'Modern India Should Start From 2014': Kapil Sibal On 'Deletions' From NCERT Textbooks

Kapil Sibal's apparent swipe at the Modi govt came after certain deletions from Class 12 NCERT social sciences textbooks.

New Delhi: Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said that consistent with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's India, modern Indian history should start from 2014. Sibal's attack on the government came after news agency PTI reported certain deletions from Class 12 National Council of Educational Research and Training's (NCERT) social sciences textbooks. Taking to Twitter, Sibal said, "NCERT textbooks: Effaced: 1) Gandhi's pursuit of Hindu Muslim unity 2) Banning of RSS 3) All references to Gujarat riots 4) Protests that turned into social movements in contemporary India."

NCERT textbooks:
Effaced:
1) Gandhi’s pursuit of Hindu Muslim unity
2) Banning of RSS
3) All references to Gujarat riots
4) Protests that turned into social movements in contemporary India

Consistent with Modiji’s Bharat modern Indian history should start from 2014… !

— Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) April 5, 2023

"Consistent with Modi ji's Bharat modern Indian history should start from 2014?," the former Union minister said. The BJP government came to power in 2014.

Earlier, it was reported that Uttar Pradesh government schools will adopt from this academic session the NCERT's new class 12 history textbooks in which portions about Mughal courts have been removed.

As part of its "syllabus rationalisation" exercise last year, NCERT had dropped certain portions from the syllabus, including lessons on Mughal courts, from its class 12 textbooks, stating they were "overlapping" and "irrelevant".

The change will be applicable for all the schools that follow NCERT across the country. Similarly, NCERT will remove some poems and paragraphs from the Hindi textbooks too.

As per NCERT, all the changes made will be implemented from the current academic session, i.e. 2023-2024. Along with History and Hindi textbooks, the class 12 Civics book has also been revised.

NCERT Director Denies Dropping Of Chapters On Mughals

National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Director Dinesh Prasad Saklani on Tuesday clarified that chapters on Mughals had not been `dropped` from CBSE books, and said that it's a "lie".

"It`s a lie. (Chapters on) Mughals have not been dropped. There was a rationalization process last year because due to COVID, there was pressure on students everywhere," the NCERT director told ANI.

The NCERT chief further said that expert committees examined the books from standards 6-12. "They recommended that if this chapter is dropped, it won`t affect the knowledge of the children and an unnecessary burden can be removed...The debate is unnecessary. Those who don`t know can check the textbooks...," Saklani said.