Bipan Chandra

Bipan Chandra
Born (1928-05-27)27 May 1928
Kangra, Punjab, British India
Died 30 August 2014(2014-08-30) (aged 86)
Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Citizenship Indian
Alma mater
Awards Padma Bhushan (2010),[1] Royal Asiatic Society of Bihar plaque

Bipan Chandra (27 May 1928 – 30 August 2014)[2] was an Indian historian, specialising in economic and political history of modern India. An emeritus professor of modern history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, he specialized on the Indian independence movement and is considered a leading scholar on Mahatma Gandhi. He authored several books, including The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism.[3]

Early life and education

Chandra was born in Kangra in Punjab, British India (now in Himachal Pradesh). He was educated at Forman Christian College, Lahore, Stanford University, United States and the University of Delhi, where he completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor Bishweshwar Prasad.[4]

Career

Chandra taught for many years as lecturer and then as reader at Hindu College, Delhi.[5] He became professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, soon after the university was founded and after retirement was appointed as an emeritus professor there. He founded the journal Enquiry and was a member of its editorial board for a long time.[6] He was chairperson of the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.[7] He became a member of the University Grants Commission in 1993.[5] He was the chairman of the National Book Trust, New Delhi from 2004 to 2012.[8] As Chairman of National Book Trust, India, he brought in a new vigour, and started many new series such as Popular Social Science, Autobiography, Afro-Asian Countries series, Indian Diaspora Studies etc.[9]

In his retirement years he was appointed as a national research professor in 2007.[4]

Research

Chandra was at the forefront of the communist movement in India since independence.[10] His books, such as Freedom Struggle, which was co-authored by Amalesh Tripathi and Barun De, was censored by the new central government that came to power in India in 1977.[11] He collaborated with historians such Nurul Hasan, Ram Sharan Sharma, Sarvapalli Gopal, Satish Chandra, Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, Barun De, Arjun Dev and his students Mridula Mukherjee and Aditya Mukherjee, some of whose text books have been prescribed in the history syllabuses of Indian schools for a long time.[12][13]

Death

Chandra died on the morning of 30 August 2014, at his home in Gurgaon, after prolonged illness, aged 86.[14][15]

Legacy

JNU organised a commemorative event on his birth anniversary.[16][17]

In April, 2016, a ban was sought on Chandra's bestselling India's Struggle for Independence for the secular Marxist-Nationalist views expressed in it.[18][19]

Publications

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Padma Awards Directory (1954–2013)" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. 14 August 2013. p. 153. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Ravi Bhushan (1992). Reference India: biographical notes on men & women of achievement of today & tomorrow. Rifacimento International. p. 139.
  3. ↑ "Bipan Chandra, The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism" Googlebooks.com. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
  4. 1 2 "Bipan Chandra and Andre Beteille Appointed as National Research Professors". Press Information Bureau, Government of India. 2 January 2007. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Renowned Indian Historian Dr. Bipan Chandra Passes Away - Kitaab" Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  6. ↑ "Historian Bipan Chandra dies at the age of 86". The Times of India. 30 August 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-31.
  7. ↑ "Centre for Historical Studies, JNU" Archived 13 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine.. Jawaharlal Nehru University. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  8. ↑ "Bipan Chandra appointed NBT chairman". The Hindu. 8 July 2004. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  9. ↑ Patnaik, Prabhat. Bipan Chandra: Historian of Courage, Frontline, 3 October 2014.
  10. ↑ T.K.Rajalakshmi, Targeting History, in Frontline, Vol. 18, Issue 09, 28 April – 11 May 2001
  11. ↑ "Censorship of Historical Thought: A World Guide" - Antoon de Baets Books.google.com Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  12. ↑ D.R. Chaudhry (2002-04-28). "Critiques galore!". The Tribune (Chandigarh). Retrieved 2009-03-06.
  13. ↑ `Call me Bipan, not prof', The Telegraph, 31 August 2014.
  14. ↑ "Historian Bipan Chandra Dies At The Age of 86". NDTV. 30 August 2014.
  15. ↑ "Historian Bipan Chandra is dead". 30 August 2014. Archived from the original on 30 August 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  16. ↑ "JNU to organize Jashn-e-Azadi on historian Bipan Chandras birth anniversary". indiatoday.intoday.in. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  17. ↑ "Idea of Bharat Mata is European import: Irfan Habib". The Hindu. 2016-03-29. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  18. ↑ Vikas Pathak, 'Ban Sought on Bipan Chandra's book' in The Hindu, 29 April 2016
  19. ↑ Siddhartha Rai, 'Bipan Chandra's book on India's freedom struggle raises controversy, calls Bhagat Singh a terrorist' in India Today, 28 April 2016
  20. ↑ Mukherjee, Bipan Chandra, Mridula Mukherjee, Aditya (2008). India since independence (Rev. ed.). New Delhi: Penguin Books. p. 771. ISBN 9780143104094.
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