America discovered by 'our Indian ancestors', not Columbus: MP Education minister
Bhopal, Sep 11: Madhya Pradesh's Higher Education Minister Inder Singh Parmar has claimed that America was discovered by "our Indian ancestors", and not by Christopher Columbus as taught to students.
He also claimed students have been taught "wrong history" that Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovered India.
Parmar was addressing the convocation function at the Barkatullah University in Bhopal on Tuesday.
In his address, the minister said, "Columbus discovered America...Indian students had nothing to do with this. If they had to be taught, they should have also been taught how people in the post-Columbus period tortured the natives and destroyed the tribal society there, because the society was worshipper of nature, worshipper of the Sun."
"(It should have been taught) how they were killed, how they were converted. But unfortunately, the correct facts were not taught," he said.
On the contrary, Indian students are taught that Columbus discovered America, Parmar said.
"I want to say that if someone had to write, they should have written that India's great hero Vasuloon went there in the eighth century and built many temples in Santiago in America. These facts are still written in a museum there. These facts are still kept in a library there," he said.
Parmar said the students should have been taught correctly that it was "our ancestors in India" who discovered America and not Christopher Columbus.
"When we (our ancestors) went there, we cooperated with the local culture of that place, the Mayan culture which was prevalent there, in their development. This is India's thought and philosophy which needed to be taught to the students," he added.
The minister also said students have been taught that Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovered India.
Historians could have taught the right history by studying the autobiography of Vasco da Gama, he said.
Vasco da Gama expressed the wish to see Bharat to Chandan, a Gujarati trader, at the Zanzibar port of Africa through an interpreter, the minister said.
Chandan told Vasco da Gama to follow his ship and thus the Portuguese explorer reached India, he said.
Vasco da Gama himself wrote that Indian trader Chandan's ship was much bigger than his, but students were taught wrong history that the Portuguese explorer discovered India, Parmar said.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
