By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The Indian History Awareness and Research (IHAR) launched its operations in Odisha on Friday. Headquartered in Houston, USA, IHAR is a private think tank established to research Indian history with an Indic-lens. IHAR is an attempt to create an intellectual system taking a uniquely Indic route to Indian History – and all the associated areas. It has on its team eminent historians, doctors, scientists and entrepreneurs from India and abroad.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Surya Sarathi Roy, Director North India Operations said that IHAR believes that a shared sense of history and culture are the constitutive elements of individual and collective identities of citizens in a nation state. India’s history and civilization have had unbroken continuity, albeit with periodic disruptions that in recent times have led to an understanding of India that is fragmented, incoherent, and incomplete.
Dr. Adyasha Das, the Convener of Odisha Operations stressed on the need to collect, collate, interpret, and integrate new knowledge into India’s history, while being respectfully inclusive of India’s own recorded and oral traditions.
Anil Dhir, Director of IHAR’s Odisha Operations said that the New Education Policy calls for a comprehensive overhaul of the education system, including its regulations and management, to establish a modern system that aligns with 21st-Century educational goals. The New Policy mandates respecting India’s cultural heritage and values through heritage awareness education across all levels of education. IHAR will soon sign MOU’s with different Institutes and Schools all over the State.
The launch was attended by Dr. Ileana Citaristi, eminent Odissi dance exponent, Dr. Nirmal Chandra Das, Professor Emeritus and Dr. Biswajit Mohanty, Chairman Greenpeace International South Asia among others.
