PADDINGTON, 3 Sep: The six-member team of professors and a research scholar from Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU), along with government officials from Arunachal Pradesh arrived here in London, England, on Thursday to research and collect archival materials and documents from various institutes in London.
This is part of the ongoing research and documentation work on the unsung heroes of Arunachal and the efforts of the state government to reconstruct the history of Arunachal.
Most of the records on the history of Arunachal (erstwhile North Eastern Frontier Tracts) from 1792 to 1945 are available in the form of proceedings, tour diaries, reports, survey notes, personal diaries, official correspondences, images, toponyms and ethnographical data in different establishments and institutions in the United Kingdom. These documents and archival records, including the resistance and freedom struggle
of the tribal people against colonial rule were recorded only by the colonial administrators and officials, and they are vital to reconstruct the history, culture and credible ethnography of different indigenous communities of Arunachal.
In view of the above, the government of Arunachal has deputed the team to visit the United Kingdom to carry out research work and collect these relevant data and images (archival documents) from different establishments and institutions located in and around London.
During its 18-day tour of the United Kingdom, the team will visit many prestigious institutes, such as the British Library: Asian and African Studies, London; the National Archive, London; the Royal Geographical Society, London; the National Army Museum Templar Study Centre, London; the School of Oriental and African Studies, London; and the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford to carry out research and documentation work.
The team consists of Profs Sarit Kumar Chaudhuri, Shyam Narayan Singh, Tana Showren, and Ashan Riddi from RGU, research scholar Nepha Wangsa, and PRO Ajay Saring.
