Major Victory for Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti

NCERT ordered to remove all 75 objectionable passages from textbooks
• The Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti, which has been fighting from streets to the courts against distortion of history by the UPA government, achieved a major success on January 30 when a division bench of Delhi High Court headed by Justice T.S. Thakur, ordered the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) to remove all 75 objectionable paragraphs in its history books before the next academic session.
• The NCERT had earlier informed the court that it would remove objectionable passages, including references to Sikh religious leader Guru Gobind Singh, scientist Aryabhatt, Mughal Emperor Akbar, and describing author Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and freedom fighters Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai as militants, from its books.
• Some of these passages in our prima facie opinion pass sweeping remarks against some of the recognized and well respected leaders of this country.. Similar sweeping statements are there regarding some of the communities like 'Jat" Chief Justice M.K. Sharma and Justice Hima Kohli had then said.
• Talking to Organiser Shri Dina Nath Batra, convener of Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti said they won only one battle and three more battles are still to be won. He said the second battle to be won is against the Hindi textbooks, which are replete with more poisonous text than that in the history books. "The hearing on our PIL against the Hindi books is going on in the court and the court has to deliver its verdict soon. Our third battle is against sex education and fourth battle is against Delhi University, which is teaching highly distorted history to college students. We have launched a signature campaign against it in Delhi University and soon we are going to start an indefinite dharna."
Organiser Weekly
March 2, 2008