Patan Express: a feature on his books, research and honours

In 2024 the daily Patan Express gave a large feature to Dr. Hukam Chand Jain, written by Dr. Prabhat Kumar Singhal, a writer and journalist from Kota. Its headline describes him as the historian whose history books are read across India.

The page is arranged in four parts: his passion for writing history, his published books, his awards, and an introduction to his life. Alongside the text it prints a portrait of Dr. Jain, a photograph of him being honoured on stage, and the covers of two of his books: the Marathi Adhunik Jagacha Itihas (modern world history) and Bharat ka Rajnitik evam Sanskritik Itihas.

The feature describes a man always at his studies or his desk. It counts 19 M.Phil. and 10 Ph.D. scholars who worked under his supervision, 18 original research papers on subjects such as the Bhattarak tradition and Jain society, and papers read at more than 25 seminars. It also records his view that medieval account books can be used to reconstruct the economic history of Rajasthan.

Under ‘Book publishing’, the paper credits him with standard reference books for competitive-exam candidates across India over 37 years, and counts 16 books on the history of Rajasthan and India at the time of writing. It notes that his books have been translated into Marathi, with a Gujarati translation of his world history on the way, that they are sold on Amazon and Flipkart, and that he also guides students through social media.

The awards section names the Maharana Kumbha Award (2009); an honour in Kanpur in 2009 from Pt. Naval Kishore Sharma, former Governor of Gujarat, for his contribution to education; an honour from Rajendra Singh, the ‘Waterman of India’; the place given to his works in the US Library of Congress in 2013; and Jain Dharma Ratna International from Jain World Mission in New Delhi in 2022.

The introduction follows him from Jhalawar and the University of Rajasthan to the Commerce College in Kota, where he was principal, and to Aklank Girls’ PG College, Kota. It notes his work on the Rajasthan board’s textbook review committee, his membership of the University of Rajasthan’s Academic Council since 2022, his role coordinating the Board of Studies in History at Jai Minesh Adivasi University and at Sophia Girls’ PG College, Ajmer, his talks on Swami Vivekananda, Subhas Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi, and his leadership of the Aklank Shodh Sansthan. It closes by noting that he has taught hundreds of competitive-exam students free of charge.