In the last week of October, a panel overseeing the development of textbooks in the NCERT, one of 25 such committees, unanimously decided to suggest changing the name 바카라India바카라 to Bharat바카라 in school textbooks. The proposal came against the backdrop of an ongoing debate about renaming the country as 바카라Bharat바카라.
The debate was stoked earlier when the Centre sent G20 dinner invites hosted by President Droupadi Murmu in the name of 바카라President of Bharat바카라. According to committee chairperson CI Issac, the move is intended to decolonise the Indian education and knowledge system.
바카라After 75 years, it is time to shed this colonial name and revert to what the nation was originally called. 바카라Bharat바카라 is more representative of India바카라s past heritage,바카라 Isaac, a Padma Shri, states. The historian has been known for his support of the Modi-led government at the Centre and is an RSS ideologue.
He suggests that up till Class 6, textbooks can carry both 바카라India바카라 and 바카라Bharat바카라 but from Class 7 to Class 12, Bharat should be the only word they read in books. 바카라The teenage years are important,바카라 Isaac says. While the NCERT has not yet given its nod, stating that it바카라s too premature to react at this point, the move has raised questions about the NCERT바카라s role in the new nation building project undertaken by the BJP.
One can understand the politics behind it, says academic and Delhi University professor Apoorvanand. He explains how the name change is part of the 바카라so-called decolonisation process by the BJP through which it is trying to tell its constituents that it is giving back to them their original self, which was at some point lost or distorted바카라. 바카라India바카라 is the distorted self and BJP is restoring the 바카라original Bharat to Bharatwasis,바카라 he explains. 바카라That is the broad political ideology behind not just this proposal but also behind the whole syllabus rationalisation project바카라.
In June last year, the NCERT completed its controversial syllabus rationalisation process undertaken from December 2021. Since 2014, the NCERT has undertaken three textbook reviews and the latest came ahead of the National Curriculum Framework overhaul. The 바카라rationalisation바카라 led to a row as many, including academics, former advisors and members of textbook development committees and subject experts, objected to the rather irrational deletion of certain key portions from the lessons without consulting the relevant committees. The changes were most glaring in the history and political science textbooks. Historians and academics, including Apoorvanand, Irfan Habib, Mridula Mukherjee, Upinder Singh and Uma Chakrabarti, among others, issued a terse statement against the 바카라selective dropping바카라 of chapters and passages, calling it a matter of 바카라great concern바카라. The changes were also called 바카라non-academic바카라 and partisan.
Media investigations found that in the new books, content pertaining to Mahatma Gandhi바카라s assassination was dropped. Key portions and sentences from chapters on Mughal courts, the caste system and the 2002 Gujarat riots were also removed. Many of these deletions did not appear in NCERT바카라s initial 바카라list of rationalised content바카라 officially released in June 2021.
Anita Rampal, professor and former Dean at Delhi University바카라s Faculty of Education and former member of NCERT바카라s Executive Committee, states that the usual process of implementing changes in textbooks happens through academic consultation and there are protocols and a pedagogical method to arrive at it. Rampal, who was also the chairperson of the Advisory Teams for Textbooks at the Primary Stage at NCERT, adds that though several changes have been made in the existing books, neither she nor the advisors responsible for developing the previous textbooks were consulted.
What is the process of inserting changes in NCERT books?
The NCERT under Krishna Kumar initiated a very novel process. It formed 21 focus groups working on several topics. These groups gave recommendations about content and pedagogy. Then there was a larger monitoring group which looked at all the recommendations. Since this committee included the chairpersons of all the focus groups, it took a holistic approach toward the recommendations.
바카라This was the process that was followed in 2004-05 when we were part of the rationalisation process,바카라 Apoorvanand adds. 바카라But there is no fixed process. It all depends on the current administration of the NCERT, how it plays its role and how it wants to take forward this question. No recommendation made by any committee is binding at all,바카라 he states.
Muzaffar Assadi, Mysore University Dean and former member of the textbook development advisory committee, states that the move to pitch 바카라Bharat바카라 instead of India reeks of a political agenda. 바카라Their whole argument of 바카라India바카라 being a colonial word lacks academic backing,바카라 he states. Centuries before the British came, Greek historian Megasthenes wrote a book called Indika, describing India from 2,300 years ago. Despite some of its wild claims, it remains an important account of Chandragupta Maurya바카라s empire in India and the first influential work on India by any Western author. He visited India between circa 302 BCE and 288 BCE. A variant of the word 바카라India바카라 was also used by Greek historian Herodotus in his accounts describing the nation.
There are arguments stating that the name India was indeed derived from 바카라Sandhu바카라, the Sanskrit name for the Indus River. 바카라Then how is India colonial? And why is Bharat the chosen name, why not Hindustan? It바카라s because Bharat has a distinct religious back story that fits neatly with the new nation building process,바카라 Assadi states.
He was one of the 33 academics and writers who urged the body to remove their names from the textbooks. 바카라They were hell-bent on changing some of the items in the lessons or issues described in the lessons without consultation from various committees or writers. We were not even informed. Their argument is that once you have submitted the manuscript, that becomes the copyright of the institution and they can do with it as they wish,바카라 he states. Assadi, however, believes that changing the name in a textbook will not be enough to obliterate the 바카라idea of India that is part of people바카라s collective memory and imagination바카라.
At present, there are 25 committees overseeing textbook development in the NCERT. Issac바카라s committee, which has seven members, wants to implement the name change as part of the Centre바카라s 2020 National Education Policy, to be reflected in the next batch of textbooks.
Issac feels that the implementation of the change may take some time yet. 바카라We still have to get through the bureaucracy first,바카라 he states. The NCERT, which has so far remained neutral to the name change suggestion, nevertheless, appears to be in a flux. At a time when 바카라Indian Systems of Medicine바카라, 바카라Vedic astronomy바카라 and 바카라indigenous knowledge systems바카라 are being preached by the likes of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and other bodies/politicians, will the NCERT remain a neutral source of formative education?
바카라NCERT books affect children at a formative stage and such changes will go a long way in establishing their national identity. Just like the battle between the so-called 바카라India바카라 and 바카라Bharat바카라, the NCERT today is facing an ideological battle of ideas. Will it choose to be progressive or will it choose an indigenous knowledge system at the cost of logic and science?바카라 Assadi asks. The answer to that would depend on the strength of Parliamentary democracy in India today.
(This appeared in print as 바카라A Textbook Case바카라)
