 "Harappan civilisation gets a new identity in NCERT's new class 6 textbook")
From rebranding the Harappan civilisation as the ‘Sindhu-Sarasvati’ and ‘Indus-Sarasvati’ civilisation to multiple mentions of the Sarasvati river, the new NCERT Class 6 Social Science textbook, Exploring Society: India and Beyond, released on Friday, incorporates numerous new elements. This includes noting the desiccation of the Sarasvati as one of the reasons for the decline of the Harappan society and mentions of India having had a “prime meridian of its own” called the ‘Ujjayini meridian.’
The Social Science textbook released by the National Democratic Alliance government in alignment with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023 is intended for use in schools starting from the current academic session. Unlike previous editions, which had separate textbooks for History, Political Science, and Geography, this new textbook serves as the sole resource for Social Science.
The new textbook is divided into five themes: ‘India and the World: Land and the People,’ ‘Tapestry of the Past,’ ‘Our Cultural Heritage and Knowledge Traditions,’ ‘Governance and Democracy,’ and ‘Economic Life Around Us.’ It reassures students that Social Science encompasses many sub-disciplines, but they "need not feel intimidated by all these terms."
Notably, the textbook makes multiple references to the Sarasvati river, which the previous History textbook, Our Past I, mentioned only once in the context of the Rig Veda. In the new edition, the Sarasvati plays a prominent role in the chapter on the ‘Beginnings of Indian Civilisation,’ where the Harappan civilisation is referred to as the ‘Indus-Sarasvati’ or ‘Sindhu-Sarasvati’ civilisation. The book states that the Sarasvati basin included major cities of the civilisation, such as Rakhigarhi and Ganweriwala, along with smaller cities and towns. The river, now known as Ghaggar in India and Hakra in Pakistan, is described as seasonal. Two maps in the book highlight the river alongside the Indus and its tributaries.
The textbook attributes the decline of the Harappan civilisation to climate change, leading to reduced rainfall and the drying up of the Sarasvati River in its central basin. This contrasts with the old textbook, which suggested multiple possible reasons for the civilisation's decline without specifically emphasising the drying of the Sarasvati.
NCERT sources, in response to queries about the changes, told The Indian Express that the entire content, illustrations, and maps are based on the new syllabus developed as part of the NCF-SE 2023. Therefore, comparing the old and new textbooks is not pertinent.
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In line with the National Education Policy 2020, which calls for the accurate inclusion of traditional Indian knowledge across various disciplines, the new textbook includes notes on the pronunciation of Sanskrit words and incorporates poetry by Kalidasa and references to Tamil Sangam poetry in the Geography section.
A chapter titled ‘Locating Places on the Earth’ challenges the conventional understanding of the prime meridian. It states that India had its prime meridian, the “Madhya rekha,” passing through Ujjain. This "Ujjayini meridian" served as a reference for calculations in Indian astronomical texts long before the establishment of the Greenwich Meridian.
While the new textbook retains a chapter on diversity, it omits references to caste-based discrimination and BR Ambedkar's fight for Dalit rights, which were included in the old Political Science textbook. Instead, it focuses on diversity in terms of food, textiles, festivals, and literature.
NCERT sources further told The Indian Express that the new textbooks reflect the systemic changes mandated by the National Education Policy 2020 and further defined by the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023. Therefore, comparisons with the old textbooks are deemed pointless.
The new textbooks were developed under the oversight of a 19-member committee chaired by MC Pant, Chancellor of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, and included philanthropist and writer Sudha Murty, Bibek Debroy, Chairperson of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, and other distinguished members.
On the decision to consolidate the Social Science textbook into a single volume, NCERT sources cited two reasons: making the study of Social Science lighter for students and integrating what were previously considered separate disciplines. The thematic approach adopted in the new textbook aligns with the spirit of multidisciplinarity promoted by the National Education Policy 2020 and National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023, making the single volume more compact than the earlier four separate textbooks.
(With agency inputs)