NCERT textbook controversies

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is an apex resource organisation set up by the Government of India to assist and advise the central and state governments on academic matters related to school education. The model textbooks published by the council for adoption by school systems across India have generated controversies over the years. They have been accused of using Orwellian tactics to reflect the political views of the party in power in the Government of India. Recently it's been under scrutiny for saffronisation.

Background
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) was established in 1961 by the Government of India by combining a number of existing organisations. It is an autonomous body in principle. However, it is Government-funded and its Director is appointed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (formerly Ministry of Education). In practice, the NCERT has operated as a semi-official organisation promoting a "State-sponsored" educational philosophy.

In the early 1960s, national integration and unifying the various communities of India became a major concern to the Government. Education was seen as an important vehicle for the emotional integration of the nation. The Minister of Education M. C. Chagla was concerned that the textbooks in history should not recite myths but be secular and rational explanations of the past. A committee on history education was established with the membership of Tara Chand, Nilakanta Sastri, Mohammad Habib, Bisheshwar Prasad, B. P. Saxena and P. C. Gupta, which commissioned a number of history textbooks to be authored by the leading historians. Romila Thapar's Ancient India for class VI was published in 1966, Medieval India for class VII in 1967. A number of other books, Ram Sharan Sharma's Ancient India, Satish Chandra's Medieval India, Bipan Chandra's Modern India and Arjun Dev's India and the World were published in 1970's.

These texts were intended to be "model" textbooks which were "modern and secular," free of communal bias and prejudice. However, Deepa Nair states that they also carried a "Marxist imprint." The Marxist emphasis on social and economic issues implied a critique of culture and tradition. The value of spirituality was reduced. The Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was sympathetic to the Marxist view of history and believed in a scientific outlook on civil society. In contrast, the Hindu nationalist historiography disagreed with Marxist historiography and based Indian history in the antiquity with glories of Hindu civilization and culture. These contrary views of history set the scene for conflict.

The textbooks faced political pressures from the inception. In 1969, a Parliamentary Consultative Committee wanted the textbook on Ancient India to state categorically that the "Aryans" were indigenous to India. But the demand was rejected by the editorial board as well as Thapar as the author. Further critical reactions came from Hindu and Sikh religious organisations that their respective religions and religious leaders had not been glorified. The Hindu Mahasabha and Arya Samaj claimed that the mention of beef-eating in ancient times went counter to the religious sentiments of the "Hindu nationality."

Such controversies continue till today. The controversy centers around the charges of an attempted "saffronised" rewriting of Indian history (i.e., making lessons consonant with the Hindutva). Allegations of historical revisionism with a Hindu nationalist agenda arose several times: under the Janata Party government 1977 to 1980 and again under the Bharatiya Janata Party government from 1998 to 2004 and from 2014 to 2019. In 2012, the organization has been blamed for attempting to insult the government by publishing 'offensive' cartoons in its textbooks.

Controversy during the Janata Party government (1977-1979)
Three months into the Janata Party government headed by Morarji Desai, the Prime Minister was handed an anonymous memorandum by Nanaji Deshmukh, former Jana Sangh leader and general secretary of the Janata Party, which targeted the NCERT textbooks. The books criticised were Thapar's Medieval India and Bipan Chandra's Modern India, along with two other books, Freedom Struggle by Tripathi, De and Chandra, and Communalism and the Writing of Indian History by Thapar, Mukhia and Chandra. (Only the first two were NCERT textbooks.) The Prime Minister forwarded the memorandum to the Education Minister suggesting that the books be withdrawn from circulation. In August 1977, R. S. Sharma's Ancient India was published, which was also targeted. The books were said to be "anti-Indian and anti-national" in content and "prejudicial to the study of history." The main issues seemed to be that they were not sufficiently critical of certain Muslim invaders during the medieval period and that they emphasized the role of leaders like Tilak and Aurobindo in the development of Hindu-Muslim antagonisms. The Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh launched a separate campaign against the books in its magazine Organiser.

