Michel Danino, Guest Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (Archaeological Sciences) and Head of the Curricular Area Group for Social Science textbooks – a body working in collaboration with the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) – speaks to The Hindu about the process of designing new middle school Social Science … Read more
The history section of the newly introduced Class 8 social science textbook by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for students in the current 2025-26 academic year portrays Mughal rulers, especially Babur, Akbar, and Aurangzeb, as “intellectuals” who also “plundered” the Indian population. The second chapter of the textbook, titled ‘Reshaping India’s … Read more
A research report by a think-tank, presented before the parliamentary committee on education recently, has claimed that the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) history books pay “disproportionate attention” to Mughal rulers. The report states that there is an average of 97 references to Emperor Akbar, 30 references to Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb and … Read more
‘Damnatio memoriae’ is a Latin phrase roughly meaning ‘erasing bad memory’. Although the phrase came into vogue much later, the practice dated back to the Greek and Roman periods in European history. Erection of statues, not of men of god or of wisdom, but of power, was a standard practice. Historians point out that, at … Read more