Freedom fighter Khudiram Bose (Photo: Twitter)Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs, took to Twitter on Friday morning to pay tribute to freedom fighter Khudiram Bose on his birth anniversary.
He tweeted a photograph of Khudiram Bose and wrote, "Tributes to one of the youngest freedom fighters of Indian fight for independence Shri Khudiram Bose Ji on his birth anniversary. He made the supreme sacrifice for the nation at a young age of 18."
WHO WAS KHUDIRAM BOSE?Born in 1889, Khudiram Bose was a revolutionary from present-day West Bengal. Having actively participated in protests against the British rule in India since his adolescent years, he rose to prominence in 1908 when he attempted to assassinate British judge Douglas Kingsford. The judge was known for his severe clampdown on revolutionaries.
Along with another revolutionary Prafulla Chaki, Khudiram Bose threw bombs on a carriage that they suspected the British judge was in. However, Douglas Kingsford was not in the targeted carriage and two British women died instead.
While Prafulla Chaki died by suicide shortly after the incident, Khudiram Bose was arrested and ultimately sentenced to death at the age of 18.
During the trial, Khudiram Bose's lawyer Narendra Kumar had argued that he was too young to be able to make bombs. After he was sentenced to death, when the British judge asked him if he understood the meaning of his sentence, he is known to have calmly replied, "Yes, I do. And my lawyer said that I was too young to make bombs, but if you allow me some time before I'm taken away from here, I can teach you the skills of making bombs too."
Khudiram Bose was executed on August 11 in 1908, prompting largescale protests by students in Calcutta.
TRIBUTES POUR INOdisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union Minister For Culture, Tourism And Development Of North Eastern Region G Kishan Reddy also posted tributes to Khudiram Bose on the occasion of his birth anniversary.
The Odisha Congress and Union Ministry of Culture also tweeted to pay their respects.
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Freedom Fighter Scraping By In Bangladesh: Can't Bribe To Get Benefits
DARSHANA, Bangladesh - Haider Ali, a freedom fighter from Darshana, Chuadanga's Damurhuda Upazila, who once responded to the call of duty and put his life at stake to liberate his nation in 1971, is still waiting to be recognized as a gazetted freedom fighter
Fast forward to November 2021, when the country is celebrating its golden jubilee of independence, Haider is struggling to feed his two kids.
Haider's job as a painter hardly pays him enough to live on, so every day is a struggle for him. He can't use the freedom fighter privileges because he doesn't have official status.
In 1971, Haider, a twenty-year-old from Darshana's Paranpur, enlisted in Sector 8 of the Liberation War. The young gun traveled to India to get military training.
Haider received a certificate from the Majhdia camp after the war ended, signed by Commander-in-Chief of the Bangladesh Army Colonel MAG Osmani, attesting to his participation in the conflict.
"Even though I have the evidence [certificate] that I fought in the Liberation War, I did not get any recognition as a freedom fighter even after 50 years of independence," Haider said.
"I also met with Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque. After going through my documents, who assured to include me on the list of freedom fighters."
"I feel like money is the real issue here. My name could have been on the list of freedom fighters if I had put money into the effort. I am hardly making ends meet with my work as a painter. How would I afford this much money? Although I directly fought the war, I am still not a freedom fighter."
Another freedom fighter Tamser Ali said: "I can testify for Haider. He joined the battle of Bishoykhali with me."
However, it is unclear if Haider will be acknowledged as a freedom fighter in the future. The man, who was willing to die for his country, is now just scraping by.
Give Space To Unknown Freedom Fighters: House Panel On Textbooks
Stating that educational content for students should be “free of biases”, a Parliamentary committee on education has called for a review of the manner in which Indian freedom fighters are portrayed in school history textbooks and recommended that “ancient wisdom and knowledge” from the Vedas should be incorporated in the school curriculum.
The report of the standing committee on education, women, children, youth and sports, which is headed by BJP MP Vinay P Sahasrabuddhe, also lays emphasis on the need to make additions from Sikh and Maratha history in the curriculum. The committee has also called for making the books gender-inclusive.
