'We’ll sue...': Yadav, Palshikar threaten legal action against NCERT
PTC Web Desk: The ongoing controversy over the revised NCERT textbooks heated up on Monday when noted academics Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar, former chief advisors for political science textbooks for classes 9 to 12, threatened legal action against the council for allegedly publishing the new textbooks under their names without their permission.
Yadav and Palshikar have written to the NCERT, strongly objecting to the most recent textbook revisions. They claimed that NCERT has no moral or legal right to distort textbooks and publish them under their names, despite their explicit refusal.
In a letter to NCERT chief D P Saklani on Monday, Yadav and Palshikar stated that they were "shocked to discover" that more than a year after publicly dissociating themselves from the textbooks in their current form and even requesting Saklani to remove their names, the Council had reprinted the textbooks with additional revisions while still identifying them as chief advisors.
The revised textbooks, which are now on the market, reportedly minimise references to the BJP's 'rath yatra' and the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition, while emphasising the Supreme Court's decision to allow the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site.
The Babri Masjid is not mentioned in the revised Class 12 political science textbook, but it is described as a "three-domed structure". It has reduced the Ayodhya section from four to two pages, removing details from the previous version.
In response to mounting criticism, NCERT Director Dinesh Prasad Saklani defended the revisions, claiming that they were part of routine updates in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. He denied allegations of saffronisation, claiming that the changes were intended to promote a positive educational environment and prevent the spread of potentially divisive historical narratives.
When asked why references to the Gujarat riots or the demolition of the Babri Masjid were changed in NCERT textbooks, Saklani responded, "Why should we teach about riots in school textbooks?" We want to create positive citizens, not violent and depressed individuals."
"Should we teach our students in a manner that they become offensive, create hatred in society or become victim of hatred? Is that education's purpose? Should we teach about riots to such young children ... when they grow up, they can learn about it but why school textbooks. Let them understand what happened and why it happened when they grow up. The hue and cry about the changes is irrelevant," he further said.
- PTC NEWS
