NCERT continues textbook revisions, leaves hole in the history book, article 370 axed

Following the decision by the National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT), a week back, to remove the topics about the Mughal Empire in the 12th standard history textbooks, the educational body has now omitted the information related to Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir from history textbooks of class 11. Additionally references to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad have also been discontinued.     

In the 10th chapter of the new book, information related to Jammu and Kashmir has been removed. For example, “Jammu and Kashmir's accession to the Indian Union was based on a commitment to protect its autonomy under Article 370 of the Constitution,” this has now been taken off.

Abul Kalam Azad’s name also missing

Apart from this, there is no mention of the country's first education minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in the new NCERT book. His name has been stripped from the new Political Science book of class 11th.

This comes after the NCERT, earlier on April 3 decided to remove topics related to the Mughal empire from history textbooks for Standard 12. The rule automatically applied to all the schools which follow the NCERT syllabus. The chapters 'Kings and Chronicles; the Mughal Courts (C. 16th and 17th centuries)' have been removed from the History book 'Themes of Indian History-Part 2'.

NCERT withdraws topics related to Mughals

On the same lines from the Hindi textbooks, certain poems and paragraphs will also be discontinued. The changes will be implemented from the academic session, i.e. 2023-2024. The 12th standard Civics textbook has also been revised. Two chapters titled, 'American Hegemony in World Politics' and 'The Cold War Era' have been taken away from the book.

The textbooks related to class 10th and 11th have also been changed following which chapters on 'Democracy and Diversity', 'Popular Struggles and Movements', and 'Challenges of Democracy' have been removed from Class 10th book 'Democratic Politics-2'.

Chapters such as 'Central Islamic Lands', 'Clash of Cultures', and 'Industrial Revolution' have been dropped from the Class 11th textbook 'Themes in World History'.