Whispers Forum

History, Geography Bewafa… It is welcome that the WIC has taken up the burning issue of history text books for schools prepared by the NCERT. What are the National Council for Historical Research and Social Research doing? The history of India neither begins nor ends with the Mughal period. Glorification of the Mughals is unethical, especially without reading European history and Ottoman Empire etc. It gives a false sense of the Mughals being somewhat special. A true account of Indian history (which is the history of India as at 14th August 1947) ought to examine the cause of the downfall of India after Buddha and Emperor Ashoka. Once India gave up bearing arms, it became vulnerable to foreign aggressions followed by more than a millennia of semi-slavery. India was going to suffer more but for the people exercising their choice of a strong government recently. The NCERT or any other agency can’t invent or create history-it can only be discovered. There is a need for the true history of India, including the treasure of Indian thought, that sustained the country even during semi-slavery and even influenced the renaissance in Europe (yet to be acknowledged). Critique the Dialectic Materialism and Charvak’s doctrines on similar lines “Yavam Jeeve Sukham Jeeve..” or the Indian numerals with limitations of the Roman numbers.
M L Gupta

Arvind Kejriwal, CM, Delhi has reportedly spent Rs 45 crores on the renovation of his official bungalow. A gross misuse of public exchequer. What happened to his initial pledges on austerity? He had promised never to use official cars and that he will continue to stay put in his private residence. It is understood that public expenditure was also incurred by the Delhi government initially in his private residence in the guise of receiving the aggrieved public. This may be cross-checked through public records. Why should taxpayers vote for him? Unfortunately, the office of C&AG has no authority to control public expenditure. The constitutional body has the authority to merely carry out post mortem/audit after the expenditure is incurred. This is a serious flaw in the system. Why can't the lawmakers amend the mandate of C&AG by empowering it to control public expenditure, before incurrence. The number of corruption scams will be reduced to a large extent.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

It is most unfortunate that the complaints of the women wrestlers have remained unresolved. Is someone trying to spoil the image of the government? That the Sports wing of the GoI had never been known (same in states too) for best administration as more than sports it had always been a power of patronage. It was never a much sought after assignment for bureaucrats. But after the amalgamation of the parallel government with the government, it is a legitimate expectation now that the government would act fair and swift. It can’t be delayed even by a day. No public servant true to his/her duty would allow such an ugly situation to build up. We have to be globally competitive in sports, not otherwise.
M L Gupta

What will happen, if India's Mughal history, deleted from the NCERT history books, suddenly finds refuge in Pakistan's history books used in their schools and universities. The imaginary situation could soon be a reality. While, on the one hand, this could work as a feel-good therapy for Pakistani citizens who are facing starvation, frustration besides giving them a false sense of pride. Their history starting from independence, will become richer. On the other hand, the Indians would suffer from a sense of loss, defeat and a void in the lives of Indian historians.
A K Saxena ( A former civil servant

The certified copy of the file noting, orders, instructions, directions, minutes of deliberations, etc. pertaining to a particular DO letter was denied u/s 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act being internal and sensitive in nature. The Commission clarified during the hearing the previous orders are not binding per-se in entirety as every case has to be seen in relation to the circumstances of that particular case. It is only the ratio decidendi part of the order which is binding and taken into consideration while deciding questions of law based on identical issues and facts. Therefore, in the absence of the discussion on the question of law, the decision referred to cannot be relied upon by the Commission. After examining the facts of the case, the CIC ruled that the file notings relating to the matter in hand are disclosable to the appellant. The CIC gave the liberty to the respondent to apply severability u/s 10(1) of the RTI Act.
Comments
The earlier orders of the CIC must
Dr Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is a RTI Consultant currently working with IIM Visakhapatnam. She has co-authored the books, RTI Right to Information - Law and Practice and PIO’s Guide to RTI. She offers consultancy on RTI matters and Third party audit. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link www.rtifoundationofindia.com

