HRD Ministry to Includes freedom fighters from North- East India in Books

In a move to integrate north eastern parts of India into main stream India Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry is going to include the contributions and sacrifices by freedom fighters hailing from the North East region into books of students.

While attending the birth centenary of Rani Gaidinliu, a political leader from Manipur, who had led a revolt against the rule of the British in India, said HRD Minister, Smriti Irani.

"Whether it is Rani Gaidinliu or Kanaklataji, for all people from North East who sacrificed their lives in the freedom struggle, the HRD ministry will bring out books on them through the National Book Trust to ensure they do not get lost from the pages of history," said Irani, as per the agency reports.

The books would be soon available in several tribal and Indian languages, other than Hindi, English, Gujarati, Tamil and Punjabi. According to the HRD Minister, the launch of the books would begin with the one on Gaidinliu. Irani said that she would travel to the North East for the purpose.

Present on the occasion was Nagaland CM TR Zeliang, who said that the move would ensure a better understanding of the work done by Rani Gaidinliu towards the Indian independence, and would consequently bring in a better integration of the North East region with the rest of the country.

Rani Gaidinliu, a Naga spiritual and political, joined the Heraka religious movement at the young age of 13. The religious movement soon turned political as efforts went on to remove the British from Manipur and the surrounding Naga areas. She was arrested at the age of 16 by the British and sentenced to life imprisonment. She was released in 1947 after the independence of India and continued to work for the upliftment of her people. Nehru gave her the title of "Rani" and she was later awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.