The memorandum got leaked and a public debate ensued, which ran till 1979. The authors of the books argued for the legitimacy of independent interpretations as long as they were based on reliable evidence. The most hotly contested issue in the 1977 to 1979 controversy was the depiction of Mughal era (Muslim ruled) India and the role of Islam in India. Romila Thapar's Medieval India was criticised for being too sympathetic to Muslim viewpoints and for showing too little enthusiasm for Hindu revivalism. In November 1977, a committee of reputable historians was asked to examine the textbooks, which supported their continuance. Nonetheless, the government passed an act in July 1978, withdrawing R. S. Sharma's Ancient India from the syllabus of the Central Board of Secondary Education.

Changes in content (2002-2004)
In 2002, under the NDA government spearheaded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the government made an attempt at changing the NCERT school textbooks through a new National Curriculum Framework. Marxist historians raised objections to the new curriculum, claiming "saffronisation" of education by allegedly raising the profile of Hindu cultural norms, views and historical personalities in school textbooks. The BJP opined that their only goal was to overhaul the stagnant and saturated institutions like NCERT and free them from the alleged dynastic control and hegemony of the Indian National Congress and the Communists. Party members also opined that their goal was not to promote sectarianism, but present a more accurate picture of Indian history and Indian culture (such as Vedic science), which was being downplayed by the left wing ideologues. NCERT also attracted plagiarism accusations in 2003 mainly from the Frontline Magazine published by the Hindu. "Contemporary World History", a textbook for Class XII, has been found to contain several sections lifted from World Civilizations - Their History and Their Culture authored by Edward MacNall Burns, Philip Lee Ralph, Robert E. Lerner and Standish Meacham. The latter book, published by American publishers W.W. Norton & Company Inc, has a special Indian edition, which is the only authorised, complete and unabridged reprint of the latest American edition.

The NDA was defeated in the elections of 2004 and the new UPA government pledged to "de-saffronise" textbooks and curricula nationwide and restore the secular character of education. In March, the UPA Government released new NCERT textbooks, based on the texts used before the controversial 2002 updates. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, which oversaw this project, stated that it had made only minor modifications to the books that predated the "saffronised" era. In Delhi, the Directorate of Education, in collaboration with the State Council of Educational Research and Training, prepared 47 new textbooks, and other state governments were expected to do likewise. In June 2004, a panel, composed of J. S. Grewal, Barun De and S. Settar, was constituted by the NCERT to review the new textbooks. This panel suggested that the textbooks that were being used in school syllabuses had poor content, were presented shoddily, and contained significant amounts of irrelevant information. The panel recommended, to the Human Resource Development (HRD) minister, that the new books not be used until the defects could be resolved. This led the Delhi students to use textbooks that were used in school syllabuses from the pre-"saffronised" period.

Press reports indicated that the rush to "de-saffronise" school texts resulted in Urdu versions not being ready for the academic year, which began in April. The reports asserted that this failure hurt Urdu-speaking students by depriving them of needed textbooks. The NCERT denied the claims.

Controversies during UPA government (2004-2014)
The UPA and previous Congress-led governments have been accused by the BJP of revising history to present a Marxist bias, and whitewashing the record of Muslim atrocities to acquire Muslim votes.

Amendments were made in history textbook for Class XII in lessons on Sikhism after protest from Sikh organisations in 2006. In 2012, there were protests for removal of controversial anti-Hindi agitation and an Ambedkar cartoon.

