NCERT Panel Recommends Replacing India With Bharat In School Textbooks

A high-level committee has recommended the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to replace India with Bharat in the school textbooks for all classes.

The high-level committee constituted by the NCERT for social sciences has also recommended that ancient history should be replaced with classical history and include the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) in the syllabus for all subjects.

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Why NCERT wants to replace India with Bharat

"The committee has unanimously recommended that the name 'Bharat' should be used in textbooks for students across classes. We have also recommended introducing 'classical history' instead of 'ancient history' in the textbooks," Committee chairperson CI Isaac said.

He said the committee has also recommended highlighting "Hindu victories" in various battles in the textbooks.

"Our failures are presently mentioned in the textbooks. But our victories over the Mughals and sultans are not," said Isaac, who is also a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR).

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Who are the Committee members?

The NCERT is revising the curriculum of the school textbooks in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The council recently constituted a 19-member National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC) to finalise the curriculum, textbooks and learning material for these classes.

Other members of the committee include ICHR Chairperson Raghuvendra Tanwar, Vandana Mishra, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Vasant Shinde, former vice-chancellor of the Deccan College Deemed University, and Mamta Yadav, who teaches sociology in a Haryana government school.

The NCERT has, however, not taken a decision on implementing the recommendations.

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How NCERT mixed myth with science

It should be noted that NCERT's recently released supplementary reading modules on the Chandrayaan-3 had credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the successful mission.

It was also accused of mixing mythology with science.

Did scientific achievement happen only now?¡­ Literature tells us that it can be traced back through Vymaanika Shastra: 'Science of Aeronautics', which reveals that our country had the knowledge of flying vehicles in these days," the module said.

What is India vs Bharat debate?

Though the Constitution says, "India that is Bharat", there have been several rumours that the Modi government was planning to rename the country.

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This was fueled by the mention of President Droupadi Murmu as 'President of Bharat' on the G20 dinner invite instead of the usual practice of the President of India.

During the G20 Summit in Delhi, the nameplate in front of PM Modi had also mentioned Bharat and not India.

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