Archive · 5 Sep 2026
Sitharaman Calls for Wider Archives in India’s Decolonisation
Nirmala Sitharaman said India should study its history with confidence.
She said people should examine old inscriptions, sea-trade records, and mathematical achievements.
She explained that decolonisation is not just changing one textbook for another.
It should include more sources, languages, scholars, and difficult questions.
She called this an act of intellectual freedom.
Political freedom lets people govern themselves, she said.
Intellectual freedom lets them understand their own society and heritage.
She also praised writer Dr SL Bhyrappa’s focus on truth and beauty.
Nirmala Sitharaman said India no longer needs permission to study its own heritage.
She urged scholars to revisit inscriptions, maritime trade, and India’s contributions to mathematics.
She said decolonisation requires wider archives, more languages, harder questions, and broader scholarly participation.
Sitharaman described intellectual freedom as the right for Indians to know themselves.
At an event honouring Dr SL Bhyrappa, she invoked his idea of “Satya mattu Soundarya,” or truth and beauty.
- Who
- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and scholars attending the FIHCR Annual History Prize Awards Ceremony and Dr SL Bhyrappa Memorial Lecture.
- What
- Sitharaman called for a broader, more rigorous approach to studying India’s intellectual history and heritage.
- When
- Saturday; the article does not provide a specific date.
- Where
- New Delhi.
- Why
- She said decolonisation should expand archives, languages, questions, and participation so Indians can better understand their own civilisation.
- Speaker
- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
- Event
- FIHCR Annual History Prize Awards Ceremony and Dr SL Bhyrappa Memorial Lecture
- Location
- New Delhi
- Core argument
- Decolonisation should involve wider archives, more languages, harder questions, and a larger circle of scholars.
- Historical subjects mentioned
- Inscriptions, maritime trade history, and contributions to mathematics
- Bhyrappa’s concept
- “Satya mattu Soundarya,” meaning truth and beauty
- Sitharaman’s description
- She called the process an “act of intellectual swaraj”.