To replace ‘Dalit’ with ‘SC’, as the Thorat panel recommends, is to be inaccurate A commission led by S.K. Thorat, and charged with reviewing NCERT political science textbooks in the wake of the cartoon controversy, has singled out a specific word in the text for removal. All instances of the word “Dalit”, it is recommended, should be replaced with “Scheduled Caste” (SC). The blogosphere is rife with speculation on the motivation...

-The Deccan Herald School children may now get exposure to the basics of the Right to Information Act with the National Council for Educational Research Training (NCERT) examining a suggestion for inclusion of the landmark law in the school curriculum. The suggestion has been made by the Department of Personnel and Training which is a nodal agency for the matters relating to implementation of the RTI Act.“We are discussing it. The basics...

-The Hindu ‘It did not seem to be too happy with recommendations’ The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) on Wednesday decided to hold further consultations on the S.K. Thorat Committee report that recommended the removal of 21 cartoons and words, which, it said, were “ambiguous,” negative or showed politicians and bureaucrats in an ‘incorrect’ way, from the Social Science and Political Science textbooks for Classes IX-XII. Sources in the NCERT...

-The Hindu Against recommendation to delete several cartoons and texts from Political Science books   Historian K.N. Panikkar has said the S.K. Thorat panel, constituted to review the use of cartoons in the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks, had undone an academically commendable effort. Terming the majority panel recommendation to delete several cartoons and texts of some others from the political science textbooks “most unfortunate,” Dr. Panikkar told The Hindu...

-The Economic Times At its root, the whole controversy on cartoons in NCERT textbooks underlines the malaise afflicting political debate in the country: passions whipped up in aid of divisive political ambitions. Here, rage and slanging matches trump reasoned debate. One of the stated reasons for the order of the six-member panel constituted to review cartoons - that politicians and bureaucrats can't be shown in an 'incorrect' way - amply reveals that...