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Rajasthan move to write history of villages, towns draws flak

Special Correspondent

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Government's move to write the history of villages and towns in the State has drawn flak from the opposition Congress. The project, announced by Education Minister Ghanshyam Tiwari here on New Year Eve, includes some rewriting of history as well. It has the scrutiny of "Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan", history written by Col. James Todd, also on its agenda.

A formal launch of the project, which is likely to take one year to complete, is scheduled for this coming Thursday. "It is a dangerous move which holds the potential of creating divisions at village level among the communities and religious groups," said Congress general secretary Ashok Gehlot talking to journalists at a New Year get-together at his residence here. The history project, titled "Aapni dharti aapni log"(Our land; our people) would, according to Mr. Tiwari, involve all the 41,000-odd villages and 186 towns of the State. Apart from the services of 50,000 school teachers, the project will take the support of elders in the village, village sarpanchs, local historians, writers, balladeers and performers who still carry on with the oral traditions of history in Rajasthan.

Mr. Tiwari, who noted that the history written by Col. Todd was controversial though acceptable to a great extent, would be corrected at places wherever major anomalies existed, after a review. The history of the villages would have the year of their coming into existence, population, educational status of the inhabitants, the caste groups, the local heroes, freedom fighters, the number of people in the armed forces and other professions, the details on the traditions of the village, including folk and sayings ("kahawat") and a list of important monuments.

The village schools would have the details of the data collected on their notice boards at the time of the process though Mr. Tiwari has ruled out inclusion of the outcome of the surveys in the school curriculum.

A State level committee will coordinate the project which would have similar committees at district, bloc and villages levels.

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Rajasthan move to write history of villages, towns draws flak

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