A political row has erupted over major changes in the new social science textbook for class IX by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT). While the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls, and the 1975-77 emergency period are now part of the book, the definition of the word preamble and the words ‘secularism’ and ‘secularism’ are no longer part of the book.
The SIR Voter List Review exercise is said to be defined in the book as an exercise to ensure that no eligible citizen is excluded from the voters list and no ineligible person is included.
The new book has been released under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023.
High praise for ECI
The new NCERT textbook praises the Election Commission of India (ECI) for conducting fair polls despite challenges like fake news, misinformation and intimidation, news agency PTI reported.
“This exercise ensures inclusion of all voters, especially young voters who have just turned 18 years of age and who may be excluded due to lack of awareness for any other reason,” a section of the textbook titled “Understanding Society: India and Beyond” says.
“Despite the many challenges to conducting free and fair elections, the IEC attempts to ensure that elections are conducted impartially at multiple levels,” says the new book, which praises the polling commission for conducting the elections.
In contrast to the definition of SIR in the new book, the practice has been a major point of friction between the government and opposition parties, but continues in 19 states and union territories. The order was initiated from Bihar in June last year and so far 6 crore names have been deleted under this exercise so far.
While the Opposition has long criticized the SIR, the NCERT Class 9 book says names are deleted only based on death of a voter, change of residence, duplicate registration and if someone is permanently untraceable. The book stated, “The European Commission gives time to raise claims or objections against the revised electoral list and settles these claims and objections before publishing the final electoral list.”
What does the new book say about emergencies?
The new syllabus for the Grade 9 textbook defines a state of emergency as a period in which democratic institutions came under severe pressure and citizens’ freedoms were curtailed.
Emergency situations were earlier taught only in NCERT book for class 12. It was introduced in 2007 and is still in use. The new Grade 9 Social Science textbook replaces the separate textbooks for History, Geography, Political Science and Economics that were in use until the 2025-2026 academic session.
Read also: ‘The ugly truth was never hidden’: Yogendra Yadav opposes Pradhan, says Emergency was already in textbooks
As HT previously reported, the new book does not reproduce the preamble or explain its terminology, the words “secular” and “secular” do not appear in the volume, nor does the book indicate that these concepts will be addressed in subsequent classes.
Political disagreement over the new curriculum
The introduction of these topics in the NCERT textbook for class 9 has sparked a political controversy.
Congress MP KC Venugopal on Friday said NCERT has become a division of the BJP to “distort history” and “put poisonous things” in the minds of students. Speaking to the news agency that I“NCERT was the most academic body to decide what to study. Now, NCERT has become a department of the BJP to distort history and put poisonous material in the minds of students… How can you make fools of innocent students?” Venugopal said.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saugata Roy also echoed similar sentiments on the inclusion of the SIR chapter. “This is bad. We have made many complaints about the functioning of the Election Commission. The way the Special Intensive Review (SIR) happened this time in West Bengal, where 27 lakh voters were disenfranchised. This was wrong… Including this in the NCERT book is completely wrong. We condemn this,” he told ANI.
At the same time, the government supported the introduction of emergency material into the ninth grade textbook. While Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan says future generations must understand the “dark deeds of the Emergency”, the Congress claims that the introduction of the subject was driven by “divisive politics” and is an attack on constitutional values. “They are only interested in divisive politics. They are trying to distort India’s history by changing the school curriculum,” Venugopal alleged.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI and HT correspondent)
