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NCERT controversyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The National Council of Educational Research and Training(NCERT) is an apex resource organisation

set up by the Government of India, with headquarters at New Delhi, to assist and advise the central and state

governments on academic matters related to school education.

NCERT publishes books that are used in government and private schools across India that follow the CBSE

curriculum. Ever since its establishment, the organization has faced a great deal of controversy and

continues to do so today. The controversy centers around the charges of an attempted "saffronized"

rewriting of Indian history (i.e., making lessons consonant with the Hindutva).[1]Allegations of historical

revisionism with a Hindu nationalist agenda arose in two periods: under the Janata Party government 1977 to

1980 and again under the Bharatiya Janata Party government from 1998 to 2004. In 2012, the organization

has been blamed for attempting to insult the government by publishing 'offensive' cartoons in its textbooks.

Contents

1 Communalism and "saffronised" content

2 Cartoons

3 See also

4 Notes and references

5 External links

Communalism and "saffronised" content

Prime Minister Morarji Desai suggested that the criticized textbooks be withdrawn combined with a

campaign against an alleged "communist" infiltration of academic positions, resulting in a storm of

controversy in the press and in parliament. R.S. Sharma's 1977Ancient Indiawas withdrawn from the

syllabus by the Central Board of Secondary Education in July 1978. 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'sMedieval Indiawas criticised for being too sympathetic to Muslim viewpoints and for

showing too little enthusiasm for Hindu heritage. In the course of the controversy, both sides became deeply

suspicious of the other's motivations, contributing to the intensification of Indian "communalism" and leavingresentments that were to resurface in the renewed controversy under BJP rule twenty years later.

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.[2]

Marxist historians raised objections to the new curriculum, claiming "saffronization" of education by

allegedly raising the profile of Hindu cultural norms, views and historical personalities in school textbooks.[1]

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.[3]

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 beingdownplayed by the left wing ideologues.

[4]

The NDA was defeated in the elections of 2004 and the new UPA government pledged to "de-saffronize"

ERTcontroversy- Wikipedia, thefreeencyclopedia http:/ / en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/NCERT_controversy

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textbooks and curricula nationwide and restore the secular character of education.[1]

In March, the UPA

Government released new NCERT textbooks, based on the texts used before the controversial 2002

updates.[1]

The Ministry of Human Resource Development, which oversaw this project, stated that it had

made only minor modifications to the books that predated the "saffronized" era.[1]

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.[1]In June 2004, a panel constituted by

NCERT reviewed the new textbooks and determined that they had poor content, shoddy presentation, andsignificant amounts of irrelevant information.[1]The panel recommended to the Human Resource

Development (HRD) minister that the new books not be used until the defects could be resolved. resulting in

Delhi students also using texts from the pre-"saffronized" period.[1]

Press reports indicated that the rush to "de-saffronize" school texts resulted in Urdu versions not being ready

for the academic year, which began in April.[1]

The reports asserted that this failure hurt Urdu-speaking

students by depriving them of needed textbooks. The NCERT denied the claims.[1]In turn, the UPA and

previous Congress-led governments have been accused by the BJP, the dominant Hindutva party, of revising

history to present a Marxist bias, and whitewashing the record of Muslim "atrocities" to acquire Muslim

votes.[5][6][7]

Cartoons

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 cartoon in the book insulted Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. The book, which

had been originally published in 2006, wasn't recognized until 2012. On April 2, Ramdas Athavale held a

press conference and burnt copies of the page from the textbook prescribed in the political 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 calledIndian 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. Palshikar is a professor in the Department of Politics

and Public Administration at the University of Pune.[8]

Soon after that controversy had been solved, the Shahi Imam of Fatehpuri Mosque, Mohd Mukarram Ahmed

wrote to Kapil Sibal asking for the removal of a medieval painting of Archangel Gabriel and another of

pilgrims at the Kaaba from the chapter 'The Central Islamic Lands' on the ground that they were against the

Sharia law. The letter, dated September 10, 2012 has also been sent to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit,

education minister Kiran Walia and NCERT chief Parvin Sinclair. "Jibril (Gabriel) is the chief angel who

brought messages to the 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,"Ahmed, who is planning to write to the prime minister and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, depicted 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 calledAjaib-


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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."[9]

See also

Irfan Habib

Sumit Sarkar

Pakistani textbooks controversy

Notes and references

^a

b

cd

efg

h

ijIndia: International Religious

Freedom Report 2005

1.

^Delhi Historian's Group, Section 1: An Overview2.

^R. Upadhyay (2000-02-26). "Opposition in India:

In search of genuine issues" (http://web.archive.org

/web/20070706114801/http://www.saag.org

/papers2/paper107.html). South Asia Analysis

Group. Archived from the original

(http://www.saag.org/papers2/paper107.html)on

2007-07-06. Retrieved 2007-10-09.

3.

^Know your value about NCERT controversy

(http://www.ofbjp.org/news/1101/28.html)by K R

Malkani

4.

^"BJP objects to "De-toxification" of NCERT text

books" (http://www.bjp.org/today/July_0104

/Page_13.htm). BJP. 2005-07-01. Retrieved

2007-10-09.

5.

^"BJP flays UPA's plan to fiddle with history

books" (http://www.tribuneindia.com

/2004/20040625/nation.htm#6). The Tribune,

Chandigarh. 2005-06-25. Retrieved 2007-10-09.

6.

^Goel, Sita Ram (1994). "The Magnitude of

Muslim Atrocities - II". The Story of Islamic

Imperialism in India. Voice of India.

ISBN 81-85990-23-9.

7.

^"Cartoon issue was first raised by RPI"

(http://www.thehindu.com/news/national

/article3273838.ece). The Hindu. Retrieved 23

September 2012.

8.

^"NCERT in trouble over painting of Jibril,

Muslim pilgrims in history textbook"

(http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ncert-jibril-

muslim-pilgrims-history-textbook-kapil-sibal/1

/217856.html). India Today. Retrieved 23

September 2012.

9.

"Delhi Historians Group's Publication "Communalization of Education: The History Textbooks

Controversy", A report in 2002, New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

(http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org/textbook/NCERT_Delhi_Historians__Group.pdf)

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor "India: International Religious Freedom Report

2005", US Department of State (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51618.htm)

Lloyd I. Rudolph; Susanne Hoeber Rudolph,Rethinking Secularism: Genesis and Implications of the

Textbook Controversy, 1977-79, Pacific Affairs (1983), 15-37.

External links

NCERT Website (http://www.ncert.nic.in/welcome.asp)


http://web.archive.org/http://www.saag.org/http://www.saag.org/papers2/paper107.html)http://www.ofbjp.org/news/1101/28.html)http://www.bjp.org/today/July_0104http://www.tribuneindia.com/http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationalhttp://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ncert-jibril-http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org/textbook/NCERT_Delhi_Historians__Group.pdf)http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51618.htm)http://www.ncert.nic.in/welcome.asp)http://www.novapdf.com/http://www.novapdf.com/http://www.novapdf.com/http://www.novapdf.com/http://www.novapdf.com/http://www.novapdf.com/http://www.ncert.nic.in/welcome.asp)http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51618.htm)http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org/textbook/NCERT_Delhi_Historians__Group.pdf)http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ncert-jibril-http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationalhttp://www.tribuneindia.com/http://www.bjp.org/today/July_0104http://www.ofbjp.org/news/1101/28.html)http://www.saag.org/papers2/paper107.html)http://www.saag.org/http://web.archive.org/


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