While NCERT did not comment on the topics being dropped, officials said the tweaks are part of the routine updation and are not linked to the development of new books as per the New Curriculum Framework (NCF),
NCERT TextBook Row: Dropping references to the demolition of Babri Masjid, the killing of Muslims in Gujarat riots and Hindutva, and tweaking the reference to Manipur’s merger with India are some of the latest set of revisions in school textbooks made public by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
In addition to it, reference to the abrogation of Article 370, replacing the term “Azad Pakistan” with Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK), and revising a paragraph defining the Left as those who prefers “state regulation over free competition” are also are also notable adjustments in the latest revisions to school textbooks.
NCERT Syllabus Row: Changes Made in Class 11th, 12th Political Science and Social Science textbooks
While NCERT did not comment on the topics being dropped, officials said the tweaks are part of the routine updation and are not linked to the development of new books as per the New Curriculum Framework (NCF), news agency PTI reported. The changes have been made in the Political Science and Social Science textbooks of classes 11 and 12, besides others.
However, NCERT’s recent decision to omit such topics has faced criticism from several political leaders. Sharing a post on X, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said, “This is the 4th time that the NCERT text books are being revised since 2014 under the Modi govt. History is being rewritten to dovetail the Hindutva agenda. The aim is to influence young minds undermining the faculty of reasoning to aid the transformation of secular democratic India into a rabidly intolerant fascistic Hindutva Rashtra.”
Meanwhile, State General Education Minister V Sivankutty said Kerala is firm on its position as far as the issue is concerned. In a statement, Sivankutty said the NCERT had made similar attempts before as well and dropped certain portions from its history, social science and politics textbooks, PTI reported.
According to a document detailing the changes prepared by the curriculum drafting committee of the NCERT, the reference to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement has been tweaked “as per latest development in politics”.
NCERT Class 11th TextBook Changes: Changes Made in Chapter 8 on Secularism
As per PTI report, Chapter 8 on Secularism in class 11 textbook earlier said, “More than 1,000 persons, mostly Muslims, were massacred during the post Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002.” It has been changed to “more than 1,000 persons were killed during the post Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002”. The NCERT’s rationale behind the change is “in any riots, people across communities suffer. It cannot be just one community”.
NCERT Class 12th Political Science Changes: Changes Made in Chapter 7 on Politics in India since Independence
In chapter seven of the Political Science textbook of class 12 (Politics in India since Independence), the Council has revised a paragraph to include a reference to the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier, the paragraph was, “While most of the states have equal powers, there are special provisions for some states like J&K and the states in the North-East”. The revised version adds one line in the end of the paragraph saying, “However, Article 370 that contains special provisions for J&K was abrogated in August 2019“.
On Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the earlier textbook stated “India claims that this area is under illegal occupation. Pakistan describes this area as Azad Pakistan”. The changed version says, “However, it is the Indian territory which is under illegal occupation of Pakistan and called as Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK).”
The NCERT’s rationale behind the alteration is that the “change that has been introduced is in complete concurrence with the latest position of the Govt of India in regard to Jammu and Kashmir”.
NCERT Book on Manipur
On Manipur, the earlier textbook stated, “The Government of India succeeded in pressurising the Maharaja into signing a Merger Agreement in September 1949, without consulting the popularly elected Legislative Assembly of Manipur. This caused a lot of anger and resentment in Manipur, the repercussions of which are still being felt.” The changed version says, “The Government of India succeeded in persuading the Maharaja into signing a Merger Agreement in September 1949.”
Ayodhya Demolition, Politics of Hindutva Dropped
What is the legacy of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and the Ayodhya demolition for the nature of political mobilisation changes to What is the legacy of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement?
In chapter 8, Recent Developments in Indian Politics, references to the “Ayodhya demolition” has been dropped. “What is the legacy of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and the Ayodhya demolition for the nature of political mobilisation?” has been changed to “What is the legacy of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement?”. In the same chapter, references to the Babri Masjid and the politics of Hindutva were dropped.
As per the PTI report, the earlier paragraph read: “Fourth, a number of events culminated in the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya (known as Babri Masjid) in December 1992. This event symbolised and triggered various changes in the politics of the country and intensified debates about the nature of Indian nationalism and secularism. These developments are associated with the rise of the BJP and the politics of ‘Hindutva’.”
This was changed to: “Fourth, the centuries old legal and political dispute over the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya started influencing the politics of India which gave birth to various political changes. The Ram Janmabhoomi Temple Movement, becoming the central issue, transformed the direction of the discourse on secularism and democracy. These changes culminated in the construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya following the decision of the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court (which was announced on November 9, 2019).”
Democratic Rights”, a reference to the Gujarat riots Dropped
In chapter 5 titled “Democratic Rights”, a reference to the Gujarat riots was dropped in the caption to a news collage. The earlier version was – “Do you notice references to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in the news collage on this Page? These references reflect the growing awareness of human rights and struggles for human dignity. Many cases of human rights violations in diverse fields, for instance, Gujarat riots, are being brought to the public notice from across India.” This was changed to “Many cases of human rights violations in diverse fields are being brought to the public notice from across India.”
The Council revised the definition of the Left in a box item
In Chapter 3 of the textbook, the Council revised the definition of the Left in a box item. The existing version states that the “Left often refers to those who are in favour of the poor, downtrodden sections and support government policies for the benefit of these sections”. Whereas, the revised version says, “Left often refers to those who are in favour of state control of the economy and prefers state regulation over free competition.”
“Both left and right are defined at conceptualize operational level,” the rationale given by NCERT stated. The NCERT had last week communicated to CBSE schools that new textbooks have been developed for classes 3 and 6 while the textbooks for other classes as per NCF remain unchanged.
Updated news from NCERT! New textbooks aligned with NCF-SE 2023 for Class 3 and 6 are arriving: Class 3 books by April 2024 and Class 6 by mid-May 2024. A bridge course for Class 6 is on the NCERT portal for teacher prep. Also 1.21 Cr copies of 2023-2024 editions for various… pic.twitter.com/Sh3D3oZKE9
— NCERT (@ncert) April 4, 2024
However, the series of changes will now be introduced in the books which are yet to hit the market even as the new session has already begun.