NCERT committee for replacing 'India' with 'Bharat' in textbooks

New Delhi, October 25

A high-level committee constituted by the NCERT to revise the curriculum on Wednesday recommended replacing “India” with “Bharat” in school textbooks for all classes.

The other recommendations include introducing “classical history” by replacing “ancient history” and introduction of the “Indian knowledge system”.

Syllabi revision part of NEP-2020

• As part of the National Education Policy-2020, the NCERT is revising the school curriculum
• To finalise the curriculum, textbooks & learning material, a 19-member panel was formed

“The committee has unanimously recommended that the name Bharat should be used in the textbooks for students across classes. Bharat is an age-old name. The name Bharat has been used in ancient texts such as Vishnu Purana, which is 7,000 years old,” committee chairperson CI Isaac said.

Age-old name

Bharat has been used in ancient texts such as Vishnu Purana, which is 7,000 years old. CI Isaac, committee chairperson

The change in name triggered a controversy for the first time when President Droupadi Murmu’s dinner invitation for G20 witnessed President of Bharat instead of India.

Later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also used the nameplate Bharat instead of India during the G20 summit held in New Delhi.

As the uproar continued regarding the recommendation by the panel, the NCERT took to X (formerly Twitter) saying, “…since the development of new syllabus and textbooks is in process, various curricular area groups of domain experts are being notified…”

“It is too premature to comment on the news being flashed in the media on the issue concerned,” the NCERT said. The committee has also recommended highlighting “Hindu victories” in various textbooks. Isaac said, “Our failures are mentioned in textbooks. However, our victories over the Mughals aren’t.” As part of the National Education Policy-2020, the NCERT is revising the school curriculum.

To finalise the curriculum, textbooks and learning material, the council established a 19-member National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee.

Raghuvendra Tanwar, chair of the Indian Council of Historical Research, Vandana Mishra, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Vasant Shinde, a former Vice Chancellor of Deccan College Deemed University, and Mamta Yadav, a sociology teacher at a government school in Haryana, are among the members of the committee.

(With PTI inputs)