NCERT Again Revised Book Names, Yogendra, Palshikar Said; Erase Our Names From Textbook Otherwise We Will Sue

When the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) director Dinesh Prasad Saklani discussed the words, “Bharat” and “India” and said from now these words will be used as substitutes in NCERT textbooks, this statement political scientist Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar raised their objection on Monday to include their names in the new textbooks, after that they requested to erase their names as authors from revised textbooks otherwise they take legal action if not withdrawn.

The NCERT director commented in the wake of a high-level panel working on the social science curriculum suggesting that “India” should be replaced with “Bharat” in school textbooks for all classes.

Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar, chief advisors for NCERT political science textbooks said, that not using their names in NCERT textbooks promotes “politically biased, academically indefensible and pedagogically dysfunctional” political science textbooks. They also said last year in June that the rationalisation exercise has “mutilated the books beyond recognition” and rendered them “academically dysfunctional”. They said once the textbooks were the reason for their pride, now they have become a reason for their embarrassment and they have already raised objections regarding this context but still, their names have been used as chief advisers in the revised textbooks.

Expressing their shock, “more than a year after our original request, NCERT has gone ahead to publish… without removing our names”, Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar said in their letter, “We are also distressed to learn that NCERT has taken a step further in its drive towards indiscriminate distortion of these textbooks. NCERT has resorted to significant additions and rewriting that are out of sync with the spirit of the original textbooks. Both of us, as chief advisers of the original textbooks, have already registered our strong disapproval of this unethical mutilation of textbooks that violate both the authors’ rights to intellectual property and the student’s right to quality education.”

They also presented their thought that, if NCERT finds any of their textbooks inappropriate, then it is completely under their right if it wants to withdraw them and launch its new version. However, no legal right has been given to it to make changes to the textbooks “without consulting any of us and yet publish these under our names despite our explicit refusal… it is bizarre that authors and editors are forced to associate their names with a work they no longer identify as their own.”

After analysing the joint statement from both sides, the NCERT released a clarifying notification stating “the terms of these Textbook Development Committees (TDCs) have ended since the date of their first publication. However, NCERT acknowledges their academic contribution and only because of this, for the sake of the record, publishes names of all Textbook Development Committee (TDC) members in each of its textbooks.”

“NCERT, as the copyright owner of all its textbooks, adopts clear procedures to make corrections/changes from time to time depending on (a) feedback received from their users (teachers, students etc.) (b) identification of factual inaccuracies, incompatible expression based on core values as recommended for textbook development etc. NCERT has been doing so on a regular basis for its reprint editions,” The image of notification by Yogendra Yadav on X.