The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has made changes in the Political Science syllabus for Class 12, with effect from the academic session 2024-25. Notably, certain references relating to Hindutva politics, the 2002 Gujarat riots, minorities and Babri Masjid have been removed.
These changes were announced on NCERT's official website, as reported by Hindustan Times on April 4. The council mentioned that the updates were made taking into account the latest political developments. It is worth noting that although these topics are no longer explicitly mentioned in certain sections, they may still be covered elsewhere in the textbooks. NCERT textbooks are followed by around 30,000 schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education.
Here are the major changes in the NCERT syllabus:
1) References to the 'demolition of Ayodhya' have been removed from Chapter 8 entitled 'Recent Developments in Indian Politics'. Moreover, there is a chapter titled “What is the legacy of the Ram Janambhoomi movement and the demolition of Ayodhya for the nature of political mobilization?” has been renamed to “What is the Legacy of the Ram Janmabhoomi Movement?” References to Babri Masjid and Hindutva politics have also been removed from this chapter. Earlier, a section was included discussing the events leading to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992 and its impact on Indian politics. This has now been changed to focus on the legal and political dispute over the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple, culminating in the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya following a Supreme Court decision in 2019.
2) References to the Gujarat riots are omitted in a chapter entitled 'Democratic Rights'. The section discussing growing human rights awareness and citing the Gujarat riots as an example of human rights violations has been revised to a more general statement on human rights violations in India.
3) In the same chapter, the mentions of the Muslim community have been adjusted. A section citing 2011 census data and discussing the marginalized status of Muslims in India due to socio-economic factors has been amended to focus solely on their relatively lower socio-economic development.
4) In the chapter on 'Secularism', the sentence discussing the victims during the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002 has been changed. The reference to the majority of the victims being Muslims has been removed.
5) In addition, some explicit references to China have been included in the new textbooks. A sentence discussing military conflict over a border dispute has been updated to mention Chinese aggression on the Indian border.
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Published: Apr 5, 2024 09:17 IST