Someone has to be held accountable, says PM Modi on NCERT textbook row
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken strong exception to the inclusion of a section on “Corruption in the Judiciary” in the NCERT Social Science textbook for Class 8, sources said Thursday.
Expressing his anguish, Modi, at a Cabinet meeting held Tuesday, was said to have asked Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to find out who was responsible for this and who should be held accountable.
Modi took up the issue at the Cabinet meeting, the first to be held at Seva Teerth, the newly-constructed PMO. According to sources, the Prime Minister was said to have asked why Class 8 students were being taught such chapters and who was monitoring the content in textbooks.
Sources in the government said the Prime Minister was unhappy about the episode and insisted that someone needed to be held accountable for what had happened.
On Thursday, speaking to reporters in Jharkhand, Pradhan said he was “deeply saddened” by the episode. He said when the matter was brought to his notice, he directed the NCERT to withdraw the book.
“We have utmost respect for the judiciary. What the judiciary has said – we will accept and comply with it. I am deeply saddened by what has happened, and I express my regret for it. When this matter was brought to my notice, I immediately directed NCERT to withdraw the books, so that they do not circulate (those) further,” he said.
“There was no intention to disrespect the judiciary… the government did not have any such intention. We are taking this seriously, and this will be inquired into. Action will be taken against those who were involved in preparing this chapter. We would like to assure the judiciary that this mistake won’t be repeated,” he said.
On February 25,The Indian Express reported that the new Social Science textbook for Class 8, released by the NCERT, included a section titled “Corruption in the Judiciary”, as part of a chapter on “The Role of the Judiciary in our Society”. The chapter listed “corruption at various levels of the judiciary” and “massive backlog…” as among the “challenges” faced by the Indian judicial system.
BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra, while responding to a query on the NCERT issue during a press conference Thursday, said, “There is no other institution – and this is not only in India – but in this whole world, as independent and as deserving as the Indian judiciary. We all have the sentiment of samman ka bhaav, maan ka bhaav aur swabhimaan ka bhaav (dignity, respect and self-respect) towards the Indian judiciary.”