Cartoons (2012)
In April 2012, The Republican Party of India (RPI) Athavale group demanded a ban on an eleventh grade text book by the NCERT saying a drawn cartoon in the book insulted Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. The originally published book in 2006 wasn't recognized as part of the syllabus until 2012. On 2 April, Ramdas Athavale held a press conference and burnt copies of the page from the textbook prescribed in the political-civic science syllabus. Athavale demanded the resignation of Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal who also was the president of the NCERT board. RPI workers burnt his effigy. The cartoon figures on page 18 of chapter one titled "Constitution, why and how" in the book called Indian Constitution at Work. It shows Ambedkar sitting on a snail which is labelled ‘Constitution' cracking a whip. Behind him is Pandit Nehru, also shown with a whip. The caption says: "Cartoonist's impression of the ‘snail's pace' with which the Constitution was made. Athavale said the cartoon insulted the architect of India's Constitution and the people responsible must be dealt with. The NCERT too had insulted him, he pointed out. The issue created uproar in both Houses of Parliament. NCERT chief advisors Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar resigned on Friday after the government issued an apology and promised to remove the cartoon. Speaking to reporters, Palshikar said it seemed like the government didn't have an option and therefore decided to agree with the protesting MPs. "The caricature was a symbol of the progressive outlook in education. This has now been undone. We are of the opinion that as advisors we can have a different opinion. Hence, we don't think it's appropriate for us to be in this position anymore." Suhas Palshikar is a professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Pune.

Soon after that controversy had been solved, the Shahi Imam of Fatehpuri Mosque, Mohd. Mukarram Ahmed wrote to Kapil Sibal asking to remove a medieval painting of Gabriel the Archangel and another of pilgrims at the Kaaba from the chapter 'The Central Islamic Lands' on the ground that they were against Sharia. The letter, dated 10 September 2012 has also been sent to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, education minister Kiran Walia and NCERT chief Parvin Sinclair. "Jibreell (Gabriel) is the chief angel who brought messages to the Islamic prophet. The painting in the book is comical in its presentation of the Archangel. Secondly, the caption for the illustration on pilgrims at the Kaba states that they are 'touching' the stone even though it's customary to kiss it. But the Jibril painting is the most objectionable and will not be tolerated," said Ahmed in his letter. However, rejecting this, Najaf Haider, an associate professor at the Centre for Historical Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University said "The Gabriel painting was sourced from a 13th century text called Ajaib-ul-Makhluqat, written by a renowned scholar, Qazwini. The second illustration was taken from a 15th century collection of fragmented pieces. The letter only states the paintings are against Sharia and doesn't exactly point out what's objectionable about them. Moreover, these texts (from where the paintings are sourced) were written in Muslim courts by people who were far more scholarly and pious than anyone can claim to be today."

Changes in content during the BJP government (2014–present)
The poem Sabse Khatarnak by the Hindi poet Pash was included in the NCERT textbook for 11th standard Hindi students in 2006. In 2017, the BJP government affiliated RSS tried to remove it but failed.

The NCERT made two controversial changes to the class XII political science textbook ‘Politics in India Since Independence’ in 2017. It changed a heading of a passage describing the 2002 Gujarat riots from ‘Anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat’ to just ‘Gujarat riots’. In another class XII textbook titled ‘Contemporary World Politics’ the Aksai Chin region was shown to be a disputed area and coloured in the same colour as China. According to the NCERT, the controversial map was not a map of India, but a map of East and South East Asia published by University of Texas at Austin. The map was replaced after a few months following media scrutiny.

Before the commencement of the 2019–20 academic year, NCERT's decided to cut significant chapters from its Class IX history textbook: on clothing and caste conflicts; the history of cricket; and the impact of colonial capitalism on peasants and farmers. Similarly from the Class X History textbook, chapters on 'The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China', 'Work, Life and Leisure - Cities in the Contemporary World', and ‘Novels, Society and History’ had been deleted. NCERT's director Hrushikesh Senapaty highlighted that students must have time to engage outdoor. The syllabus of Social Sciences, which covers History, Geography, Political Science, and Economics, had 24 chapters in Class IX as compared to 15 each in Science and Mathematics. Similarly, Class X Social Sciences had 28 chapters as compared to 16 each in Science and Mathematics. This exercise brought down the total number of chapters in Social Sciences in Class IX and X to 20 and 25 respectively.

On 7 November 2020, an RTI was filed asking NCERT to provide a source to back its claim that temples were reconstructed under the reign of Aurangzeb.

NCERT had announced its decision to erase certain chapters on the Mughal Empire from class 12 history textbooks to which the BJP party and many of its politicians like Kapil Mishra have welcomed the move to eliminate part of the Mughal history from course books. This move of erasing Mughal history from syllabus attracted severe criticism from various faction of political arena.

