Category: History

** Assam Rifles havildar who escorted Dalai Lama in India in 1959 dies, laid to rest

 Naren Chandra Das, the retired havildar of Assam Rifles who escorted the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in India in 1959, was laid to rest on Wednesday in Assam’s Lokra where he lived after retiring from the force. He was 83.

** Srekala pays tribute to freedom fighters

Srekala Bharath’s ‘Veeram Vilayndha Bhoomi’ wasn’t backed by powerful dramatisation

Puli Thevar, Velu Nachiyar, Marudu Sagodharargal, Veerapandiya Kattabomman, V.O. Chidambaram, Bharathiyar and Kodi katha Kumaran are freedom fighters from Tamil Nadu, but barring a few popular names, most people may not be much familiar with others. So it was a good idea to present their stories as an ode to these freedom fighters and to commemorate 75 years of Independence.

Tamil Nadu

** 1839 struggle by Tai Khamti is India’s first war of independence: Arunachal Deputy CM

Chowna Mein urges Centre to recognise battle in northeast

The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 may not be India’s first war of independence.

The first such war, not recognised by Indian history, took place in 1839 between the Tai Khamti people and the British. The theatre of this war was some 2,400 km east of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh where the mutiny began, Arunachal Pradesh’s Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein said.

** Digitized war records of Indian troops killed in WWI Iraq highlight long forgotten Kut Al-Amara siege

The beautifully handwritten note on the yellowing service record, compiled by the Punjab government in 1919 and now over a century old, is as brief as it is poignant.

In faded ink, the entry for Wasawa Singh, the son of Shera, a Jat from the village of Gaike in northeast Punjab, tells the story of a young life cut short in the service of an alien empire.

There are no dates, merely a rank — havildar, equivalent to sergeant — and the name of a unit, the 30th Punjabis.

** Know Your City: How badminton was born in Pune as a pastime for bored British officers, their wives

The first informal set of rules of badminton — initially called ‘Poona’ – were formed in India by the British colonists in 1867. Later, as the British officers took the game back home, it acquired the name of Badminton after the country estate of Duke of Beaufort.

In March 1873, an English sports lover sent out a request to The Field: The Country Gentlemen’s Newspaper in England for information about the new ‘Badminton game of Battledore’ that, he had heard, was a favourite in India and was picking up in Britain.

** Haryana’s Rs 300-crore memorial to 1857 Uprising nears completion

The 22-acre Shahid Smarak at Ambala to showcase Haryana’s ‘lead role’ in India’s first War of Independence; impetus came from old telegrams discovered by historian KC Yadav, which he presented to claim that 1857 revolt actually began in Ambala.

The Haryana government believes that the Shahid Smarak would highlight that it was Ambala, and not Meerut, from where the 1857 uprising actually began, which culminated in India attaining Independence in 1947.

“The objective of constructing a war memorial in Ambala is to immortalise the bravery of those unsung heroes who never got credit for scripting the first revolt (against the British). It will also highlight Haryana’s contribution to the freedom struggle with a special emphasis on revolt incidents at Ambala,” says a senior Haryana government official.

Chandigarh-based architect-designer Renu Khanna, who earlier built Ambala Gate and Chhapar Chiri War Memorial near Chandigarh, was commissioned to build the memorial. “The project is in its final stages and is likely to be completed in 2022. Besides the museum of objects related to the unsung heroes from Haryana and their role in 1857, there will be a memorial, a library, an interpretation centre, a huge parking space and a helipad,” Khanna tells the Indian Express.

“We call this mutiny, but that is from the point of view of the Britishers, but from an Indian perspective, it should be called the first War of Independence,” Khanna says.

** Indian Navy’s ‘Killers’ squadron, that sunk Pak warships, to get President’s Standard

This year also marks 50 years of inception of the Missile Vessel Squadron, also known as the ‘Killers’, which over the past five decades has maintained the capability of delivering a credible offensive punch from the sea, a Navy official said on Sunday.

** Paika rebellion to be included as ‘case study’ in history textbook: Minister

‘This is one of the beginnings of popular uprisings against the British in India’

The 1817 Paika rebellion of Odisha could not be called the first war of Independence, but considering it as a beginning of a popular uprising against the British, it would be included as a case study in the Class 8 National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) history textbook, the Union Culture Minister said on Thursday.