 "'Historical' changes: Here is what the NCERT has dropped from text books")
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has deleted several chapters related to topics like the Mughal era, the Delhi Sultanate, and the dislike of Hindu extremist organisations for Mahatma Gandhi, a report by the Indian Express (IE) said on Wednesday.
In June last year, NCERT issued a list of deletions to the syllabus to help students make a "speedy recovery" from losses of the Covid-19 pandemic. The NCERT textbooks that have been made available in the market this year, come with a "rationalised" syllabus.
However, the IE report said that changes are more than those earlier mentioned in the list of deletions.
Deletions from NCERT books in June 2022
In the changes made last year, the chapter titled "Kings and Chronicles; the Mughal Courts (C. Sixteen-Seventeenth Centuries)" was deleted from the Class 12 textbook "Themes in Indian History- Part II".
In the world history books for the same class titled "Contemporary World Politics", chapters "The Cold War Era" and "US Hegemony in World Politics" were removed. In the book "Politics in India Since Independence", topics "controversies regarding Emergency" and "Gujarat riots", among others, were deleted.
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In the Class 11 book "Themes in World History", chapters on "The Central Islamic Lands", "The Confrontation of Cultures" and "The Industrial Revolution" were removed.
The chapter on "India After Independence" was removed from the Class 8 syllabus. For Class 10, full chapters on "Democracy and Diversity", "Popular Struggles and Movements" and "Challenges to Democracy" were deleted.
Actual changes more than in the "rationalisation" list
The actual changes, however, seem wider than those listed.
In the first chapter of the Class 12 Political Science textbook "Politics in India since Independence", sentences related to how Hindu extremists dislike Mahatma Gandhi.
"He (Gandhi) was particularly disliked by those who wanted Hindus to take revenge or who wanted India to become a country for the Hindus, just as Pakistan was for Muslims. They accused Gandhiji of acting in the interests of the Muslims and Pakistan. Gandhiji thought that these people were misguided. He was convinced that any attempt to make India into a country only for the Hindus would destroy India. His steadfast pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity provoked Hindu extremists so much that they made several attempts to assassinate Gandhiji," the deleted passage reads as per the IE report.
Another sentence related to the government's ban on Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) following Gandhi's assassination has been removed.
"Gandhiji's death had an almost magical effect on the communal situation in the country. Partition-related anger and violence suddenly subsided. The Government of India cracked down on organisations that were spreading communal hatred. Organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh were banned for some time. Communal politics began to lose its appeal," the deleted sentences read.
Moreover, from the history textbook for Class 12, "Themes in Indian History Part III", NCERT has dropped a "Brahmin" reference to Nathuram Godse, Gandhi's assassin. The part where it said that he was the "editor of an extremist Hindu newspaper" has also been removed.
In the Class 7 textbook, Our Pasts-II, a two-page table detailing achievements of Mughal emperors such as Humayun, Shah Jahan, Akbar, Jahangir and Aurangzeb has been removed.
In the Class 6 history textbook, "Our Pasts – I", sentences on the hereditary nature of varnas, classification of people as untouchables and rejection of the varna system have been removed from the chapter "Kingdom, Kings and Early Republic".
This is the third review of the syllabus since 2014. The first one was done in 2017. NCERT made 1,334 changes, including additions, corrections and data updates, in 182 textbooks in that review.
The second review was initiated in 2019 by then-education minister Prakash Javadekar.
On being asked about the changes, NCERT director D S Saklani said "There is nothing new". "Rationalisation happened last year. We have not done anything new this time," he told The Indian Express.