The Maharashtra government today ordered withdrawal of Class X geography text books that excludes Arunachal Pradesh from the map of India.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan termed as "unpardonable mistake" the exclusion of Arunachal Pradesh from the map of India published in the text books and disbanded the committee of experts which had approved of the textbook.
"Orders have been issued to stop circulation of the textbooks to students and efforts are on to get back the books that have been circulated," he told reporters here.
Chavan said the government was evaluating options on how to replace the textbooks that have already been distributed.
"An inquiry is underway to find out how this mistake has happened and who is responsible for this. I have directed the Education Minister to take strict action against those responsible for this," he said.
The text books have been printed by the state-run Balbharti and approved by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education.
As many as 17 lakh copies of the text book have been printed.
