Indian history congress denounces changes made in NCERT books

Subject : Governance

Concept :

The Indian History Congress has said that it is “greatly alarmed by the changes in the history syllabi and textbooks” recently effected by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), and urged historians to stand up against “distortions of history”.

Distortions

It pointed out that the University Grants Commission (UGC), in the draft syllabus that it has framed for the Bachelor’s course for History, claims for India the “honour” of being the Aryan homeland, deems the epics as possible historical chronicles and excludes all reference to caste system in its ancient India portion.
Mughal emperor Akbar, along with his policy of religious tolerance between various religions, has been excluded from the syllabus.
In NCERT books
It claimed that the same process of “misrepresentation has been introduced in the prescribed History textbooks by omitting whole sections, along with individual passages and sentences.
These include complete omission of the narrative of the Mughal dynasty which gave India political unity, and sundry other deletions inlcduing Mahatma Gandhi’s assasination.

About Indian History Congress:

Indian History Congress(IHC) was founded in 1935
IHC is the largest association of professional historians in South Asia.
It has about 35000 members of which over 2000 delegates participate in its session every year.
It has been holding its sessions very regularly from its inception and publishing its proceedings every year since 1935.
Origin:
IHC can be traced to the efforts of scholars working on India’s ancient past as well as modern history, in a bid to counter the colonial claims, while also drawing from Western analytical methods.
Bharata Itihasa Samshodhaka Mandala (BISM) was one such effort that owed its origins to the stalwart Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade. He founded this institution in 1910 in Pune with the support of K C Mehendale.
BISM organised an All India Congress in 1935 to celebrate its silver jubilee. The Indian History Congress (IHC) was thus born with about 50 delegates.
Mandate:
- To regulate the standard of works of history produced in India.
- To promote impartial and substantive history.
- To commit to a fair and scientific history, devoid of bias and politics.
- Historians Ram Sharan Sharma, Satish Chandra, Bipan Chandra, Romila Thapar, B. N. Mukherjee, N. Panikkar, Brajadulal Chattopadhayay, Dwijendra Narayan Jha, Sumit Sarkar, Sabyasachi Bhattacharya have had a long association with the Indian History Congress.