The University Grants Commission’s draft history syllabus for undergraduates is a culmination of the efforts by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government to exclude critical histories of people and social formations included in many of the Indian universities, according to the Kerala History Congress.
“If implemented, this would result in taking history writing back to the times of the colony and strike at the very roots of secular and professional history writing. Instead of looking at Indian history based on a problem-centric approach, the new draft again brings into operation the James Mill version of a history divided into Hindu, Muslim and the British periods,” said Sebastian Joseph, General Secretary of the Kerala History Congress.
"The draft syllabus despite stating certain objectives in the preamble like total history approach, focus on micro as well as macro aspects of Indian history and openness to recent historiographical engagements is set to fail in accomplishing any of these. Even when the draft mentions inclusion of recent trends in historiography, no such modules are seen in any of the core and elective courses outlined in the syllabus", he said.
Prof. Joseph pointed out that the works of historians like R S Sharma and Irfan Habib are not included in the reference list for the study of Ancient and Medieval history of India. "This contradicts one of the objectives mentioned in the syllabus like the need to focus on primary sources, for these two historians significantly contributed to the nation's historiography through exploring and analysing a vast corpus of original sources", he said.
Prof. Joseph said that the draft syllabus completely omits the latest advances in historiography and historical research. “For instance, the elective Research Method in History appears to be too general and conventional. This recommendation comes at a time when most of the universities in Kerala have restructured the UG curriculum in tandem with latest advances in historical research,” he said.
