Till now we have studied the history
of ancient, medieval and modern India.
This year we have to study the history of
India in the post-independence era. Sources
of modern history are different from those
of ancient and medieval history. We can
study history with the help of various
sources like written sources, material
sources, oral sources and sources in the
audio-visual medium. In the modern
period, we have to take note of various
sources at the regional, state, national as
well as international level. We can write
history with the help of these sources.
Written Sources : The following
sources are included in the written sources.
from 1961 to 2000, we see that in the
beginning, there was no alternative to the
print media, especially newspapers. With
liberalisation and widespread use of
internet in India, an alternative for print
media became available. Yet, the print
media still continue to be powerful.
Newspapers : Through newspapers,
we can get information about national
and international affairs, politics, art,
sports, literature and social and cultural
affairs. Newspapers contain matters
related to human life. Most national
newspapers have started their regional
editions. They publish supplements that
give information about various topics.
Newsletters of various movements, the
dailies or weeklies of political parties,
monthly and annual magazines are
important among the print media.
Some newspapers produce special
supplements towards the end of the year
that take an overview of the important
events of the year. Such supplements help
us understand the important events of the
year.
Press Trust of India (PTI) : After
1953, the Press Trust of India has been
an important source of primary details of
all important events and of articles on
important subjects. Press Trust of India
has provided reports, photographs and
articles on financial and scientific issues
to newspapers. PTI has now started its
online service. During the 1990s, PTI
started using the ‘satellite broadcast’
technology instead of tele-printers to send
news all over the country. This material
is important for writing the history of
modern India.
Newspapers
Periodicals Encyclopedias
Correspondence
Diaries
Government
Gazettes
Documents in
the Archives
Written
Sources
Postage
Stamps
The place where historical
documents are preserved is called
‘Archives’. The main office of the
National Archives of India is at New
Delhi. It is the largest among the
Archives in Asia.
Reference
books
Just as newspapers are considered the
fourth pillar of democracy in the modern
period, they are also a major medium of
information. If we consider the period 2
Coins
Places of
worship
Royal
Seals
Ornaments Museums Modern
architecture
Things in
daily use
Clothing
Material sources
tercentenary of different events. It is
therefore a valuable repository of history.
Material Sources : The following
sources are included among the physical
sources.
The Indian government issued the
‘Jal Cooper’ stamp in 1977. Jal Cooper
was an internationally acclaimed
philatelist, i.e. an expert on the subject
of ‘postage stamps’. Born in a Parsi
household in Mumbai, Cooper edited
‘India’s Stamp Journal’. He was the
founder of the first Philatelic Bureau
in India, an office that collected
stamps. He founded the ‘Empire of
India Philatelic Society’. He went on
to write many books on this subject.
He gave a scientific bent to his hobby.
He played a pivotal role in taking the
study of Indian postage stamps to the
international level. Having started his
career as a postage stamp collector,
Cooper achieved the expertise of a
philatelist at the international level.
The postage stamp on Jal Cooper is
an important source to understand his
significant contribution to this field.
Do you know?
Jal Cooper Postage Stamp
Among the print media, the
information contained in the annual
issues of the Publications Division of the
Government of India is authentic and
trustworthy. For example, the
Information and Broadcasting
Department published INDIA 2000, an
annual reference book. This reference
book is created under ‘Research,
Reference and Training Department’.
It contains useful information about
the land, its people, national emblems,
political system, defence, education,
cultural events and an account of the
developments in the fields of science
and technology, environment, health
and family welfare, social welfare,
media of mass communications along
with basic data, related to economics,
finance, planning, agriculture, water
conservation, rural development, food
and civil supplies, energy, industries,
trade and commerce, transport,
communication, labour, housing, laws
and statutes, youth and sports
departments, etc. It is possible for us
to write history with the help of such
information.
Website :www.publicationsdivision.nic.in
Do you know?
Postage Stamps: The postage stamps
don’t reveal anything on their own. Yet
a historian makes them speak. There have
been several changes in postage stamps
since India became independent. Postage
stamps reveal a lot to us about changing
times due to the variety in the sizes of
the stamps, the novelty in their subjects
and colour schemes.
The Postal Department issues postage
stamps on a wide variety of themes like
political leaders, flowers, animals, birds,
an event, or the silver, golden, diamond
jubilees or centenary, bicentenaryCoins : We can also understand
history with the help of coins and the
changes in the printing of currency notes.
Reserve Bank of India prints the notes. It
has its headquarters in Mumbai.
Coins
Try this.
As an example of how some
event gets reflected in literature and
how a poet perceives that event, study
the poem ‘Aavahan’ written on the
backdrop of the Sino-Indian war by
the noted Marathi poet Kusumagraj.
Find pieces of literature based on
contemporary events.
The coins from 1950 to those used at
present, the metals used for making them,
their different shapes, the diversity of
subjects on them together help us to
understand the important contemporary
issues in India eg., coins to convey the
message of population control and coins
communicating the importance of
agriculture and of farmers.
Museums : All States of India have
museums that depict the characteristics
and display the cultural and social
heritage of the State. They enable us to
understand history (eg., the Chhatrapati
Shivaji Maharaj Museum at Mumbai.
Apart from the Government Museums,
some private collectors also set up their
own museums. They are based on
distinctive subjects. eg., coins, notes,
lamps and nutcrackers in different shapes,
cricket equipment, etc.
Oral sources : These sources include
folktales, folksongs, proverbs, ballads and
owis (Marathi verses in the oral tradition).
Activists were inspired by the powadas
of Lokshahir Anna Bhau Sathe and
Shahir Amar Sheikh during the Sanyukta
Maharashtra Movement.
FTII Logo
Audio-visual sources : Television,
films, internet are called ‘Audio-visual
media’. Many domestic and foreign
television channels also come under this
head, eg., History channel, Discovery
channel, etc.
Film and Television Institute of
India (FTII) : The Government of India
started the Film and Television Institute
of India at Pune in 1960 with the purpose
of providing public education. An institute
called Indian News Review has produced
various newsreels on important events in
politics, social issues, art, sports and
culture. This Department has also produced
various documentaries on prominent social
leaders, on people who have made major
contributions for the country and about
important locations in India. These news
releases and documentaries are useful for
studying the history of modern India.Till now we have seen some important
sources for writing the history of modern
India. The times in the 21st century are
changing so rapidly, that even these
sources will prove to be inadequate.
However, new sources are coming forth.
For example, during the transformation
from land line telephone to cellphones, a gadget called ‘pager’ came up for
contacting people. But it died out as
quickly as it had come up. The huge
amount of information available on the
Internet is used for studying history, but
the truth and authenticity of this
information needs to be verified.
Now it has become comparatively
easy to study history with the all these
sources. As these sources are from the
contemporary period, they are easily
available. Since a subject like history
touches all the aspects of our lives, efforts
for preservation of such sources are made
at all levels. We should also contribute
to this effort.
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