NCERT books tweaked; references to Babri Masjid, Gujarat riots dropped

PTI

New Delhi, April 5

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 among the latest set of revisions in school textbooks made public by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

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 prefer “state regulation over free competition” are also among the changes.

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).

The changes have been made in political science and social science textbooks of Classes 11 and 12, besides others.

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".

Chapter 8 on Secularism in Class 11 textbook earlier said, "More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were massacred during the post Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002."       

It has been changed to “More than 1,000 people 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”.

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.

The earlier 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 Government of India with regard to Jammu and Kashmir".

On Manipur, the earlier textbook stated, "The Government of India succeeded in pressing 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."    

In chapter 8, Recent Developments in Indian Politics, references to the "Ayodhya demolition" have 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.

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.

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. 

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