The erased chapters are related to ‘Kings and Chronicles; the Mughal Courts (C. 16th and 17th centuries)’ from the book ‘Themes of Indian History-Part II’.

From Class 11 syllabus, chapters like Central Islamic Lands, Confrontation of cultures, and The Industrial Revolution have been removed. Apart from this, from Class 12 civics book Politics in Indian since Independence, chapters like Rise of popular movements, ‘Era of one-party dominance’ have been removed.

From the class 10 Democratic Politics-II textbooks, chapters like ‘Democracy and diversity’, ‘Popular struggles and movement’, ‘Challenges to democracy’ have been removed.

NCERT has removed from the new Class 12 political science and history textbooks references such as the “dislike of Hindu extremists for Mahatma Gandhi’s pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity” and banning of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) after his assassination.

A comparison of the new Class 12 political science textbook titled “Politics in India since Independence” with its older version showed that a reference to how Gandhi's “steadfast pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity provoked Hindu extremists so much that they made several attempts to assassinate Gandhiji” has also been deleted from the sub-topic titled “Mahatma Gandhi’s sacrifice” in the first chapter.

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” has also been deleted. The references to the crackdown on organisations spreading communal hatred, the ban on RSS for some time, and the loss of appeal of communal politics, too, have been removed.

References to Dalit writer Omprakash Valmiki have been removed from the social science textbooks of Classes 7 and 8 as part of the latest revision. In the Class 7 textbook topic titled “Our Pasts-2”, pages 48 and 49 have been excluded. These pages mentioned “Mughal Emperors: Major campaigns and events.”

The deletions also affected Biology and Chemistry textbooks as the theory of evolution and the periodic table were also purged from class 10 NCERT textbooks.

In April 2024, the NCERT revised its Political Science curriculum for grades 11 and 12. The revisions resulted in the omission of references to several contentious events in Indian history, including the Babri Masjid demolition, the Gujarat riots, and the role of Hindutva in Indian politics. The NCERT justified these changes as routine updates to reflect the government's current stance. Critics, however, argued that the revisions were politically motivated and aimed at downplaying the role of these events in shaping modern India.

Criticism
According to S. Irfan Habib, a historian, the rewriting of history is in line with the BJP's attempts to impose its Hindu nationalist propaganda. Habib said, “politicisation of students’ textbooks leads to the polarisation of the country by presenting a skewed past". He further called it "a conscious act by the present government to pursue agendas to further the religious divide in India by brainwashing young kids. The current government is assaulting the ethos of India by poisoning the school curriculum”.

According to Apoorvanand, a University of Delhi professor, Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government "seeks to portray India as a historically Hindu-only land". He adds, "marginalisation of Mughals and Muslims in textbooks mirrors what Muslims in Modi’s India are facing in real life. The recent textbook edits are part of a cultural genocide".

According to Audrey Truschke, a historian at Rutgers University, "erasing Mughals from textbooks does not erase them from India’s history". According to Harbans Mukhia, a historian of medieval India, the Modi-led BJP is using a strategy to win the next general elections in 2024 by unifying the Hindu vote by way of attaching the narrative that Hindus are under threat from Muslims.

According to Aditya Mukherjee, a professor of contemporary Indian history, the removal of Mughal history from the textbook was an attempt to erase history of a particular community, which is usually followed by a genocide of the community.

According to Suhas Palshikar, a political scientist, the deletion exercise is an "act of rewriting" adding that the BJP government intends "not to mention inconvenient facts".

Around 1800 scientists, educators, science teachers, science popularizers, and citizens from various reputable institutions criticized the removal of Darwin's theory of evolution from NCERT textbooks, saying that the purging of foundational science chapters will seriously handicap students' thought process. They wrote an open letter to the government urging it to continue teaching theory of evolution.

Suhas Palshikar and Yogendra Yadav, who were chief advisors for the political science books said they were "embarrassed to be associated with these textbooks" after rationalization of NCERT books and wrote a letter to the NCERT seeking removal of their names from political science books.