NCERT agrees to delete objections from new History text books

New Delhi, Jan 30 (UNI) Delhi High Court today directed the National Council for Research and Training (NCERT) to remove all 75 objectionable paragraphs from the History text books in the next semester which starts from April 1, 2008.

A bench comprising Justices T S Thakur and Aruna Suresh directed the council to remove all the objections which were raised by the social service organisation 'Shiksha Bachao Andolan' in the books.

Dr Dina Nath Batra of Rashtriya Swayam Seva Sangh (RSS) and his lawyers Rakesh Mahajan and R P Bansal had filed a petition in the court that despite the NCERT agreeing before the Supreme Court in the year 2000 to remove the portions that hurt the sentiments of certain communities, but those portions were still there in the text books, varying from class 5th to 12th.

The petitioner alleged that although after the Apex Court order, the NCERT removed the portion. However, in 2002, the original books were back again which was violative of the order.

The petition said the curriculum drafted by the NCERT on the basis of NPE-1986 and the S B Chavan Committee report was challenged by 'Shiksha Bachao Andolan' in the apex court in the year 2002 on the basis that it was anti-secular and violative of fundamental rights under Article 28 of the Constitution.

The NCERT had taken a decision to withdraw the then history text books from the syllabus and fresh books were introduced. Later, in 2005, the books were reintroduced in the syllabus which has been contrary to their stand that they took in the apex court earlier.

Rohit Kumar, lawyer for the NCERT, told the court that they would soon withdraw the objections from the books in the next semester.

Among the 75 paragraphs of the objectionable material, some of them were -- ''Hindus were beef eaters'', ''Bhagat Singh was a terrorist'', ''Balgangadhar Tilak, Vipin Chanderpal, Lala lajpat Rai were extremist'', ''Guru Gobind Singh made compromise with Aurungzeb after excepting Mansabdari'', among others.

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