Just days after political scientists Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar wrote to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) asking for their names to be dropped from textbooks, 33 academicians part of the Textbook Development Committee have written to the council saying that their "collective creative effort is in jeopardy".
In addition to that, the 33 academicians have also demanded that their names be "dropped" from the textbooks.
Those who were the signatories to the letter sent to NCERT Director Dinesh Saklani are Kanti Prasad Bajpai, a former JNU professor who currently serves as the vice dean at the National University, Singapore, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, former vice-chancellor of the Ashoka University, Rajeev Bhargava, a former director of CSDS, Niraja Gopal Jayal, a former JNU professor, Nivedita Menon, a JNU professor, Vipul Mudgal, the head of civil society watchdog Common Cause, KC Suri, a former professor at the University of Hyderabad who is now associated with the Gitam University, and Peter Ronald deSouza, a former director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies.
The letter read, "Since there are several substantive revisions of the original texts, making them thereby different books, we find it difficult to claim that these are the books we produced and to associate our names with them.... We are now given to believe that this creative collective effort is in jeopardy."
It further said, "The textbooks were the result of extensive deliberations and collaborations among political scientists from various perspectives and ideological backgrounds and originally intended to impart knowledge about India's freedom struggle, the constitutional framework, the functioning of democracy and key aspects of Indian politics, while also integrating global developments and theoretical principles of political science."
It may be noted that last week, Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar in a letter to NCERT said that a rationalisation exercise has "mutilated" the books beyond recognition and rendered those "academically dysfunctional", and the textbooks that were a source of pride for them earlier, have now become a "source of embarrassment".
However, the NCERT said that the withdrawal on anyone's association is out of question as the textbooks at the school level are developed based on the knowledge and understanding of a given subject and at no stage individual authorship is claimed.
Last month, the issue had triggered a controversy with the opposition targeting the BJP-led Centre alleging that the dropping of several topics and portions from the NCERT textbooks was "whitewashing with vengeance".
The controversy erupted over the fact that while the changes made as a part of the rationalisation exercise were notified, some of the controversial deletions were not mentioned. This led to allegations that there was an attempt to delete these portions surreptitiously.
Meanwhile, the NCERT described the deletions as a possible oversight but refused to track back on the omissions. It said that they were based on the recommendations of experts.
NCERT had also said that the textbooks were anyway headed for a revision in 2024 when the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) is set to kick in. Later on, it changed its stance saying that "minor changes need not be notified".
