Rewriting syllabus: Distorting history, claim academics; debate pointless, says NCERT

Hyderabad: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) announced that certain chapters on the Mughal Empire would be removed from Class 12 history textbooks, which drew harsh condemnation from various political factions.

Uttar Pradesh declared that government schools will use NCERT’s new Class 12 history textbooks, which will exclude information regarding Mughal courts for the current academic year. This deletion is part of its ‘syllabus rationalisation’ process, initiated last year, where the NCERT deleted various elements of the syllabus, branding some information as ‘overlapping’ and ‘irrelevant’. The modifications came out into the open when the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) rationalised its syllabus in April 2022. In addition to CBSE schools, various state boards use NCERT textbooks.

Which chapters are removed?

The deleted chapters are from the textbook Themes of Indian History-Part II titled Kings and Chronicles; the Mughal Courts (C. 16th and 17th centuries).

Chapters that include Central Islamic Areas, Cultural Conflict, and The Industrial Revolution have been removed from the Class 11 syllabus. Rise of Popular Movements and Period of One-Party Dominance chapters were also removed from the Class 12 civics textbook Politics in India Since Independence.

Class 10 Democratic Politics-II textbook saw the removal of chapters such as Democracy and Diversity, Popular Struggles and Movement, and Challenges to Democracy.

Apart from chapters, sentences in the Class 12 political science textbook referring to the then-brief ban on RSS following Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination were also removed. Paragraphs on Gandhi’s drive for Hindu-Muslim unity that riled Hindu radicals were removed.

What has NCERT said about cutting chapters?

NCERT Director Dinesh Prasad Saklani said that the chapters on the Mughals were not ‘deleted’ from the CBSE textbooks. “It’s a sham. The Mughals have not been abandoned. Last year, there was a rationalisation process since COVID put pressure on pupils everywhere,” he said. The NCERT head went on to say that professional committees reviewed the texts from Grades 6 to 12. “They advised that dropping this chapter would have no effect on the children’s knowledge and would relieve them of an unneeded load. The debate is pointless. Those who are unsure can consult the textbooks,” Saklani explained.

He stated that pupils will continue to study Mughal history in NCERT Class 7 book. “In addition, the history of the Mughals is presented in Empires, section 2 of the Grade 11 textbook. And there were two chapters on the history of the Mughals in the Class 12 textbook, of which subject nine was eliminated last year while theme eight is being taught to children. No chapter has been removed from any book this year,” Saklani added.

“We are working in accordance with the NEP (National Education Policy) 2020. This is a period of change. NEP 2020 mentioned lowering the content burden and we are putting it into action. The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for school education is being developed and will be completed soon. According to the NEP, textbooks will be printed in 2024. We haven’t dropped anything yet,” The NCERT chief said.

What did the Opposition say?

Asaduddin Owaisi, Chairman of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), claimed that the Centre is deleting the past by removing Mughal history from the NCERT syllabus, while China is erasing our present, referring to China’s renaming of places in Arunachal Pradesh. “On the one hand, the Modi government is removing Mughals from the NCERT syllabus, while on the other, China, with whom Modi was shaking hands at the G20 Jakarta meeting, is deleting our present,” Owaisi said at a press conference.

Avinash Pandey, the Congress National Secretary in charge of Jharkhand, claimed that the decision to modify the syllabus is an attempt to rewrite the nation’s history. Pandey lashed out at the Centre, claiming that democracy in the country is under threat.

Kapil Sibal, a Rajya Sabha Member, criticised the government, claiming that, in accordance with Modi’s India, contemporary Indian history should begin in 2014. Sibal stated in a tweet, "1) Gandhi’s advocacy of Hindu-Muslim unity has been erased from NCERT textbooks. 2) RSS Prohibition 3) Any and all references to the Gujarat riots 4) Protests that evolved into social movements in modern India.” “In accordance with Modi ji’s Vision, contemporary Indian history should begin in 2014...,” the former Union minister stated. The BJP government took office in 2014.

On the contrary, BJP spokesman Kapil Mishra praised the project, claiming that the Mughal rulers, referring to the Mughals as “thieves”. He said that the initiative will shed light on the truth.

“It is an excellent choice to remove the fake history of Mughals from the NCERT,” he tweeted in response to a video about the rewritten textbooks. “The Mughal Sultanate and the Emperor of India were names given to thieves, pickpockets, and two-penny road raiders. Akbar, Babar, Shahjahan, and Aurangzeb are no longer mentioned in history texts; they have been discarded.”

What did the historians say?

A vast number of social activists and academics, including historians, expressed outrage.

Dr Imtiaz Ahmad, former director of the Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library in Patna, said, “The alleged revisions in the textbooks for Class 12 made by the NCERT are disappointing and sad.”

