Debate on rewriting history unnecessary, exaggerations need to be removed: ICHR chief

The debate in the country on rewriting history is unnecessary as some "exaggerations" need to be removed from time to time, Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) Chairman Arvind Jamkhedkar has said.

In an interview to PTI, he also said the mandate of the ICHR, a body under the HRD Ministry, was not to dictate history or decide curriculum but to encourage research to facilitate the rewriting of history.

Rewriting is part of the writing of history, he stated.

The ICHR chief supported his argument by stressing that rewriting was a "healthy" trend.

"Over a period of time certain awareness comes among historians and they find certain lacunae which would have been left by previous schools (of history)," he said.

History has always been rewritten and it is a healthy thing because there have been exaggerations. For instance, it was thought that probably earlier economic historians might have exaggerated a few things and history was then rewritten, he said.

Asked about the debate in the country over revisions of history curricula, the chairman said, It is not ICHR's mandate to dictate history or decide what should be taught. Its job is to encourage scholars to conduct fresh and meaningful research to rewrite history."

The ICHR is a flagship research-based institution that functions under the Ministry of Human Resource Development.