Nehru's writings are not just history, they are record of India's evolving conscience: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's writings are not just history, they are a record of India's evolving conscience, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Friday, asserting that for anyone seeking to understand the nation's democratic journey, his words remain a powerful compass.
Gandhi's remarks came over the completion of the digitisation of 'Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru'.
The 'Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru' is now online with an entire set of 100 volumes, containing some 35,000 documents and about 3,000 illustrations related to the country's first prime minister, digitised and available free of cost for downloading.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also hailed the development.
"Facts are facts and will not disappear on account of your likes’ – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. In an era of deliberate distortion, disinformation and misinformation regarding Pandit Nehru and his colossal achievements for India, it is worthwhile to digitise his writings for truth and posterity,” Kharge said on X.
“I am happy that ‘The Nehru Archive’ is now live: nehruarchive.in. This is India’s first comprehensive, open-access digital archive of Jawaharlal Nehru’s writings — letters, speeches, notes & more, all interconnected and freely available for easy access,” he said
In a post on X, Gandhi said Nehru's writings are not just history, they are a record of India's evolving conscience.
"For anyone seeking to understand our nation's democratic journey -- its courage, its doubts, its dreams -- his words remain a powerful compass," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
"I'm glad this legacy is now open, searchable, and free for all. It will keep getting expanded. Dive into the new archive," Gandhi said and shared a link to the archive.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, a trustee of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund (JNMF) that carried out the exercise, on Thursday said its second phase would entail efforts to locate letters to Nehru.
Ramesh said the Gandhi-Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel-Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose-Nehru correspondence is fairly comprehensive, but that is not the case with certain other correspondences such as Winston Churchill-Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore-Nehru. He said incorporating that would be of the biggest value addition to the Nehru archive.
Ramesh called for the integration of archives of leading lights of the time such as Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, B R Ambedkar and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
"The Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund is happy to announce that the Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru is now fully available online, as promised on November 14, 2024. The website The Nehru Archive is available on nehruarchive.in. The entire set of 100 volumes have been digitized; they may be searched and freely downloaded: and they may be used with equal ease on the mobile as on the laptop," a JNMF release said.
The facsimiles of the original print version are also available alongside the digital text, it said.
This online version would be of immense benefit to anybody who wishes to study any aspect of Indian history from the 1920s to the 1960s, the years when Nehru was a major leader of the movement for Independence and thereafter was prime minister of the country, the statement said.
"It contains some 35,000 documents and about 3,000 illustrations. From volume 44 onward, that is, from September 1958, his speeches in the original Hindi, and an English translation, are also available. The documents consist of his correspondence, speeches, interviews, administrative noting on files, diary entries, and even doodles," the JNMF said.
Ramesh said the archives have been sourced from 77,000 pages and 35,000 artefacts which are documented and spread over 61 years.
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Man shot dead over drain waste dispute in Greater Noida; accused held after encounter
Noida (PTI): A 25-year-old man was allegedly shot dead by his neighbour following a dispute over burning of drain waste in Greater Noida's Sakipur village, police said on Wednesday.
The main accused was arrested after an encounter, they added.
The incident took place late Tuesday night when the victim, identified as Sajan Bhati, was attacked near his house. The accused allegedly opened fire on him, causing critical injuries. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Noida) Shailendra Kumar Singh said, "The accused, Mangesh (31), killed Bhati in the intervening night of Tuesday-Wednesday, following a dispute over the burning of drain waste in front of the victim's house. A police complaint was received at Surajpur Police Station regarding the murder."
He said police teams were formed to nab the accused, and during checking near the Moser Baer roundabout, the suspect was intercepted.
"When police tried to stop him, he opened fire. In self-defence, the police retaliated, in which the accused sustained injuries and was apprehended," the officer said.
Police recovered a country-made pistol, two live cartridges and a car from his possession, he added.
According to the police, the two accused were travelling in the car at the time of the encounter, and one of them managed to escape. Efforts are underway to arrest the absconding accused.
A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Surajpur Police Station in Gautam Buddh Nagar, and further investigation is in progress, the police said.
