Content on Gujarat riots removed from NCERT over textbook rationalisation
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New Delhi: The NCERT is said to have removed certain part of the chapters, including the content on Gujarat riots, from the Class 12 Political Science curriculum. The reports claimed that the removal is part of a "textbook rationalisation" in the view of COVID-19 pandemic.
In pages 187-189 of the book, it was contained content on Gujarat riots, which included a note about the government's involvement in such incidents based on certain to sectarian passions.
The content apparently question the government and its use of state machinery to subjugate a certain section of society with the intention to achieve the political gains.
One of the paragraph that has been removed reads, "Gujarat riots show that the government machinery also becomes susceptible to sectarian passions. Instances, like in Gujarat, alert us to dangers involved in using religious sentiments for political purposes. This poses a threat to democratic politics,"
The removed contents also included a quote from the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, reminding the then Chief Minister of Gujarat what should be the 'raj dharma' of the government.
Page 105 of the book on the history of the "Naxalite movement", and pages 113-117 on "Controversies regarding Emergency" have also been dropped.
The NCERT, in its note, said the removals as part of the rationalisation include "overlapping with similar content included in other subject areas in the same class" and "content, which is irrelevant in the present context".