India needs formal war history: Arun Jaitley

New Delhi, Feb 9 (IANS) Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley Monday said India must have a formal war history which every child should read.

Speaking at the launch of the 'India - 2015 Reference Annual', which entered its 59th year of publication at Shastri Bhavan here, Jaitley said he has suggested to the defence ministry to work on this.

"I suggested the defence ministry and I am told they are moving fast on India's war history...," he said.

"India is one of few countries which don't have a formal documentation of our war history," said Jaitley, who was the defence minister before Manohar Parrikar took over.

"Last year, I was invited to a function of 100th anniversary of World War I. I started looking up details and realised first time that the largest participation in the World War was by Indians," the minister said.

"...12 lakh Indians fought the battles, more than 70 thousand lost their lives. A fact which may not be known to most of the people," he said.

Talking about the reference annual, he said: "I am sure this book will be a very good addition to all our libraries, and particularly all details of this are available in the digital mode from this year onward. It will be available free of cost to the world at large to enrich itself."