Martyrs dub as "terrorist" in Orissa school text book

Bhubaneswar,Apr 26 (UNI) Perturbed by an ''undesirable and unwanted'' word of describing the freedom fighters and the martyrs of the country as ''terrorist'' in a school text book, the Orissa government has sought a detailed report by next Saturday from the Board of Secondary Education(BSE).

The School and Mass Education Secretary in a letter to the Secretary of the BSE, has directed him to submit a report to the government about the new Social Studies text book for the class X students, portraying the martyrs as ''santrashbadi''.

In one of the chapters called ''santrashbadi,'' the text book, published by the BSE, has described Bhagat Singh, Chandra Sekhar, Sukdev and Rajguru as ''terrorist'' who played a key role in the freedom movement.

The book has also described the meaning of terrorism by stating that it was an act to create panic among the minds of the people and cited the attack on World Trade Centre, Parliament in New Delhi and the militant activities in Jammu and Kashmir as act of terrorism.

A senior official of the School and Mass Education told UNI today that the BSE secretary has been asked to submit a copy of the text book along with the report on the ''undesirable word'' and the procedure for the approval and publication of the text book followed by the BSE.

UNI