Governance Now Interview

"ICHR is a general platform where all kinds of views related to history would be undertaken. And all opinions are welcome. But, in my view, for the past 300 years our history has been written from the western point of view. even the historical procedures are designed only by the West. Indian history was first written by Europeans using their own perspective. even after independence, our history is mostly influenced by the Marxist school which is also western. so far, we have not viewed Indian history from the Indian context. even after 67 years of independence we are not able to look at Indian history from the Indian point of view. It doesn’t mean that all western[ised] history is wrong. When we look at Indian history from the Indian perspective, we should have our own procedures to study, which we have not framed so far."

The full interview : Governance Now - Y Sudershan Rao

Read more

Interview with the Hindu

“My first priority is to secure more funds for the council to carry out original research, digitise the Indian history and bring back precious documents, manuscripts and inscriptions from museums in America, UK and other European countries belonging to India,” he said.

“India has 7,000 to 8,000 years of history. It needs to be studied in detail and digitised properly for the benefit of our posterity. The subject history is not a course, but it interests every individual to know about one’s own ancestors, language and culture. We will strive to bring out history in a new perspective,”

The full interview :  The Hindu Interview

Read more

NitiCentral article

" Where is Dr Rao diverting from these(ICHR'S) objectives when he writes:

“I feel, in the first two decades, considerable work has been done in ancient and medieval areas and in the recent years the research in modern and regional history have come up in large scale. Mostly, I think, the researches directly sponsored and conducted by the ICHR are mostly guided by the modern schools of historiography of the West. Though much work has been done in these areas, we have to pay enough attention to the ancient and medieval India and particularly to its remote past.”

He is just referring to the third objective enlisted above — to promote, accelerate and coordinate research in history with special emphasis on areas which have not received adequate attention so far. "

The full article :  NitiCentral - ICHR

Read more

Interview with the Organiser

"I am of the opinion, we should get training on methodology and academic rigour from the Western scholars but the perspective should be our own. And then every nation has a right to write its own history from its own perspective, with certain national objectives. I call this process as ‘Indianisation’. At best, you can call it a patriotic approach"

The full Interview : The Organizer - ICHR

Read more

Economic Times Interview

So does India, according to you, need a history or a past? 

"History writing in India is just about 300 years old and is not exactly reflective of our past. The first generation of history writers in India was European, the second generation was nationalist and the third generation in the post-Independence era was dominated by Marxists, who use European tools of analysis. The Europeans have not considered Puranas and Itihasas as historical sources and simply called them myths. If Rama's story is not true then how has he survived in the collective memory for so long? People do not care whether Ram is historical or not. He is truth for them. India's need is a special study of its past and the truth of its past cannot be denied. We need to Indianise our history writing"

The full interview :  Economic Times - YSudershan Rao

Read more