By TwoCircles.net news desk
ALIGARH: Noted historian Irfan Habib has been appointed Professor Emeritus by Aligarh Muslim University.
Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University on the recommendation of the Academic Council has appointed noted historian Professor Irfan Habib as Professor Emeritus in the Department of History.
Professor Irfan Habib is a product of Aligarh Muslim University as a student and then as a teacher since 1953. He obtained his D.Phil. degree from Oxford. His major publications are Agrarian System of Mughal India, Essays in Indian History: Towards a Marxist perception and Atlas of the Mughal Empire. He is also the editor of Peoples History of Indian Series, besides having edited UNESCO publications and Cambridge Economic History of India, Volume 1. He has published over hundred research papers on various fields of Indian and world history.
Prof. Irfan Habib, formally retired in 1991 and has remained associated with the University for all these years without a break. He has been center of controversy on campus during his long career at AMU. This explains the reason for delay in granting him Professor Emiritus position. But in a sign of changed times, University heaped praises on Prof. Irfan Habib and his work while appointing him to this position.
Irfan Habib is the son of famous historian Prof. Mohammad Habib, who is honored by AMU by naming Habib Hall after him. He was the Chairman of the History Department at AMU. He was also Chairman of Indian Council of Historical Research from 1986 to 1990.
In a press release issued by the university Prof. Irfan Habib is recognized for his academic accmplishments. The statement sais that Prof. Habib displays “unusual academic interest and scholarly activity that stand out as a model par excellence for every one. Prof. Irfan Habib, remains a towering personality fully wedded to the secular values of the Indian Republic. He has illuminated the minds of millions of Indians by his in depth, path breaking erudition of Indian History with a new insight that was so refreshing to the promotion of secular ideals in India. Prof. Irfan Habib is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, London, since 1998, a unique honour earned by his scholarly contribution, recognized by the international community. The nation has bestowed on him the coveted civilian title “Padma Bhushan” in 2005. The presence of such a brilliant scholar in the Aligarh Muslim University will add to the academic glory of the institution. He will remain a beacon light for teachers and students of History for several years to come.”