Educators and historians are dubious about the change, claiming that “bigger trends are at work.” Some modifications have been implemented because “they make the ruling party uncomfortable,” while others are “related to electoral advantages,” they claimed.

A number of scholars studying the Mughal Empire have vehemently opposed the move. Simon Schama, a British historian, tweeted, “This is another preposterous war on history – the Mughals were a magnificent civilisation producing transcendent art, music, architecture.”

Katherine Schofield, a historian of music in Mughal India, tweeted, “This RIDICULOUS. The Mughals ruled over much of India for over 200 years (technically over 300) and left behind an enduring legacy. Love them, loathe them, or really not care — leaving the Mughals out of school history textbooks won’t magic them away.”

Author and historian Audrey Truschke said that the move marks another “chapter in the embrace of ignorance over the knowledge that is increasingly common in Indian society under Hindu nationalist rule.” She tweeted, “Indian history remains untouched by such censorship. Modern ignorance thereof is another matter.”

Let’s delve into some of the themes that have been left out – and why historians believe they are important to be taught to students.

Chapter on emergency cut short

A chapter in the political science textbook for Class 12 has been reduced by five pages. These pages explained the excesses of the Indira Gandhi regime during the 1975 Emergency.

“Parliament was suspended, and the government established new laws directly. Civil freedoms were revoked, and many politically engaged persons were detained and imprisoned without a trial. The media was censored, and government employees might be fired without following conventional procedures. The government compelled lower-level officials to carry out its programmes and deliver immediate results... When unexpected elections were scheduled in early 1977, the people decisively voted against the ruling Congress Party,” said the now-deleted paragraph about the Emergency.

Jitendra Meena, assistant professor of history at Delhi University, remarking on the removal said, “Most of the references and topics that have been omitted are critical for any empowered nation, and thus critical for students. We saw a crisis of democratic order during the Emergency, and we are seeing it again to some extent again. The chapters that were struck down dealt with limiting press freedom and democratic rights.”

An attempt to gloss over caste?

A section about manual scavenging mentioning social reformer Harsh Mander has been omitted, along with a reference to articles discussing how lower-caste women endured more discrimination than upper-caste women. A poem about the Dalit movement was also taken out of the textbook.

“The sun of self-respect has burst into flame – Let it burn up these castes! Smash, break, destroy These walls of hatred. Crush to smithereens this eons-old school of blindness, Rise, O people!” an excerpt from the poem read.

Another omitted paragraph from the same chapter said, “When compared to the scene prior to independence, the condition of all socioeconomic groups, even the lowest castes, and tribes, has generally improved today. But how much better has it gotten? In comparison to the rest of the population, how have the lowest castes/tribes fared?”

A section in Class 6 political science textbook had previously said that women and Shudras were not permitted to read the Vedas. This reference had been removed as well.

According to Meena, a student in Grade 12, the grey areas in history are now being filled by what is convenient for the ruling party. “Caste is a reality in our country, and it is the foundation of our civilisation. Yet, they wish to conceal it. They wish to restrict our access to such subjects,” she said. "It is being conveyed that ancient India was an idyllic place. It is true that due to limited sources from the time period, there are some grey areas," she added.

According to S Irfan Habib, a historian of science and modern political history, “Most references to caste-based discrimination, which was once a historical actuality and still bothers us now, have been removed. This history can be removed from textbooks, but it will always be a part of our history. Our ostrich-like behaviour will not erase the caste-based animosity that our society experiences on a daily basis.”

Social movements not spared

The Class 7 history textbook omitted pages from Chapter 3 on the Delhi Sultans and Chapter 4 on the Mughal Empire.

Whole articles on Mughal monarchs such as Babar, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb and their significant campaigns and events have been removed. These pages discuss their main accomplishments.

An entire chapter on Mughal courts, Theme 9 of the Class 12 history text, has been omitted. The chapter is about Mughal manuscripts.

“At one level they were a repository of factual information about the institutions of the Mughal state, painstakingly collected and classified by individuals closely connected with the court. At the same time, these texts were intended as conveyors of meanings that the Mughal rulers sought to impose on their domain. They, therefore, give us a glimpse into how imperial ideologies were created and disseminated. This chapter will look at the workings of this rich and fascinating dimension of the Mughal Empire,” an excerpt from a chapter on Mughal courts from the Class 9 textbook read.

Many allusions to the Naxalite movement, as well as other popular movements, have been removed. References to the Tawa Matsya Sangh’s campaign for the rights of displaced forest residents in Madhya Pradesh’s Satpura forest, as well as the Narmada Bachao Andolan and Karnataka’s non-violent Kittiko-Hachchiko (pluck and plant) protest in 1987, have been omitted.

Previously, two Urdu poems by Faiz Ahmad Faiz from the textbook Democratic Policy II were deleted from the Class 10 political science syllabus, sparking outrage.