The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has said “it is too premature to comment” on media reports regarding the recommendation made by a high-level panel to replace ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ in school textbooks.
"Since the development of new syllabus and textbooks is in the process and for that purpose various Curricular Area Groups of domain experts are being notified, so it is too premature to comment on the news being flashed in the media on the concerned issue,” the NCERT said, reported ANI.
A high-level committee of the NCERT, headed by historian C.I. Isaac, had recommended that ‘India’ be replaced with ‘Bharat’ in school text books. It also recommended introducing ‘classical history’ instead of ‘ancient history’.
"The committee has unanimously recommended that the name 'Bharat' should be used in the textbooks for students across classes. We have also recommended introducing classical history instead of ancient history in the textbooks," Isaac said.
NCERT chairman Dinesh Saklani, however, said no decision has been taken yet on the panel's recommendations.
The panel’s recommendations have sparked off a political storm with the opposition parties alleging that the ruling BJP was taking such "desperate steps" fearing its defeat at the hands of the opposition bloc INDIA.
Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal said the word ‘India’ evoked as much pride as ‘Bharat’ but the ruling dispensation wants "to indoctrinate an entire generation into hating a word we grew up feeling a lot of pride towards".
RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha said it has been a hysterical reaction of the BJP regime ever since the INDIA bloc was formed.
"Will they change the name of country to 'Jambudweep' or some other name if the INDIA alliance changes its name to 'BHARAT'," he claimed.
AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said, "It shows the fear PM Modi has of the INDIA alliance. His alliance partners are leaving him. Instead of changing name, efforts should be made to focus on issues of joblessness, inflation, and corruption."
DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai said the BJP is restoring to name-change politics in order "to divert the attention of people from its misdeeds and maladministration."
With PTI inputs
