Removal of the discredited ‘Aryan'& Indo-European from the National Portal of India
The "History" link in the section "Know India" on the National Portal of India, a link on India's Ministry of External Affairs website, which receives about 30,000 views* each month (*Statshow estimates as on 2017 May 20), until April this year contained the following information in its narrative about India's history:
In the section “The Indus Valley Civilization”:
"Among various causes ascribed to the decay of Indus Valley Civilization are the invasion by the Aryans, the recurrent floods and other natural causes like earthquake, etc."
In the section “Vedic Civilization”:
"The Vedic civilization is the earliest civilization in the history of ancient India associated with the coming of Aryans. It is named after the Vedas, the early literature of the Hindu people. The Vedic Civilization flourished along the river Saraswati, in a region that now consists of the modern Indian states of Haryana and Punjab. Vedic is synonymous with Aryans and Hinduism, which is another name for religious and spiritual thought that has evolved from the Vedas. The largely accepted view is that a section of Aryans reached the frontiers of the Indian subcontinent around 2000 BC and first settled in Punjab and it is here, in this land, where the hymns of Rigveda were composed. The Aryans lived in tribes and spoke Sanskrit, which belonged to the Indo-European group of languages. Gradually, the Aryans intermingled with the local people and a historic synthesis was worked out between the Aryan tribes and the original inhabitants. This synthesis broadly came to be known as Hinduism. The Ramayana and Mahabharata were the two great epics of this period."
In the section “Indian Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)”:
"In ancient times, people from all over the world were keen to come to India. The Aryans came from Central Europe and settled down in India."
One way to see more clearly, the implications of statements above, might be to read them again after re-ordering some of them, as follows:
1. The Vedic civilization is the earliest civilization in the history of ancient India associated with the coming of Aryans.
2. The Aryans came from Central Europe and settled down in India.
3. The largely accepted view is that a section of Aryans reached the frontiers of the Indian subcontinent around 2000 BC and first settled in Punjab and it is here, in this land, where the hymns of Rigveda were composed.
4. Vedic is synonymous with Aryans and Hinduism, which is another name for religious and spiritual thought that has evolved from the Vedas.
5. The Aryans lived in tribes and spoke Sanskrit, which belonged to the Indo-European group of languages.
6. Gradually, the Aryans intermingled with the local people and a historic synthesis was worked out between the Aryan tribes and the original inhabitants. This synthesis broadly came to be known as Hinduism.
7. Among various causes ascribed to the decay of Indus Valley Civilization are the invasion by the Aryans, the recurrent floods and other natural causes like earthquake, etc.
One way to summarize the above could be: Vedic Civilization is associated with the arrival of some Central Europeans (Aryans) who spoke an Indo-European language Sanskrit, invaded Indian subcontinent around 2000 BC, contributed in ending the so-called Indus Valley civilization and during their stay composed the Rig Veda and "worked out" Hinduism while they "intermingled" with "the original inhabitants".
What should be evident to any objective reader is how (unsubstantiated hypotheses such as) Aryan Invasion and (Proto-) Indo-European have been used to ascribe (atleast in part and covertly, at the very least) origins of Vedas, Sanskrit and Hinduism to Central Europe when, till date, no absolutely conclusive evidence proves either of these, what may be not unreasonably called "motivated", hypotheses. [For some recent treatments of "Aryan" and "Indo-European", see Chawda A.L. (2017), Aryan Invasion Myth: How 21st Century Science Debunks 19th Century Indology; Kazanas, Nicholas (2017), Fallacies of Proto-Indo-European; Sastry, Manogna and Kalyanasundaram, Megh (2017), Purva Paksa of Sheldon Pollock's Use of Chronology; Danino, Michel (2016), A series of lectures on the Aryan issue - PART 01 and The Aryan Issue (2016); Malhotra, Rajiv (2011), Breaking India, p. 15-35 “Inventing the Aryan Race”]
Through an engagement that spanned about 6 months [see timeline below] with the Indian Council of Historical Research, the Indian Prime Minister's Office, India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development & National Informatics Centre, using common public mechanisms - RTI (Right to Information)[No. 3-259/2016- ICHR/RTI] & Public Grievances [PMOPG/E/2017/0123386, MINIT/E/2017/01091] - the narrative of Indian History on the National Portal of India was corrected, in 2017 May, with removal of "Aryan", "Indo-European" and "Central Europe" (See column "What is the change effected" in Table below for a detailed log of all changes). Summary of the relevant questions in the original RTI petition mapped to changes implemented (with Before/After details) followed by a timeline of key events are included below:
Timeline:
2017 Jan 04: RTI: 3-259/2016-ICHR/RTI to ICHR, with questions pertaining to content on KnowIndia website, in line with the mission statement of ICHR
2017 Feb 07: Response letter (snail-mail) from ICHR signed by Deputy Director/CPIO (Dated Feb 7)
2017 Feb 20: Face-to-Face meeting at ICHR, Delhi with CPIO, First Appellate Officer (Member Secretary) to get clarifications on response letter from CPIO 2017
2017 Mar 03: Grievance PMOPG/E/2017/0123386 registered
2017 Mar 15: Forwarded from PMO to Director ICR in Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) which was then forwarded to Member Secretary, ICHR
2017 Mar 21: Second Letter from ICHR, this time signed by Member Secretary (Dated Mar 21) with copy to Director ICR
2017 Mar 28: Face-to-Face meeting with ICHR Chairman
2017 Mar 30: PMOPG/E/2017/0123386 disposed with reference to Mar 21 letter from Member Secretary
2017 Apr 03: Mail sent to ICHR Chairman escalating disposal and requesting clarifications. Grievance MINIT/E/2017/01091 registered
2017 Apr 07: Telephonic conversation with NIC official to whom MINIT/E/2017/01091was forwarded
2017 Apr 09: Grievance MINIT/E/2017/01091 also disposed. Email to NIC in-charge seeking clarifications to actions requested in disposal
2017 Apr 10: Reminder mail to ICHR Chairman along with additional evidence
2017 Apr 21: Interdepartmental engagement - NIC & ICHR - email sent from NIC to ICHR
2017 May 02: Status update mail from NIC Grievance Cell to Megh with Apr 21 inter-departmental communication included as attachment
2017 May 07: Changes w.r.t. to Questions 2, 4-8 noticed; mail sent requesting change w.r.t. Question 3
2017 May 11: Changes w.r.t. Question 3 noticed
Summary of Questions in RTI, Status of Change effected, Statement/s Before & After Change & Actual change effected
Concrete outcomes such as the above, achieved through relentless citizen engagement as a follow-up to one aspect of their award-wining research-effort (undertaken by millennials Manogna Sastry and Megh Kalyanasundaram on certain aspects of India's Chronology) which commenced in the middle of 2016 is an indicator of the potential that exists in the intersection of objective research and activism for effecting impactful change, the need for (and to support) results-oriented, objective, disruptive-new-age research platforms such as Swadeshi Indology Conference Series and the importance of one of the key tenets of a functioning democracy: Fearless and Relentless Citizen Engagement in demanding Accountability.