Friday, August 18, 2006

Govt. to probe allegations of distortions in NCERT books

New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI): Bowing to pressure from the opposition as well as ruling party members, the government today agreed in the Rajya Sabha for an inquiry into allegations of distortions in NCERT school textbooks. Responding to a Zero Hour mention, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachouri assured the agitated members that in deference to their sentiments, an inquiry would be carried out into the matter. Sharing views of the members, he said the matter was indeed serious and promised that he would convey the sense of the House to the concerned Minister.
Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan, who was in the Chair, observed that a serious matter has been raised in the House. Earlier raising the matter, Ravi Shanker Prasad (BJP) said NCERT textbooks on Modern India published in May this year contained unparliamentary words which could pollute minds of children. He said patriots have been described as terrorists. The matter drew spontaneous support from all corners and a hue and cry erupted with BJP members rushing to the well to place the books on the podium. Prasad got support from Satyavrat Chaturvedi and Vijay Darda (both Cong), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Abani Roy (RSP), Amar Singh (SP) and Manglilal Manda (RJD).
All of them expressed grave concern over alleged distortions in books which termed Balgangadhar Tilak, Aurobindo Ghosh and Bipin Chandra Pal as terrorists and described certain castes as "looters". At one point of time, the impromptu discussion acquired a political hue with Darda accusing BJP of doing the same thing when it was in power.

No comments:

Post a Comment