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ICHR plans global collaboration for ‘India-centric’ research
New Delhi: The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) is looking at global collaborations to conduct “India-centric” research, and has recently signed an agreement with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) of the UK to work on India’s creative industries and cultural heritage, a top official said
New Delhi: The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) is looking at global collaborations to conduct “India-centric” research, and has recently signed an agreement with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) of the UK to work on India’s creative industries and cultural heritage, a top official said.
The council, an autonomous institution under the education ministry, will explore more such opportunities with other countries, including Japan, Australia and Israel, said Umesh Ashok Kadam, member secretary at the ICHR.
“ICHR had many International collaborations that expired amid the Covid-19 pandemic and they could not be renewed. Now, we are working on renewing some old collaborations and exploring new ones. However, this time, we would only have India-centric themes,” Kadam said. “Our previous collaborations with the UK were more euro-centric and now it is completely going to shift to Indian. We signed one agreement with the UK’s AHRC last month.”
The ICHR wants to present a “global face” through these collaborations, Kadam said. “Through this effort, ICHR is also trying to promote the Indian knowledge system and Indian methodology, which has not been given its due credit,” he said. “We want to tell the world about India’s scientific temperament of research. We have to understand our history not just within our own realm, but also have to see it through the contours that connect. These collaborations will be connecting points for those contours, which happened at different points.”
Elaborating on the collaboration with AHRC, Kadam said under creative industries, the topics covered include India’s contribution in performing arts, advertisements, architecture, arts and crafts, design, films, and music and photography across ancient, medieval and modern times. “In cultural heritage, we will cover topics including science and technology, astronomy, mining, textile industry, metallurgy, law, and democratic values. The baseline will be India oriented,” he said.
The ICHR and AHRC will work on at least 10 research projects and conduct workshops and seminars. “We are also looking to have an exchange of Indian sources lying across the UK in libraries and archives,” Kadam said.
The ICHR is also expanding within the country and will soon establish some regional centres. “So far, we have been able to connect with all educational and research institutions across the country. We have been funding the same institutions over and again,” Kadam said. “But now we want to take our projects and our funds to all quarters.”
