Gujarat riots, Naxalite movements dropped from NCERT class 12 curriculum

The notification recommended that pages 187 to 189 on 'Gujarat Riots' be removed from the book titled Politics in India since Independence

As part of "textbook rationalisation" due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) dropped content on the Gujarat riots from the Political Science curriculum designed for class 12.

The notification, issued by the NCERT on Thursday, recommended that pages 187 to 189 on 'Gujarat Riots' be removed from the book titled Politics in India since Independence.

According to an Indian Express report, one of the paragraphs from the removed segment said, "Gujarat riots show that the government machinery also becomes susceptible to sectarian passions. Instances, like in Gujarat, alert us to the dangers involved in using religious sentiments for political purposes. This poses a threat to democratic politics." It carried a blurb of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee delivering advice to the then CM of the state Narendra Modi. The blurb said, "A ruler should not make any discrimination between his subjects on the basis of caste, creed and religion."

Also Read: Gandhinagar civic body 'postpones' plan to name road after PM Modi's mother

The NCERT also removed pages 105 and 113 to 117 of the book that focused on 'Naxalite movements' and 'Controversies regarding Emergency' respectively.

In its notification, the NCERT said that the rationalised content included topics that are "overlapping with similar content included in other subject areas in the same class" or "content, which is irrelevant in the present context".

"In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is imperative to reduce the content load on students," the notification read. "The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with a creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT has undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes."