Politics Of Indian History -2

[acharya]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NCERT refuses to chop beef mention
TNN 27 May 2006, 11:56pm IST
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NEW DELHI: A three-member committee, set up by the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) following a high court order to
study objections raised by a historian in Class XI's history textbook, has justified that Aryans, including Brahmins, were beef-eaters in ancient days.

While submitting the detailed report to the court, NCERT's counsel Prashant Bhushan refused to the delete the objectionable contents from the books.

"The expert committee has opined that Aryans were beef-eaters and the council cannot distort the historical facts by deleting the paragraphs," said Bhushan.

The committee's conclusions are based on extensive research. The three members have done an exhaustive study of ancient India before commenting on the 70 objections raised by Dinanath Batra who filed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to remove certain portions from the textbooks.

NCERT's claim regarding Aryans was vehemently opposed by his counsel. "Cows have been worshiped by the Aryans and Hindus since the Vedic period and nobody should be allowed to distort the facts," said Nath's advocate.

After studying the objections, the committee has concluded that of 70, 29 contents would continue to be in the school syllabus while 37 had already been replaced in the books from this year. Four objectionable paragraphs would, however, be modified from next year.

While adjourning the matter till July 26, division bench headed by Justice M K Sharma has asked NCERT's research wing to file a status report on the objections by the petitioner.

The PIL also alleged that freedom fighters such as Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Aurobindo Ghosh and Bhagat Singh were depicted as "militants" in history and social science books for secondary school. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/artic...581035.cms

[Guest]

[url="http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/8309.html"]Success of HJS : Portion of History related to Shivaji Maharaj increased in NCERT books in Goa[/url]

[ramana]

Dr P. Bilimale of New Delhi writes

Stereotypical writings in Indian Social Sciences:





Scholarly pursuits such as history and anthropology in India have been professionalized

and institutionalized, with academic departments established during colonial period. The

texts, methodology and approaches were all adopted from the West. Often this was in the

context of colonialism and military occupation, resulting in asymmetrical power

relations. The writing of history was central to strategies of European colonial rule in the subcontinent. Some of these well-known generalizations (Stereotypes) are easily recalled:

Hindus and Muslims were two different nations and peoples who could not live together;

Indians were primarily a religious people or religious peoples; Indian communities were

prone to violence; Indians were uncivilized even if in an earlier golden age they had been

civilized; liberal values such as democracy or freedom of thought and expression were

unknown to Indians etc. Numerous scholarly work have been examined how these

stereotypes reflected a colonial agenda and were used to justify acts of colonial violence.

The subject is far from exhausted; it continues to be a rich source of material for scholars

of the colonial period as well as for postcolonial theorists.