The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has made revisions to the political science syllabus for Class 12, effective from the academic session 2024-25. Notably, certain references related to Hindutva politics, the 2002 Gujarat riots, minorities, and Babri Masjid have been removed.
These modifications were announced on the official website of NCERT, as reported by Hindustan Times on April 4. The council mentioned that the updates were made considering the latest political developments. It's worth noting that while these subjects are no longer explicitly mentioned in certain sections, they might still be addressed elsewhere in the textbooks. NCERT textbooks are followed by around 30,000 schools affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education.
1) References to the "Ayodhya demolition" have been eliminated from Chapter 8 titled "Recent Developments in Indian Politics." Additionally, a chapter titled "What is the legacy of Ram Janambhoomi movement and the Ayodhya demolition for the nature of political mobilisation?" 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. Previously, a paragraph discussing the events leading to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992 and its impact on Indian politics had been included. This has now been altered to focus on the legal and political dispute over the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple, culminating in the construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya following a Supreme Court decision in 2019.
2) References to the Gujarat riots have been omitted from a chapter titled "Democratic Rights." The paragraph discussing the growing awareness of human rights and mentioning the Gujarat riots as an example of human rights violations has been revised to a more generalized statement about human rights violations in India.
3) In the same chapter, mentions of the Muslim community have been adjusted. A paragraph citing the 2011 census data and discussing the marginalized status of Muslims in India due to socio-economic factors has been modified to focus solely on their comparatively lower socio-economic development.
4) The chapter on "Secularism" has seen a change in the sentence discussing the casualties during the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002. The reference to the majority of the victims being Muslims has been removed.
5) Additionally, some explicit references to China have been incorporated into the new textbooks. A sentence discussing a military conflict over a border dispute has been updated to mention Chinese aggression on the Indian border.
