Author:
Publication: The New Indian Express
Date: November 9, 2002
The debate over history in the curriculum
is only likely to get sharper after Friday, with the NCERT starting
a series of lectures to counter "disinformation".
B.B. Lal, former ASI director general,
kicked off the programme in Bhopal with a lecture titled "Why perpetuate
myths? - A fresh look at ancient Indian history". He listed four
"myths": that the Aryans invaded India; the Harappans were Dravidian-speaking;
the Rigvedic Saraswati was the Helmand of Afghanistan; the Harappan
culture became extinct, obscuring a vision of India's past.
Lal said the answers lay in deciphering
the Harappan script but evidence pointed to the Harapan and Vedic
culture being the same.
While chairman J.S. Rajput chose
to distance the NCERT from the thrust of the lecture, Lal said he
was glad to find many of his "findings" incorporated in the new ancient
history textbook by Makhan Lal.
Asked if the NCERT supported what
Lal said, Rajput said: "There are various interpretations. Why just
history, we will take issues like the curriculum load to the people."
The next lecture would be held in Delhi on Nov 23. "We will also
call historians critical of us," he said.
Commenting on the lecture, Makhan
Lal said: "Some things about the Harappans reflect Indianness, for
which a strong material evidence existed but was deliberately ignored
for long."
