- References to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad have been removed from the new class 11 political science textbook by the NCERT.
- In the class 11 political science textbook’s first chapter a line has been revised to omit Azad’s name from the constituent assembly committee meetings.
- In the tenth chapter of the same textbook, the reference to Jammu and Kashmir’s conditional accession has also been deleted.
- The portions referring to Gujarat riots have also been dropped from class 11 sociology textbook, months after NCERT removed the reference to the 2022 communal violence in two class 12 textbooks.
- After the NCERT amended history and social sciences textbooks, academics, as well as Opposition politicians, came up in arms against the Narendra Modi-led government.
References to freedom fighter and India’s first education minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad have been removed from the new class 11 political science textbook by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
As part of its “syllabus rationalisation” exercise last year, the NCERT dropped certain portions from the course , citing “overlapping” and “irrelevant” as reasons. It included lessons on Gujarat riots, Mughal courts, Emergency, Cold War, Naxalite movement. The NCERT has claimed that no curriculum trimming has taken place this year and the syllabus was rationalised in June, last year.
In the class 11 political science textbook’s first chapter a line has been revised to omit Azad’s name from the constituent assembly committee meetings. The revised line now reads, “Usually, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel or BR Ambedkar chaired these Committees.”
In the tenth chapter of the same textbook, the reference to Jammu and Kashmir’s conditional accession has also been deleted. “For example, the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to the Indian union was based on a commitment to safeguard its autonomy under Article 370 of the Constitution,” says the dropped paragraph.
“Gandhiji’s death had a magical effect on the communal situation in the country”, “Gandhi’s pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity provoked Hindu extremists” and “Organisations like RSS were banned for some time” are among the texts missing from the class 12 political science textbook for the new academic session. The portions referring to Gujarat riots have also been dropped from class 11 sociology textbook, months after NCERT removed the reference to the 2022 communal violence in two class 12 textbooks.
After the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) amended history and social sciences textbooks to remove mentions of the 2002 Gujarat Riots and passages around the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, academics, as well as Opposition politicians, came up in arms against the Narendra Modi-led government.
However, this is only the latest round of revision of textbooks published by NCERT under the Modi government and not even the most exhaustive one as over 20 per cent of the entire syllabus has been slashed since 2018.
The current round of revision has been described as a “quiet” revision as no formal statement or list of deletions was issued and changes were directly made into the books going to the press.
