NCERT includes Paika Rebellion in syllabus

BHUBANESWAR: THE Paika Rebellion of Odisha has been included in the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) syllabus.‘The Khurda Uprising - A Case Study’ will be taught to Class VIII CBSE students in their book ‘Our Pasts-Part II’ from the new academic session 2019-20. While the books are yet to be printed, the syllabus is currently available in digital format.

The Paikas, a landed militia community, had in 1817 risen unsuccessfully against the British under the leadership of commander Buxi Jagabandhu.Last year, Human Resources Development Minister Satya Pal Singh had submitted a reply to a question in the Lok Sabha that Paika Bidroha would be included in NCERT books. He had written that Paika Bidroha was a popular freedom uprising as apart from Paikas, many other sections of the society had risen against the British during that period. Later, in 1857, there was a similar uprising on a much larger scale. From a historical point of view, Paika Bidroha had set an example, the Minister wrote.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik too had written to the Centre to declare Paika Rebellion as India’s First War of Independence. Indian historians have named Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 as the First War of Indian Independence.

While, both BJD and BJP, have been championing the cause, a socio-cultural outfit ‘the Intellects’ had organised the first National History Symposium on Paika Rebellion in 2017 in New Delhi by inviting historians from across the world to establish the Paika revolt in national academic arena.