They not only collect crucial data, but also drive community engagement through awareness activities like seminars, quizzes and debates, especially targeting the youth," he said. Bebing Megu, the state director of economics and statistics, paid tribute to professor Mahalanobis for his monumental contribution to the field of statistics. Mahalanobis, often considered the "Father of Indian Statistics," is renowned for developing the Mahalanobis distance, a statistical measure used in cluster analysis and pattern recognition, and for his instrumental role as a member of India's first planning commission, where he significantly influenced the second five-year plan.
Time of India
15-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Tripura Univ moves up to 44 in IIRF '25, but remains NE's lowest-ranked central varsity
Agartala: Tripura University has improved its position in the Indian Institutional Ranking Framework (IIRF) 2025, ranking 44th in the list of 50 top central universities of the country. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The position of Tripura University was 47th last year and 28th in 2023. However, the rank of Tripura University was found lowest among the 10 central universities in the northeast this year too. Rajiv Gandhi University in Itanagar became best in the region securing 13th rank in IIRF this year, followed by Tezpur University (24th), Mizoram University (25th), Central Agricultural University (26th), Northeastern Hill University, Shillong (29th), Nagaland University (34th), Sikkim University (36th), Assam University (37th), and Manipur University (40th). The deterioration of Tripura University began with the appointment of incumbent vice-chancellor Prof Ganga Prasad Prasain in Aug 2020. He has been accused of large-scale corruption in the appointment of faculty and non-teaching staff, including his son as an assistant engineer. Allegedly, the academic ambiance in the university has gone down, rather, it has become a hub of political activities of saffron outfits. The ministry of education has been flooded with complaints against the vice-chancellor that reportedly affected the IIRF ranking. According to IIRF data, Tripura University achieved an overall index score of 901, an increase from 897.86 in 2024, but a fall from 929.99 in 2023.
