Textbook revision row in Karnataka: Two writers want their stories withdrawn

Renowned Kannada Dalit activist and writer Devanur Mahadeva asked the state education ministry to drop his stories from the revised textbooks. The BJP government in Karnataka has been facing backlash for revising textbooks by omitting certain lessons and including others. Noted thinker Dr G Ramakrishna also raised the same demand.

The Textbook Revision Committee dropped works written by L Basavaraju, AN Murthy Rao, P Lankesh, and Sara Aboobakar. Mahadeva said those who took such a decision do not know the culture of Karnataka.

The Revision Committee has made changes in the Kannada language textbooks of Class 1 to 10 and the Social Science textbooks of Class 6 to 10.

He alleged the BJP, whenever in power, interferes with education and history. The Dalit writer recounted a similar trend between 1998 and 2004, when BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi was the Union Minister of Human Resource Development, reported The News Minute.

In a letter addressed to the state government, he said the PDF related to the inclusions and deletions of the text is being changed every minute. Amid such a controversy, I am happier if my write-up is not used in the textbook. "If it is included, it will not have my consent. I am withdrawing the permission earlier given to the publication."

Dr G Ramakrishna said in a separate statement that the revision of school textbooks is an "intellectual travesty" and the children are "being fed poison" using educational instruments.

The head of the textbook committee, Rohit Chakrathirtha claimed the omission of content is not related to the caste of the authors and 90% of the people tend to be excluded in a country like India. Mahadeva responded to the statement saying the claim is an "eroding concept of participatory democracy".