'Controversial' content on Anandpur Sahib Resolution dropped by NCERT

Karam Prakash

New Delhi, May 30

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) on Tuesday claimed to have removed ‘controversial’ content about the Anandpur Sahib Resolution from its textbooks.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had strongly objected to the alleged misrepresentation of historical events related to the Sikhs in NCERT textbooks.

The NCERT said that the revised textbooks would now be available across the country from next academic session onwards.

The NCERT had to drop the controversial line “Anandpur Sahib Resolution could also be interpreted as a plea for a separate Sikh nation” from a paragraph in Chapter 8 (‘Regional Aspirations’) of the Class XII Political Science textbook titled ‘Politics in India since Independence’. The NCERT has also removed the line “The more extreme elements started advocating secession from India and creation of Khalistan”.

NCERT Director Dinesh Saklani said the content was added to the NCERT textbooks in 2006, and was not recent as assumed by the many. “This content was added in 2006, however, it went unnoticed. Now, the SGPC had objected and corrections have been made.”

The NCERT added that they had received a complaint from the SGPC to withdraw the ‘objectionable content’ against the Sikh Community, misrepresenting the Sri Anandpur Sahib Resolution in the textbooks.

Secretary (School Education) Sanjay Kumar said, “We had formed an expert committee to examine the issue. The committee examined and recommended these changes. The corrections have already been made in the soft copies of textbooks, while revised textbooks in the hard format will be distributed from the next academic session.”

Present since 2006

The content was added in 2006, but, it went unnoticed. Now, the SGPC had objected and corrections have been made. — Dinesh Saklani, director, NCERT