“THE prime reason of growing corruption in the country is lack of good samskars. There is no need of anti-corruption laws if we have good samskars and if we lack samskars even the sternest laws will prove ineffective and the scams like 2G Spectrum will continue to occur. But we cannot expect such good samskars from the English education which is being imparted to the young generation today,” said RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat. He was speaking at a function organised in New Delhi to present 13th Dr Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar Puraskar by Baba Saheb Apte Smarak Samiti. Ambassador of Mangolia Shri Voroshilov Enkhbold presided over the function.
Noted historian and epigraphist Shri KV Ramesh Sastri was honoured with this year’s Dr Wakankar Puraskar. Initiated in the name of great historian the late Dr Vishnu Sridhar Wakankar, the Puraskar consists of a cheque of Rs 51,000, a citation, memento and a shawl. Prominent among those who have been honoured with this award in the past included Sriram Sripad Sathe, Dr S Kalyanaraman, Dr Vasudev Poddar, Shri VMK Puri, Shri NS Rajaram, Prof Shivaji Singh, Shri Michael Danino, Shri Chandrakant Bali, Baba Saheb Purandre, Dr SR Rao, Prof Balraj Madhok and Shri Kunj Bihari Jallan.
Shri Kolvayl V Ramesh Sastri is a leading historian of the country. His proficiency in eight languages including English, Sanskrit and Hindi, helped him to gain recognition as a leading epigraphist. He has authored many books and also visited many countries of the world. He has been honoured with various awards for his outstanding contribution to the history of the country. He was summoned by the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court to give detailed evidence on the Sanskrit inscription discovered in Ayodhya in 1992. For eight days, he was examined by the advocates in the presence of three judges in the court. The evidence tendered by him on the inscriptions was given prime importance in the judgement of the court. His research is an asset to the nation. Presently, he is chief editor of Dictionary of Social and Administrative Terms in Inscriptions of South India.
Addressing the distinguished gathering at Satya Sai International Auditorium Shri Bhagwat stressed the need to teach glorious history of Bharat to the young generation and said the work of bringing forth the real history of the country should be done on faster pace. He said no country can make progress without having the knowledge of its past. “The knowledge of history is necessary not for just having the information of the past events, it inspires and energises us to do better,” he said.
Shri Bhagwat further said the British deliberately distorted our history for vested interest. Therefore, we have to look at our history from our own angle. Whatever history is taught in the school textbooks today cannot inspire us at all, rather it deepens the inferiority complex about our own nation. It should be replaced with the real history books that could energise the children. He said instead of making efforts to teach the real history, attempts are made to remove the things from the books which help in getting good samskars or provide the information about the true history. He said the efforts to correct the history are opposed for political gains.
He said the question whether Sri Ram was born should not arise in this country. “Our history is too ancient that even the carbon dating fails before it. Therefore, at the time when the world has started accepting even oral history such questions should not arise,” he said.
Ambassador of Mangolia Shri Voroshilov Enkhbold said both India and Mangolia share ancient bonds since time immemorial. He thanked the Baba Saheb Samarak Samiti to take an initiative for promoting bonds between both the countries. He underlined the need to bring the scholars of both the countries closer.
Earlier, president of the Samiti Prof Satish Chandra talked about the activities of the Samiti and remembered the contribution of Thakur Ramsingh, Moropant Pingle and others in starting and expanding this work. Shri Sudarshan Sarin of the Samiti welcomed the gathering. Two books, Yugpurush Sri Ram and Rajasthan Ke Sant aur Mahatma, were also released on the occasion.
By Pramod Kumar