“There is a need for discussing and reviewing, with leading historians, the manner in which Indian freedom fighters, from various regions/parts of the country and their contributions get place in History textbooks. This will result in a more balanced and judicious perception of the Indian freedom struggle. This will go a long way in giving due and proper space to the freedom fighters hitherto unknown and oblivious in the freedom movement. Review of representation of community identity based history as of Sikh and Maratha history and others and their adequate incorporation in the textbooks will help in a more judicious perspective of their contribution,” stated the report tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
ExplainedThe timing and key recommendations of the Parliament committee report are significant. Just two months ago, the Centre set up a steering committee to update the national framework in order to frame broad guidelines for changes in the NCERT curriculum.
The committee has 10 Rajya Sabha members, including four from the BJP, and one each from TMC (Sushmita Dev), CPM (Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya), DMK (RS Bharathi), AIADMK (M Thambidurai), SP (Vishambhar Prasad Nishad) and Congress (Akhilesh Prasad Singh). Twelve of its 21 Lok Sabha members are from BJP, two from Congress, and one each from the TMC, CPM, JD(U), Shiv Sena, YSRCP, DMK and BJD.
The committee had started working on the report on reforms in content and design of school textbooks with a focus on removing references to “un-historical facts and distortions” about India’s national heroes from textbooks, ensuring proportionate references to all periods of Indian history, and highlighting the role of women achievers.
“It should also be ensured that books are free of biases. The textbooks should instill commitment to values enshrined in the constitution and should further promote national integration and unity,” stated another recommendation in the report which was adopted on November 26.
Since January, apart from the Union Ministry of Education, CBSE, NCERT, and the Maharashtra SCERT, seven organisations have deposed before the committee which includes three RSS-affiliates—Bhartiya Sikshan Mandal, Siksha Sanskriti Uthan Nyas and Vidya Bharti.
Moreover, representatives of the Pratham Education Foundation and JS Rajput, who was the NCERT director between 1999 and 2004, were among others who deposed before the panel.
Strongly opposing the recommendations of the committee, the Indian History Congress (IHC), which also made a deposition, said, “While a review process is always necessary, this should be done involving recognized scholars from all over the country and with adequate attention to the academic content, derived from a research-based understanding of different historical periods.”
The committee has said in its report that the NCERT and the state SCERTs should “incorporate the ancient wisdom, knowledge and teachings about life and society from Vedas and other great Indian texts/ books in the school curriculum”.
“Also, educational methodologies adopted in the ancient Universities like Nalanda, Vikramshila and Takshila should be studied and suitably modified to serve as a model reference for teachers…” it added.
In September, the Ministry of Education had formed a 12-member national steering committee under former ISRO chief K Kasturiranga to update the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) to lay down the broad guidelines for changes in the NCERT curriculum.
The NCERT has informed the committee that it is in the process of constituting a panel to “immediately analyze and address some of the issues with regard to un-historical facts and distortions about our national heroes as well as events if any raised by different stakeholders”.
The report also documents some of the “observations of the committee”, including that many historical figures and freedom fighters of the Indian freedom struggle have been portrayed in an “incorrect manner as offenders”. It also observed that the NCERT should take a relook at the guidelines for the writing of the history textbooks so that equal weightage and importance is given in the history textbooks to the various eras, periods and events.
“Similarly, it was observed that school textbooks do not give adequate coverage to some of the great Indian empires like that of Vikramaditya, Cholas, Chalukyas, Vijaynagar, Gondwana or that of Travancore and Ahoms of North-Eastern region, whose contributions in expansion of India’s standing on the world stage cannot be ignored,” the report stated.
Observing that women are underrepresented in school textbooks, the report stated that the curriculum should include sections on contributions by leading figures such as Mahasweta Devi, Kalpana Chawla, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Kittur Chennamma, M S Subbulakshmi, and Savitribai Phule, among others.
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