NCERT revises Class 8 textbook

The India — National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has released a revised Class 8 Social Science textbook, 'Exploring Society: India and Beyond', months after the India — Supreme Court of India ordered the withdrawal of the earlier edition over a controversial chapter on the judiciary. The revised edition drops sections on 'corruption in the judiciary', judicial backlog, and two major court verdicts, and adds material on Public Interest Litigation (PIL), tribunals, and alternative dispute resolution. Additionally, the history chapter on India's independence has been revised: the India — Indian National Congress's acceptance of Partition is now described as a matter of debate, references to Adolf Hitler and Nazi ideology have been removed from the section on Subhas Chandra Bose, and a reference to Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's demand for Swaraj in 1925 has been added. The textbook also now lists economic background as a ground for discrimination. The revision follows the Supreme Court's suo motu cognisance of the judiciary chapter, which led to a ban on the earlier textbook and an apology from NCERT. An expert committee constituted by the Ministry of Education rewrote the judiciary chapter. Three contributors initially held responsible—Michel Danino, Suparna Diwakar, and Prasanna Kumar Roy—were dropped from the development team. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the matter again on July 14.