oppn parties NCERT: Rewriting History

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  • In a breakthrough, Jamia Millia has given exact dates for holding student body elections, ending the 18-day hunger strike on the campus. The union constitution will be completed by May 15, 2027 and elections will be held by August 27, 2027
  • The Congress-led INDIA bloc plans to hold a mock parliamentary session styled as a “public impeachment” of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on October 30, followed by a rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on November 1. After authorities denied permission for the proposed event at Ramlila Maidan, opposition leaders decided to hold the mock session at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence
  • The Supreme Court clarified that it had not finally adjudicated the legality of the Election Commission’s use of the “logical discrepancy” category during the Special Intensive Revision of West Bengal’s electoral rolls, describing its earlier permission as an interim arrangement
  • Former Supreme Court judge Sanjay Kishan Kaul said in an interview about his forthcoming memoir that the government had told the judicial collegium that India was not ready for an openly gay judge when it considered advocate Saurabh Kirpal’s appointment to a High Court. Kaul said Kirpal’s sexual orientation was central to the objection as he understood it, while the government’s officially stated reservation had concerned Kirpal’s Swiss partner
  • The Supreme Court declined to direct SEBI to mandate public disclosure of the ultimate beneficial owners and portfolios of alternative investment funds and foreign portfolio investors, disposing of a petition filed by TMC MP Mahua Moitra. The bench said there was no existing legal framework requiring such comprehensive public disclosure, while the petitioner argued that greater transparency was needed to protect investors
  • Equitas Small Finance Bank shares fell as much as 20% after managing director and chief executive P. N. Vasudevan announced his resignation, citing investor concerns about a perceived conflict of interest involving his daughter’s finance company
  • The India Meteorological Department issued orange alerts for parts of Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, Murshidabad and the North and South 24 Parganas, warning of heavy rain, thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds following Cyclone Arnab’s landfall
  • Cyclone Arnab’s aftermath continued to disrupt India’s eastern coast, with Andhra Pradesh officials confirming six deaths and damage to at least 15,000 electricity poles. Power had been restored in most affected districts, although Konaseem and West Godavari remained disrupted, while a cargo vessel with 20 crew members remained grounded offshore amid rough seas
  • India will need approximately $220 billion in investment between 2027 and 2030 to meet its target of 500 GW of non-fossil electricity capacity, Renewable Energy Secretary Santosh Kumar Sarangi said on Thursday
  • The rupee closed almost unchanged at ₹95.26 per US dollar after touching a two-week low, with traders watching oil prices and possible Reserve Bank of India intervention
  • Indian equity benchmarks rebounded on Thursday, with the Sensex gaining 905.01 points, or 1.24%, to close at 74,151.04, while the Nifty 50 rose 237.90 points, or 1.05%, to 22,936.75
  • Ranji Trophy: Delhi draw with Jharkhand and get 3 points, Maharashtra draw with Gujarat to get 3 points
  • Ranji Trophy: Bengal thrash Kerala by 287 runs. Pradipta Pramanik scalps 10/95 in the match as Bengal bowl out Kerala for just 120 in the second innings
  • India defeated China 5–2 in the men’s Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament in Jalandhar, maintaining its winning run in the competition. Captain Harmanpreet Singh and forward Sukhjeet Singh scored two goals each, with Jugraj Singh adding the fifth; Japan is India’s next opponent
Supreme Court says ministry of corporate affairs has hijacked NCLT and NCLAT, seeks report on vacancies and infrastructure in 4 weeks
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NCERT: Rewriting History

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-06-22 14:29:55

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

NCERT has embarked on a 'cleansing' and 'sensitizing' project, ostensibly to reduce the curriculum to give relief to the students who have fallen behind in learning due to Covid related disruptions for the last two years. It has removed paragraphs and entire chapters from several social sciences books and has attempted to rewrite or even obliterate history. That is not all. An attempt is also being made to rewrite several chapters with a biased perspective. This is not going to lessen the burden of students but keep them ignorant of several important events in Indian history or provide them with a biased version of events.

For instance, students will not learn about the Narmada Bachao Andolan or the Chipko movement. Similarly, students henceforth will not be taught about the 2002 Gujarat riots or the Emergency. They will also be given only a brief account of the Muslim rulers in India. The idea is to let future generations believe that India was always a Hindu nation comprised of several Hindu kingdoms whose rulers were powerful and benevolent. They will not be taught about the Jaichands who helped Muslim rulers consolidate their rule in the country. Neither will they know the excesses committed under the Emergency by a despotic ruler bent on prolonging her rule, for the BJP can see itself doing the same, subtly now and more openly in the near future.

Rewriting history as per the myopic or agenda-based view of the ruling dispensation does not change the history of a nation. In fact, today's rulers are not going to be there forever and if any future government reinstates the removed paragraphs and chapters, it will mean that students now in classes VI to XII will forever be unaware of these important events in Indian history. In the name of 'rationalization' what NCERT is doing is not correct. It has claimed that it has consulted outside 'experts' before taking up the exercise without disclosing their names. Such opaqueness is not good, especially in educational matters.