Raghuvendra Tanwar

From Times of India Jan 10, 2022, 20:29 IST

KURUKSHETRA: Raghuvendra Tanwar, professor emeritus, Kurukshetra University (KU) has been appointed as Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), New Delhi, for a period of three years by the Government of India (GOI).

Prof Tanwar who joined KU as a lecturer in August 1977 has an outstanding academic record, with two gold medals in MA History. He was appointed an open selection professor in 1997 and has also worked as the KU’s dean of academic affairs and dean of social sciences. He superannuated in February 2015 and in July 2016 was appointed director of the Haryana Academy of History and Culture.

Prof Tanwar was awarded the prestigious UGC National Fellowship (Research Award) 2002-2005. He conducted a major research project on Jammu & Kashmir for the period 1947-53 in 2013-15.

Prof Tanwar is reputed for his study of India’s partition particularly Punjab. This work based on sources across India and the UK is a day-to-day reporting of what happened in 1947 and is widely acclaimed. His research and publication on Jammu & Kashmir while questioning major narratives particularly by western scholars has argued and established how the masses of Kashmir were clearly in support of the accession of the state with the Union of India in 1947.

Prof Tanwar’s most recent study is an illustrated Story of India’s Partition, published by the Publication Division of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, GOI in English and Hindu. He has several other major publications including an illustrated biography of Bansi Lal and on Sir Chhotu Ram.