The History of India starts from 12000 BC . We were a flourishing civilisation since then. The high point of that era was the Mauryan Empire and Gupta’s period. These aspects of our civilisation has been forgotten in our history books? Yes. As young students in the fifties and sixties in school and college it was barely covered adequately. The glorification of the period, when “ invaders “ appeared on our civilised people , one from Kabul by land and the other by sea from Britain. Both came from penniless countries. The East India company was led by Robert Clive who had £5/- in his pocket . The ruler of Kabul, Babar records in BabarNama that he was desperate for resources and rich India was his target. Unfortunately rich India had focused on the economy and education/ well being of its people but forgot that this civilisation had to be protected. The result was the sacking of India by the overseas barbarians. The Indian sub continent was sacked repeatedly by the invaders from Kabul and our universities like Nalanda (actually 11 of them ) were reduced to ashes , and our people put to the sword and taken away to Kabul as slaves. Why do you think that the Himalayas in that region are called “ HINDU KUSH “ ? It means destruction of Hindu people on the slopes of these mountains, as many Indians as captured slaves perished on the forced march to Kabul. The aforesaid has no mention in the history books I studied in school! Why ? This is the enslavement of an entire civilisation carefully buried under the carpet by our historians since 1947. Why ? The military conquest of India was similarly buried by the historians with respect to the British Conquest of India starting in 1757. In 1857 the First War of Independence was fought to overthrow the yoke of colonial rule in India. Has this been covered at all in depth ? No . The British Colonial regime looted 45 Trillion dollars worth of resources from India in 250 years . Recently Economists from Cambridge University highlighted this fact . Why have these factual figures been hidden from the Indian people? The loot of a civilisation has been buried by historians? Why ? The need for a factual account is necessary for our children to understand and read and understand. This obfuscation of Indian history needs a thorough update. Nobody in my generation has studied for example of the famines in India under colonial rule . The worst being in Bengal in 1943. It has just been buried by historians. Why ? So why the glorification of invaders of India, as briefly brought out by me above ? In 1947 , when we gained freedom after the Mutiny of 1946 by the Armed Forces of India, the colonialists ran away in August 1947. They knew they would have been annihilated by us as Britain was broke and flat out on their backs economically. A historical fact is Robert Clive came to India with £5/- in his pocket and when he left he took his loot to Britain in 23 ships! The conquest of India by land forces from Kabul over a 800 years period has been buried by historians. The economic loss is far greater than the loot by the Colonial British forces who have taken away $45 Trillion dollars worth. And yet our history books reflect nothing on the above facts! Why? The question now is why our history was recorded in this manner to present a false narrative. Should this not be updated today in our history books for our children? NCERT is updating our history books with facts? Should our entire history as a civilisation of at least 12,000 years not be covered? It must be.
Devindra Sethi

One can change textbooks but one cannot rewrite, suppress or delete history or a part of it. There is a move to delete the Mughal period from the Indian history chapter of CBSE textbooks of class 12. Is this not tantamount to a breach in the continuity of Indian history? Pakistan believes its history starts with the advent of the Mughals into India, claiming it has no ancient history of its own. Why should India compete with a lowly and intellectually bankrupt State like Pakistan?
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

The whole system of compassionate appointment has become farcical. The family of the poor person who has given his service and life for the government is helpless with very few to care for him. If an independent audit is done, it would be clear that only a handful is able to get the benefit of compassionate appointment. Those who are waiting are in a large number and no one is able to say when the appointment would be done. At least the CIC should have come to the rescue of the person and directed to disclose the norms for appointment on compassionate grounds or the time period for it. If there is no time period, even saying so and asking for framing of time frame could have been useful. Let there be pride in the orders of the Information Commission.
Shashi Nigam

I agree with Nidhi Jain's ‘New low of Media reporting’ (WIC dt April 17). The media is largely responsible for the mess the country is in today. What about the self-regulatory watchdogs like the Press Council of India and the Editors' Guild of India, mandated to protect press freedom? Did these bodies take any action against the muzzling of press? Toothless tigers. A majority of journos owe allegiance to their political masters. The Media ,both digital and print, is controlled by the business tycoons , who, in turn, are controlled by politicians supporting different ideologies. One wonders how could the journalists report against the media barons and the politicos, who control them ? All TV anchors read scripted speeches, ghost-written by those who are close to the power that be. Free, fair and independent Press is an anachronism.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)