Bengal teachers unhappy with UGC’s new version of history

This is the first time there is an attempt to saffronise college textbooks, says expert.

The University Grant Commission’s new curriculum framework for history in undergraduate classes has come under criticism from teachers in West Bengal for being excessively Hindu and Hindi. “The emphasis is on what is known as the Indic culture, which is their way of saying India is home to Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism and therefore implying — though not saying so in as many words — that Islam is alien,” Prof. Kingshuk Chatterjee, who teaches history at the University of Calcutta, told The Hindu. The proposed syllabus, to the surprise and amusement of many teachers, makes no mention of Emperor Akbar and largely depicts Mughals as people resisted by the Rajputs and the Marathas. It uses the term “Indus Saraswati Civilisation”, in place of Indus Valley Civilisation; emphasises on the Vedas; and seeks to educate students on, among other things, “Indian perception of Dharma and Darshan” and “Science and Technology in Ancient India.” The module on the Glory of Indian Literature, they pointed out, makes no mention of the Arthashastra or Charaka Samhita while the module on the History of Communication in India recommends the examples of “Narada, Krishna, Buddha, Shankar, Vivekananda and Gandhi.”