NEW DELHI: What price did a 12-year-old boy — Tileswari Barua — from the nondescript Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur of Assam pay for the freedom of the country is not known to many, especially to those not from the state.
Barua was part of a group of freedom fighters — mrityu vahini — a kind of suicide squad, which tried to unfurl the Tricolour at a police station on September 20, 1942. Fifteen people were killed in police firing. Barua was one among them.
Similarly, contributions of Dr. Satytyanarayan Vashist, a dentist from Gurugram, Ranjit Sitaram Pandit, a scholar and barrister from Rajkot, and Keshwa Prasad of Gaya, in the Independence movement are not well-known either.
Vashisht was jailed for participating in the Quit India Movement. Prasad was involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement and arrested in connection with an arms seizure incident. Pandit is another of those nearly-forgotten individuals who devoted their lives to the freedom movement.
About 260 such stories related to individuals, incidents, places and organisations are available on Digital District Repository, created under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, an initiative to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Independence.
The repository is an attempt to discover and document people, events, and places linked to the freedom struggle at the micro-level. The culture ministry asked district collectors in all states for details of freedom fighters and heritage sites or places related to the freedom struggle, which find no mention in history books.
“The ministry is receiving responses from all over. Many inspiring stories have been uploaded. Information and details received are examined and added to the repository,” said an official of the ministry.