Bihar Today: 2006-03-19

IHC meet in February [ IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

PATNA: It's official now. Patna will host the 67th annual session of the Indian History Congress (IHC) -- the largest body of professional historians in the country -- sometime in February-end. Chief minister Nitish Kumar has agreed to extend full cooperation of the state government in organising the session. This assurance was given to a delegation headed by noted historian RS Sharma which recently met the CM with a request in this regard. "The CM has given necessary direction to HRD commissioner M M Jha to do the needful in organising the IHC session," Sharma told TOI. Nihar Nandan Singh, HoD, department of history, Patna University, had also accompanied Sharma to the CM's residence. "The final date and venue will be decided after holding formal consultations with IHC office-bearers and Patna University officials," said an official. The 67th session of IHC was originally scheduled to be held at Kurukshetra from December 28 to 30. However, the same had to be cancelled due to "unavoidable circumstances". Subsequently, a move was afoot to hold the session in Patna in February-end. With the official confirmation now, Patna will be holding IHC session for first time after Independence. The last time when the city had hosted the session was in 1946. Several top historians including R S Sharma, Irfan Habib and D N Jha had earlier expressed their desire to organise the session in Patna. Perhaps for the first time, the state capital is likely to host galaxy of historians to discuss modern trends in history writing. According to a rough estimate, about 1,200 historians from across the country are expected to attend the session. A sum of Rs 15 lakh is likely to be spent on the meet, said an IHC member. The 66th annual session of the IHC held at Vishwabharati, Santiniketan in January this year, was the largest where over 1400 delegates attended and over 800 papers submitted for various sections, sub-sections and panels. Ironically, a large number of historians had already booked their air and rail tickets for Kurukshetra in advance. As of now utter confusion prevails among the participants about the fresh venue of the IHC session. "We have still not received any fresh IHC circular about the new venue", said a historian. Meanwhile, noted historian Professor J V Naik of Mumbai has been elected general president of the IHC's 67th session.